Scrabble letters

I've been working with words my entire adult life, whether as a part-time freelancer while juggling a non-word day job, or as a full-time word slinger of one degree or another.

I'm also a pretty heavy-duty reader. I may not read as much as I used to, at least not books, but I do read and read and read... and read and read some more. I read all sorts of things online, in magazines, in the newspaper — plus, yes, books now and then, too.

With all my reading and wordy pursuits and professions, you'd think I'd be a pretty good speller, pretty good at knowing how to pronounce a fairly wide range of words. You'd think that.

But... don't think that, for it's not true. And this week, I learned that once again.

This week I realized there's yet another word I've spelled incorrectly, pronounced incorrectly for a very long time.

The word? The word is prerogative.

And, yes, that is the correct spelling.

I used the word prerogative in my post yesterday. Only, I thought for sure it was spelled perogative, pronounced per-og-a-tive. That's what I've thought forever. Well, at least as long as I've known the word.

What I learned this week is that I've been wrong forever, at least when it comes to prerogative.

That word — meaning, according to Merriam-Webster, an exclusive or special right, power or privilege — is spelled p r e r o g a t i v e. And that word is pronounced, again according to Merriam-Webster, pri-ˈrä-gə-tiv.

I did not know that. Now I do.

Oh, what a crazy language we speak. And write. And read.

That, dear friends, is what I learned this week.

Today's question:

What did you learn this week? And for bonus points: Did you know that is how prerogative is spelled and pronounced?