What are some of the most overused, mispronounced words people use to try to sound smarter? There are plenty of pretentious vocabulary words people frequently mispronounce. The English language is a mash-up of so many different languages and influences that it can be hard to keep up with new additions, but some words are just so impossible it seems like they're trying to screw you up on purpose. Below are some of the worst examples of pretentious, unpronounceable words people use to try to sound cool.
http://www.ranker.com/list/pretentious-words/devon-ashby,
Quinoa
KEEN-wah -- A recently trendy food staple, the Western harvesting of which is currently condemning scores of indigenous people to starvation and poverty. (It's really high in vegan proteins, though!)
Oeuvre
UHH-vv -- An individual artist's entire body of work. Kind of hard to pronounce even when you technically do know how to pronounce it, honestly.
Açaí
ah-sah-EE -- An extremely overpriced berry that mostly contains stuff you can get from orange juice.
Pho
FUH -- Most people mispronounce the name of this traditional Vietnamese noodle soup, causing them to tragically miss out on a universe of immature jokes and puns.
Egregious
eh-GREE-jess -- So glaringly horrible, outrageous, annoying, or tacky that you literally cannot even.
Semiotics
see-mee-OT-iks -- The practice of dissecting something so minutely that it no longer makes any sense, but fills up an entire 24-page term paper.
Coiffure
kwah-FYOOR -- A hairstyle which is expensive, time-consuming, and often ginormous.
Charcuterie
shar-KOO-tuh-REE -- A big plate of cold cuts, cheese, and sometimes olives/pickles/etc. Except that it's French.
Chemise
shuh-MEEZ -- The sexually-repressed term for a "sexy" nightie.
Jojoba
ho-HO-buh -- A Mexican shrub nut which, like other nuts, contains oil that people like to put in moisturizers to make them seem more exotic. Also colorfully known as "goat nut."