Even as a nerdy vocabulary lover like me hits words that cause an unreasonable amount of anxiety. Someone explain again how the English language manages to butcher any concept of predictable grammar rules.
“I often come across words I would like to use in conversation, but don’t because I’m not sure how to pronounce them.
If I say them correctly, I will sound smart, but I mispronounce them I will surely sound vacuous or fatuous.
Those are two good examples right there. I think the first word is vack-you-us or something close to that, but I am not too confident. I would pronounce the other word fat-you-us but for some reason it apparently has a “ch” sound in it. Some words are just best left unsaid.”
Top 5 Words I Would Use In Conversation If I Knew How To Pronounce Them – nickclaussen.com
Riddle from the Middle 
https://brentlogan.com/2016/03/never-make-fun/
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An excellent point!
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I usually go along quite blindly, happily, deafly – using the words and hoping no one else knows the real pronunciation either. There is one word, however, that will get me every time – resin, which for some reason I have turned into rosin – not a long “o”, but an ah “o”. In which case, perhaps I should have spelled it rahsin. Whatever. I’m working on it.
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It’s always interesting to learn the word that trips someone up — mine never seems to be anyone else’s, and theirs usually isn’t a problem for me. I only just recently learned what quinoa is supposed to sound like but it still doesn’t come out of mine correctly!
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I might use them in writing, or perhaps in a presentation, if their meaning was particularly well suited to my message. But, I’d avoid them in conversation, lest someone pull out their phone, either to correct me or look up the meaning.
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True. I’m less intimidated by dropping them into text. Trying to verbalize some gives me hives! I thought Nick captured the feeling well.
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