PopVocab: It’s My Prerogative
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cDLZqe735k
Thanks to Bobby Brown, “prerogative” is one of the most mispronounced words in English — as you can hear in the video, Mr. Brown pronounces the word “PER-ogative.” (Click the audio icon on this page for a correct pronunciation).
Britney Spears repeats the error:
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIOH8Trfas4
A prerogative is an exclusive right or privilege held by a person or group, or the exclusive right and power to command, decide, rule, or judge.
According to Thesaurus.com:, “a privilege is a right that may be extended to a group or a number of people; a prerogative is a right that, customarily, is vested in a single person.”
It is the boss’s prerogative to determine the office supply budget.
While it is the prerogative of pop stars to pronounce words however they like in their videos, it is the prerogative of lexicographers to record the correct pronunciations of words in dictionaries.
The words warrant and license can be used in somewhat similar ways, although they are milder than prerogative.
The anti-death penalty activist argued that violence is not a warrant for future violence.
The pronunciation activist argued that fame does not give one license to butcher the English language, even if slightly improving the nation’s collective vocabulary in the process.