www.alphadictionary.com

In one of life's coincidences, I used the word "egregious" in conversation the other day, then I ran across it the next day in reading the paper. It occured to me this might be a good word to look at more closely. It's Latin root means "out of the herd," outstanding. Most often it's used in a pejorative sense, similar to "flagrant."

One can brandish a Bible flagrantly. I am not sure if it can be done egregiously. Maybe. I was surprised that egregious had a neutral definition in Latin and some people allow this definition in English. I might take a flagrant action lightly, but egregious actions have a slimy feel to me.

The dictionary says I am not pronouncing egregious correctly. I say ee-GREE-juhs-lee. It that a red neck thang?

The dictionary says I am not pronouncing egregious correctly. I say ee-GREE-juhs-lee. It that a red neck thang?

Looks right to me, except for the lee at the end.

Here's the Good Doctor's take on this one.

And, for a pictorial example of egregious, go here: http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2 ... age/51940/

I sometimes proof after I have posted. I was, of course, pronouncing egregiously. The audio on Dr. Goodword's take on egregious is no longer available. He did a pronunciation spelling as ê-gree-jês. I believe his ê is the same as ə. I usually use "uh" for a schwa when I don't want to go to the trouble to get one. So it seems my pronunciation ee-GREE-jəs is a personal variation. I frequently replace schwas with better sounding vowels. I often think we are schwaing our pronunciations to death. I also pronounce the t in often. Accents and dialects make speech more interesting.

I sometimes proof after I have posted. I was, of course, pronouncing egregiously. The audio on Dr. Goodword's take on egregious is no longer available.

Actually, there's a typo in the link. The Dr. knows about it, but until it gets fixed, here it is:

http://www.alphadictionary.com/sounds/egregious.mp3