How do you pronounce it?

[Jim Lane]

20. You seem to assume that there's only one correct English pronunciation of a word.

Different national varieties of English have different correct spellings and different correct pronunciations (as well as, sometimes, different meanings). Some UK speakers accent "controversy" on the second syllable, though others accent the first, which is the only correct US pronunciation.

What if a word is pronounced one way everywhere in the English-speaking world except in the US, and another way here? Does that mean our most common pronunciation is incorrect? No, it's just an idiosyncrasy of American English.

Of course, even within American English, there can be more than one correct pronunciation. For example, the first vowel sound in "envelope" can be "en" or "ahn". There was just a funny bit someone posted of a whole bunch of TV stations using the same language to report on a Conan O'Brien show featuring a same-sex wedding that would "push the envelope" -- the only difference was in how the newscaster pronounced that word. I wouldn't say any of them were incorrect in their pronunciation.

If an American talks about a CV as a "REE-zoom", that's incorrect. Correct is "REH-zoo-may", which is closer to the French. If the speaker goes the whole distance and pronounces the "r" as in French, using a sound that is not part of English, then it would sound affected to most listeners, and I'd consider it INcorrect as an English pronunciation.