Not So Commonly Confused
June 11th, 2010
Tarantula and Triantula
Tarantula: a large spider that has a hairy body and legs and feeds on invertebrates, toads, small reptiles, and young birds
Triantula: No definition—not a word!
I know this is hardly the usual commonly confused pairing but it’s one that just annoys the bejeebers out of me. Pronunciation, people!
Like Calvary and cavalry it’s all in the pronunciation. Except it’s worse because there is no such freaking word as triantula! Which makes it more like my previous rant about jewelry and joolery. Again, two words often pronounced incorrectly, with one of the words not a real word!
Yes, you guessed it: I recently heard this particular word being mangled on a television show, which just makes me doubly crazy. Seriously, do you know how many people were involved for something to make it on television! Come on, people! It’s not like this is one of those commonly used words that can get blurred and muffled with disuse. It’s a spider, for Pete’s sakes!
But listen up, listen for the mention of this particularly hairy and repulsively beautiful of the arachnid family; I’m willing to bet that a good 50-60% of the time it will be pronounced triantula (or joolery). Which is just wrong, wrong, wrong! So stop it!