- By Jim Evans
- Entertainment
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SMART TALK
by Dr. Ced Riley
COUPON: At the Institute for the Linguistically Impaired, we’ve noticed that the incidence of mispronunciation of “coupon” has stayed about the same. About the same percentage, often the same people, can’t pronounce “cupola,” either.
We hope to fix that. How? Good old association, one of the best mnemonic devices going.
When you use a coopon, you feel as if you’re winning, victorious over the marketing system in a small way. Victorious in a big way, say over a government, is a coup d’etat, which most high school graduates know is pronounced “coo-day-TAH,” because the French love lots of silent letters, to confuse foreigners. Both “coupon” and “coup d’etat” start with coo. There. Was that so hard?
As to “cupola,” think of a cupola (KYOO-po-la) with a Cupid (KYOO-pid) weather vane on top.
Now you sound more as if you spoke English as a first language. Congratulations.
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