Vocabulary / TV Review

Have you ever noticed that people have more than one vocabulary? We have our speaking vocabulary; we have a reading vocabulary; we have a foreign word vocabulary; if we work word puzzles, we have a word-puzzle vocabulary. Sometimes these overlap and/or intersect. And sometimes the twain never meet.

Tonight on our PBS affiliate’s “talking-head” show about the local news of the week, two of the panelists mispronounced relatively common words - pronouncing them like they had read them, but never heard them spoken.

One word was prevalent. The speaker pronounced it with the accent on the second syllable (pre-VALE-ent), rather than the correct pronunciation with the accent on the first syllable (PRE-vale-ent). Another speaker used the word palatable. Again he put the accent on the second syllable (pah-LAT-able) rather than correctly on the first (PAL-a-at-ble). How odd!
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Mini review on a new USA short-series: This one is called Fairly Legal, and is about an ex-lawyer who is now working as a mediator. The characters are delightful. The setting is in a large law firm. The protagonist works for the firm, which was headed by her father and stepmother. The father has recently died. Our heroine lives in a huge boat at a San Francisco marina that was part of her inheritance from her father. One of the best sthicks in the piece are the ring tones on her phone. They are all themes from the Wizard of Oz: Wicked Witch = stepmother; Scarecrow = her house-hubby brother; the Cowardly Lion = her male secretary, Leo; the Tin Man = her ex-husband; and the Wizard = her father. Had to love that!
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Our friends' flat in Stratton-Audley, England (second floor on the corner) - on the grounds of an old manor house.