Dour: (usually of a person's appearance or manner) unfriendly, unhappy and very serious
/door/ (rhymes with tour)

A man found a lamp, picked it up and rubbed it. Out popped a genie with a dour expression on his face. "Okay," says the genie, "You released me from the lamp. Blah, blah, blah. This is the fourth time this month. You can forget about three. You only get one wish."

The man sat and thought about it for a while and then said, "I've always wanted to go to Hawaii, but I'm scared to fly, and I get very seasick. Could you build me a bridge to Hawaii, so I could drive over there to visit?"

The genie laughed and said, "That's impossible. Just think of the logistics. Think of how far the supports would have to reach to the bottom of the Pacific! Think of how much concrete, how much steel-- no , think of another wish."

The guy said okay and tried to think of another wish. Finally he said, "I've been married and divorced four times. My wives always said that I don't care and that I'm insensitive, so I wish that I could understand women, know how they feel inside and what they're thinking when they give me the silent treatment, know why they're crying, know what they really want when they say nothing, kown how to make them truly happy."

The genie looked at the man for a moment and then said, "You want that bridge two lanes or four?"

[此贴子已经被作者于2004-3-29 10:24:40编辑过]

Chicago /shih-Kah-goh/
Don't say: chih-Kah-goh

[此贴子已经被作者于2004-3-29 10:33:42编辑过]

vase /vays/ or /vayz/
Avoid: /vahz/

[此贴子已经被作者于2004-3-29 10:33:54编辑过]

naivety: noun trust based on lack of experience
/nigh-EEV-uh-TAY/

Two little old ladies bought used Volkswagen Beetles. One of them said, "I just looked under the hood, and I don't have an engine." The other one said, "Well, don't worry. I just opened my trunk and there's an extra one in there."

funny![em00]

interesting 3x

coup de grâce : an action which ends something that has been gradually worsening or which kills a person or animal in order to end their suffering
eg.: Jane's affair was the coup de grâce to her disintegrating marriage.

/koo d'GRAHS/
Don't say: koo d'GRAH

Grâce is one of those words that are often mispronounced by people who should know better and so sound especially bad. A great many people who don't make words their business mispronounce words and nobody ever pays any attention. But educated people, the kind of people likely to use a phrase like coup de grâce, shouldn't make this mistake. If one part of the brain tells them, correctly that grâce, just like grace, has an s sound, another, half-educated part of the brain tells them that s at the end of French words is usually silent, so they stumble into saying koo d'GRAH.

indict /in-DIGHT/ (DIGHT rhymes with white)
The c is silent in indict but not in interdict

If a law court or a grand jury indicts someone, it accuses them officially of a crime.