Before you point it out to me, I know the correct spelling is pronunciation. However, the word has two perfectly valid pronunciations, as illustrated in the title. I bring this up because I was listening to a local radio talk show and heard the host say "err on the side of caution," first pronouncing err as 'air' and then saying it was actually properly pronounced 'er' (phonetic spelling). Why do people get hung up on some words having only a single valid pronunciation? An equally good question: why am I hung up on their hang up? :)
I called in and talked about it on air (and wish I'd thought to record it off their internet stream). Regardless, people seem to think that in English there is only one true way of doing things, when that is not the case. English is not French. French is moderated by L'Académie française and they say what the language is and what it is not. English, on the other hand, is not 'definitive' ... it is a free language, one that lives and evolves over time. A few examples of words with multiple pronunciations:
- Pronunciation
- Err
- Often
- February
- Integral
Those were off the top of my head. There are many more.
Another peeve: why can't people accept that definitions evolve over time? The best example I can think of is the use of gender as a synonym for sex. By insisting that gender does not mean sex all you do is sound like an old fuddy duddy (which of course you are not).
Most words in Modern English have evolved in pronunciation and definition over time. If the only true way to pronounce a word is how it was pronounced 50 years ago, why stop there? Why not insist that the pronunciation from 100 years ago is the only valid one? Why not 500 years? Why not 1000 years? Old English was a perfectly fine language to those who spoke it ... let's go back to it! Or we could just accept that language has evolved for years and will continue to do so for years to come.
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