Good Observation

Vox Day:

I found her cited example of a mispronounced word as an indication of a lack of intelligence to be more than a little amusing. In fact, those who mispronounce words on a regular basis are probably more intelligent than the norm because it indicates that they are learning words from reading them rather than hearing them. The writer has confused ignorance with intelligence; to the extent that a mispronunciation indicts anyone, it indicts the social circle around the mispronouncing individual who have never used the word around him. The assumption that "Arkansas" would be pronounced in the same manner as "Kansas" is a perfectly reasonable one, especially for an Englishman who is no more likely to know the difference between the two than the average American if it is Leicester or Worcester that is found in the East Midlands.