Ha! Yeah, I had the same problem as a kid, i.e., recognizing words and knowing what they mean, but mispronouncing them. For example, for the longest time I thought 'awry' was pronounced like 'awe-ree.'

Had the opposite problem with the letter 'g.' I was pronouncing Mr. Kane's name just fine (and Armageddon for that matter), but I thought the first letter in surnames like Giordano and Giacoia was pronounced the same way as in the word 'geek.'

WHAAAAAAAT?



I said hyperbowl too... (until two seconds ago, that is).

I learn something new each day XD

But really I heard this but only like year ago when heard the word said on tv a few times, once on American show then on English one so realised that really how to say it

Absolutely! I recall getting the dictionary down to look up words in comics that I didn't understand or asking my parents to explain. I believe reading comics helped me later in writing essays and papers for school and college. I believe comics did shape my values, especially Superman. No matter how great he is or what great things he does, it was like he preferred being humble Clark Kent.

Well, it's of Greek origin, which is why that expected silent "e" ain't so silent.

The Hyper Bowl is a football game played every year between teams deprived of their ADD meds for a week.

I used to pronounce "alien" as "uh-LYin" and "grotesque" as "grostick."

Comics should have come with a pronunciation guide for kids too lazy to check the dictionary.

What does my religion have to do with it?  

I was an early reader of many things, and comics may have contributed to my vocabulary some, but things like Hardy Boys, Three Detectives and We Were there books contributed more, and by second-third grade I was reading books on astronomy, Greek mythology, dinosaurs American history and Native American culture picked up at Scholastic and other book fairs at school and from the library far more than I was reading the handful of comics my parents allowed me to have. I also had encyclopedias I read, and reference books my parents bought by the volume from the grocery store on things like American history and science that I was reading By junior high, my vocabulary took another quantum leap forward when I started reading AD&D material written by Gary Gygax (where I was learning things like the fecundity of orcs) and stuff like Tolkien and the Ace Conan paperbacks.

So more often than not, the stuff I was encountering in comics that should have been challenging to a reader of my age was something I had encountered elsewhere already.

As for values, comics not so much. Being a Catholic school kid for most of middle school and high school had more influence (both positive and negative) on developing my world view and values than comics did, but that's neither here nor there.

-M