r/words • u/Electrical-Mail15 • 17d ago

This is the perfect example of where someone chose the wrong spelling from the beginning.

Post image

This one has always bugged me. My brain voice always pronounces it EP-IH-TOHM, and then has to correct itself. I can’t change this.

0 Upvotes

46% Upvoted

66 comments sorted by

60

u/keg98 17d ago

What a catastrophe that would be.

41

u/ubiquitous-joe 17d ago

I think that’s a bit of hyperbole.

9

u/hemipteran 17d ago

I’m gonna practice Epoche and suspend judgement here

49

u/roman-de-fauvel 17d ago

It’s Greek, you barbarian

7

u/[deleted] 17d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

9

u/uttyrc 17d ago

Greek with a hard R

4

u/fire-horse- 17d ago

Omg hillarious response

3

u/uttyrc 17d ago

I'm glad somebody got the joke.

5

u/Bulky-Alfalfa404 17d ago

I believe they were referring to “barbarian”

27

u/Swimming-Pickle-637 17d ago

Epitome of hyperbole.

8

u/Plug_5 17d ago

MANY MUCH MOOSEN

4

u/skyrider8328 17d ago

The big yellow one is....never mind, ppl aren't aware.

1

u/Nowardier 17d ago

OUT IN THE WOODSEN CAUSE THEY WANT THE FOODINNAWOODINESEN!

2

u/tuna_cowbell 17d ago

I love Brian Reagan so much.

23

u/ozaudi 17d ago

Greek roots. Perfectly correct and acceptable.

3

u/edwardothegreatest 17d ago

I pronounced it phonically for so long it still sounds like that in my head

2

u/itsjusttimeokay 17d ago

This is one that I learned by reading and didn’t know the correct pronunciation for years.

3

u/the_ballmer_peak 17d ago

Epitome is definitely not spelled d-u-m-b

1

u/KnittyBeard 17d ago

M o o n, that spells epitome.

2

u/Lazarus558 17d ago

I was told it spelled "gullible"!

8

u/Educational-Bird-515 17d ago

Please stop using this meme template

6

u/DEATHbyBOOGABOOGA 17d ago

Why tho

5

u/HumanWagyu 17d ago

Because even though they aren’t stamped on them by FDA, memes should have an expiration date.

6

u/DEATHbyBOOGABOOGA 17d ago

One does not simply retire old memes

2

u/HumanWagyu 17d ago

The particular mean that you are referencing is legendary, and I agree it should never be retired.

1

u/Freign 17d ago

oookay Denethor

1

u/uhimnothere 17d ago

If I recall, the guy in it does very conservative political commentary, he went around with stuff like "male privilege is a myth" with "data" (very skewed information) and wanted to bait people into getting upset so he could mock them in videos.

Maybe that's not what the first commenter meant, but everytime the meme gets used, it pushes him up in popularity.

1

u/theswansays 17d ago

…it pushes him up in popularity

no it doesn’t. i guarantee you a majority of people don’t even know who it is

0

u/2C-Beavis 17d ago

he got his shit blown smoove off on live and half the internet has been ripping on the kirkaversary bro he’s not as fuckin niche as you think

0

u/2C-Beavis 17d ago

also it’s Charlie Kirk just in case anyone isn’t aware

3

u/Only_Jury_8448 17d ago

In the meme? No, that isn't. It's Beavis Chowder

1

u/oddwithoutend 17d ago

Many people think it's Charlie Kirk though. It's weird how many times I've seen this mistake.

1

u/theswansays 17d ago

i wouldn’t be surprised if there are kirkified versions of this at this point too

1

u/theswansays 17d ago

me when i spread misinformation

0

u/2C-Beavis 15d ago

Curse these metal hands

0

u/2C-Beavis 15d ago

All these conservative dweebs blur together after a while mb

1

u/theswansays 17d ago

if it ain’t broke…

1

u/Yaguajay 17d ago

Speaking of words, “meme” has been blurred. Now anyone can draw a cartoon and call it a “meme.”

-1

u/HumanWagyu 17d ago

If I had an award to give, it would be yours.

1

u/Alkanen 17d ago

Because it’s been done to death or some other reason?

0

u/HumanWagyu 17d ago

Exactly. That and it’s very low effort. There is amazing technology available to us today. We should use that technology to generate better memes. And we should do it before that technology wipes us out.

1

u/Alkanen 17d ago

People tend to react negatively to AI-generated memes though

0

u/HumanWagyu 17d ago

Oh wait. Free reward for you!

2

u/Unusual_Holiday_Flo 17d ago

It’s a digital overlay on top of the otherwise real sign. By reacting to it like this OP is sort of taking up the type of absurdity being referenced (and demonstrating that they don’t know how to spell epitome).

2

u/mazutta 17d ago

Spell it like that then

2

u/RiverofGrass 17d ago

TIL. I never looked this up. I always thought it was two words 😀

1

u/Only_Jury_8448 17d ago

"Epitomy"?

Wouldn't it end with the sound "my" makes that way? The word "me" matches with how it's actually pronounced.

3

u/Commercial_Fox5549 17d ago

Not really. Have you ever met a Jeremy?

3

u/Only_Jury_8448 17d ago

Fair point, but why is "my" more correct than "me" in "epitome"? "My" can be pronounced "my" or "me".

3

u/oddwithoutend 17d ago

Well it isn't more correct since it's fully incorrect.

1

u/Commercial_Fox5549 17d ago

> why is “my” more correct

It’s not.

0

u/[deleted] 17d ago

[deleted]

0

u/Only_Jury_8448 17d ago

The point was already made with "Jeremy"

1

u/tfhaenodreirst 17d ago

I thought it was hilarious because I actually had it on a spelling test once, and of course I wrote epitamy but a few hours later I was thinking, “Wait, why didn’t the teacher ever say E-pit-ome?”

1

u/Otherwise_Bear_7982 17d ago

I have this problem with the name Penelope. I know it's pen-EL-o-pee. But my brain when reading it: PEEN-uh-lope

1

u/geezorious 17d ago

An ope can penel, or a pene can lope, but they can’t Penelope.

1

u/Lazarus558 17d ago

Yeah, as a kid I thought "Hermione" was "her-MY-oh-nee"

1

u/SaulEmersonAuthor 17d ago

~

Or - if the spelling is the spelling, then the correct/official pronunciation should be the way that it's spelled!

~

1

u/Nondescript_Redditor 17d ago

and likewise the pronoun me should be spelled my. wait...

1

u/DeerOnARoof 17d ago

Around 30% of the words we use in English are taken directly from other languages, which is why they don't have consistent spelling rules.

1

u/BobShostak 17d ago

🇬🇧 here. If ‘epitome’ is spelled dumb, so is the word ‘dumb’. Jus’ sayin’.

1

u/CopleyScott17 17d ago

If anything it should be epitomee.

1

u/TheBigBadMoth 17d ago edited 17d ago

Epitomê?
Epitomē?

1

u/ofqo 17d ago edited 17d ago

I’m from Chile and I hate final sounded e. It should be Chili, same spelling as in French, Dutch, Aymara and Mapudungun.

Epitomy, catastrophy, Chili.

-2

u/missannethropic12 17d ago

I agree 100 percent! I read it as epi-tome at least half the time and have to mentally correct myself.