10 words you can't say on television

There are ten words you can't say on television, or anywhere else for that matter, but it has nothing to do with George Carlin's reason.

In Robert Ripley's second Believe It or Not book, written in 1931, he claims that he wrote down 10 common words on a note card and showed the words to many people that he met. Over 100,000 people were shown the list, and according to Ripley, nobody ever pronounced all 10 words correctly.

Here's the list: (try to pronounce them in your mind)

Data
Gratis
Culinary
Cocaine
Gondola
Version
Impious
Chic
Caribbean
Viking

Now, to be fair, Data and Caribbean, have both been mispronounced for so long that either pronunciation has become acceptable. It used to be that Data was supposed to be pronounced "Daa-tuh" and not "DAY-tuh" and I can't find a dictionary old enough to show me correct pronunciation of Caribbean, but I suppose "CARE-ib-be-un" is correct and "Cuh-RIB-be-un" is not. (Caribbean is based on the word Carib, pronounced "Care-ib", the name of the type of people that live there.)

Also, to be fair, Gratis and Impious are rarely used anymore. Gratis, which is a fancy way of saying "Free" is properly pronounce "Grah-tiss" and not "Gray-tuss." Impious does not mean imp-like and is not pronounced "Imp-ee-us". Instead it means "not pious" or "not reverent" and is pronounced "im-PIE-us."

The problem with Cocaine is do you stress the CO or the CAINE, but if you are high, it doesn't matter. Gondola has the same problem, as we usually say "GONE-doh-lah" but it is really "gon-DOH-lah"

I admit you have to be picky with Version as most people these day say "Ver-zhun" and not "Ver-shun" and I am still not convinced I can tell a difference.

I am not sure how you could say Viking improperly.

When you first see Chic, you want to pronounce it like Chick, but really should pronounce it like Sheik.

Finally, I have been listening to people mispronounce Culinary for ten years now. Instead of "cuh-lih-NAIR-ee" it is "CUE-lih-nair-ee."

Feel free to check it out at the Merriam-Webstersite at m-w.com, but by now the improper pronunciation is accepted as alright. Also feel free to be overly critical over anything I put in print. By now I deserve it.