Come Again?

When I was a kid I had a host of words that to me were just reading words, words I had never heard in conversation and so had no idea about the correct pronunciation. Like many fluent readers, though, I just kind of skimmed over them: I could tell what they meant in context; I just didn't know exactly how they sounded. One that I recall was "indict." Of course, I had no clue that the c was silent. Colonel and epitome were also on the list, as were several names like Seamus, Joachim, and Hermione.

Now that I often listen to audiobooks, though, the situation is reversed, and I sometimes hear words or names that I am unsure of how to spell. For example, I just finished an Agatha Christie-style mystery by Ruth Ware called One by One. It takes place in a ski chalet in the French Alps, and the characters frequently mention backcountry skiing off-trail, but they call it something that sounds like "off piece." In addition to that, they are all English and use many British idioms, and I could not figure out what they were saying about skiing. It turns out the expression was "off piste," because piste is the French (and German and Italian) word for a groomed ski run.

There is one big difference between then and now, though. These days, you can just do an internet search for words and even hear pronunciations. Now that's a good use of technology!