Words are funny things. It’s amazing that over time we developed a variety of sounds that we use to communicate with each other. What’s even more amazing is that the way we put the sounds together is very specific for each word.

I’m sure in your life there has been a time that you pronounced something just totally wrong. I know I have. I was reminded of it the other day when Abby kept saying the word piranha. She was reading a book that included this vicious, flesh-eating fish, and she was saying the word almost correctly, but giving a really strong “Ha” at the end: pir-an-HA. But it’s a word that she hasn’t ever heard before, so of course she was pronouncing it the way it sounded in her mind.

I told her that wasn’t the funniest word ever mispronounced. When I was younger, I loved The Hardy Boys. From the old series published in the 20s and 30s, to the paperback series that was released in the 80s, I think I read just about every single one. Frank and Joe were always getting into fun adventures and solving challenging mysteries. They also tended to get themselves into situations where they needed to split up. So if you need to split up and then reconvene at some point, you need to select a spot that you will meet back up at. And there is a word for that. But I had never heard the word pronounced before. So when I read it, in my mind it was pronounced “ren-deese-vos” with an emphasis on the middle syllable “deese.” It never occurred to me that there was another pronunciation. It was probably years later in a literature class during high school that I heard it pronounced correctly (rendezvous or ron-day-voo). I had no idea what the word meant until it clicked in my mind that it was a French word and I’d been reading and saying it wrong for years!

What words have you had wrong in your mind? In the plant world there are a million opportunities to say things wrong with words like plumbago, bromeliad, bougainvillea, jatropha, thryallis, kalanchoe, and more. But no matter how you pronounce their names, we’ll make sure you find these beauties at the nursery, and we promise we won’t pick on you if you say them wrong.

I think it’s the perfect weekend for a ren-deese-vos, OK fine, a rendezvous at Kerby’s. Spring Fling is here! We’ll teach you all about your favorite gardening topics throughout the day, you can get some lunch from the Melt Machine food truck, and on the hour from 10 to 2 we’ll be giving away $50 gift cards, and you have to be present at the nursery to win. Click here for more information. We can’t wait to have you join the celebration of spring.