Here's a great book I received from my grandson and his wife for Christmas: You're Saying It Wrong: "A pronunciation guide to the 150 most commonly mispronounced words and their tangled histories of misuse"

Obviously my kids know me well. I am a stickler about pronunciation as well as about grammar. I must be very careful about offering correction if at all, because my (gentle - really!) suggestions are not well received. I, on the other hand, welcome correction - really! I say thank you (and then I check it, to be sure). I started a long time ago.

I inherited a pronouncing dictionary from my grandfather and I still use it. Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons, copyright 1889, running to at least six editions. Mine, the sixth, is dated 1926, and this new edition has a 2000-word supplement. I love it.

I'll tell you my pet peeve: people who mispronounce the noun, forte (a strength or talent at which someone excels). I's a noun, not an adverb, and it is NOT pronounced for-tay. Even John Gielgud says it wrong in The Importance of Being Earnest (I have the recording). So that was the first word I looked up in my new book. Of course, it's one of the 150. It acknowledges that the error has become acceptable. Bad for me, though. I quote from the commentary: "...pedants still delight in saying 'fort' and in correcting those who opt for the two-syllable pronunciation...and they are (technically) correct." [I like being technically correct.]

The 1926 dictionary gives niche one pronunciation: nich. My new one grants first-choice neesh and NICH is in second place. (I'm trying to write - n-i-c-h as a word but auto-correct keeps changing it to inch.

NEXT MORNING: Sorry I had to go to bed. There was a double header yesterday and I couldn't stay up for the end of the second game. Blue Jays lost. More anon.