Hubby and I were driving somewhere the other day, listening to National Public Radio when I was quite startled to hear someone say "hoo-bree'", and by the context I knew they meant hubris. Now, I say duh-bree' for debris, but I've always said hoo'-briss for hubris. I was mildly panic-stricken, thinking that every person who's ever heard me say that will think know I am a dunce.
I just listened to the pronunciation on Merriam-Webster's web site: WHEW!

The probably thought that hubris was French, but then they should've pronounced it /ubri/ without the aitch.

Could be. I see on M-W that it comes from the Greek hybris. Huh--but only dated from 1884. Pretty new.

Could be. I see on M-W that it comes from the Greek hybris. Huh--but only dated from 1884. Pretty new.

I've always said hyoo-bris. guess I should go listen somewhere.

I see on M-W that it comes from the Greek hybris. Huh--but only dated from 1884. Pretty new.

Well, it does come from a Classical Greek word. I thought everybody knew that. Sorry, my bad. It does not surprise me that it was adopted by English so "late" as the 19th century. Anybody mentioning it before then probably used the Greek spelling. People do all kinds of weird stuff to their language when they ought to know better.

I have always cringed when people say /kudəgra/ for coup de grace (which in French is /kudəgras/). To me and the French it sounds like they're saying a "blow of fat" rather than a "blow of grace". Go figure.

[Fixed gosh-darned typo.]

:~) Make that /kupədəgra/ and they 'll offer you a bowl of (problably goose) fat.

What?! When we mug some poor defenseless language in the alley and rifle through their pockets for whatever loose words we can find, it's our right to do what we will with those words when we get them back out on the street. You can't defend "the hoi polloi" on the one hand and decry "koo duh grah" on the other.

From http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=hubris :

1884, from Gk. hybris "wanton violence, insolence, outrage," originally "presumption toward the gods," of unknown origin.

wiktionary adds an interesting twist:
From Ancient Greek ὕβρις (hybris), “‘insolence, sexual outrage’”).


This guy has an interesting commentary attributing the word's first known use in English to a teacher describing his students.
http://podictionary.com/?p=258

What?!

Hey, I can cringe at whatever I want to. You talkin' 'bout takin' 'way my Fnord-given cringin' rights? Nowhere did I fiat that folks oughtn't to speak how they speak and say things proper. Just sayin' that I cringe when somebody (usually hoitier-toitier than thou or I starts in to hypercorrectin' their French bon mots and screw things up ...

Oh. Sorry. I thought you meant "gringed". "[C]ringed" is a whole nother matter.

Yew guys!

I've always said hyoo-bris. You are correct, acc'g. to the dictionary I used. This is one word I don't hear enough (ever) around here to know if my mispronunciation is regional or just ignorance.

There are a number of words which I say incorrectly, because if I can get the meaning from the context of whatever it is I'm reading, then I don't bother to LIU, and just make up whatever pronunciation seems possibly accurate.