In the tenth episode of the first season of 30 Rock (one of the finest shows ever made, and I’ve watched a lot of shows, and will continue to watch a lot of shows, a habit that’ll be even longer than this sentence), character Jenna Maloney is excited that her indie film, Rural Juror, is about to be released.
The difficulty in pronouncing Rural Juror was a running joke in the show. Apparently it originated with writer Tina Fey fessing up that she found both words tricky herself – and who doesn’t?
Jenna sings Rural Juror – NBC on YouTube.
I’d had ‘rural’ on my Hard to Pronounce list for a very long time. (The best jokes are relatable, right?) What else is on my list?
Volvo.
Anemone.
It’s not that I cannot say these words at all, or that I don’t understand how they should be expressed. I just loathe the way they roll (or stagger) around my tongue.
Which leads me to this…
As an author, sometimes you have occasion to read your work to an audience.
These are the words I won’t use in my novels because I’m scared to say them aloud:
Ignominy
Denouement
Bruschetta (and many other food stuffs)
Otorhinolaryngologist (there goes that storyline)
There are more words, although I can’t think of them now. They pop into my mind at various times, often when I’m reading them in someone else’s writing. Perhaps I’ll update this list over time.
(And yes, I know I could listen to online pronunciations but they just won’t stick).
Au revoir for now!
Michelle Prak Writer 