"Awry"

       A newspaper story headline I read recently contained the phrase "intentions often go awry," and it reminded me of something.   I once heard intelligent radio-talk-show-host Dennis Prager use such a phrase, and he mispronounced "awry" AW-ree.

       That's when I knew Prager was probably a voracious reader but hadn't always picked up what a word sounded like.  He'd learned it from print before he'd heard it, figured it must be pronounced  AW-ree.

       You might say "awry" was part of Prager's reading vocabulary,  his speaking vocabulary (he knew what the word meant and could use it appropriately), but not his listening vocabulary.  Prager may not have recognized the word if he heard someone else say uh-RYE!