Alright folks, I've heard enough about my so-called "funny" way of saying "array." Yes, I pronounce it as "AIR-ray," with a dramatic punch on the first syllable, but there's a reason for that. When I was eight, I became completely enthralled by a TRS-80 computer in my second grade class. That old black and gray machine was the spark that set my tech obsession ablaze. So I begged and pleaded with my grandparents to get me one of my own, and that Christmas, they delivered the ultimate present: a Tandy Radio Shack TRS-80 Color Computer 2. Goodbye playing with my friends after school and on the weekends, hello Geekdom.

I still remember peeling off the wrapping paper and practically jumping for joy. Along with the machine came a slim little manual that taught the basics of BASIC. Since there was no internet, no video tutorials, and definitely no formal computer class at school, I devoured every word on those pages. Problem was, I never heard most of the vocabulary spoken out loud. Words like "cache," "ASCII," and especially "array" got etched into my brain solely by sight. That's why to this day, I say "AIR-ray" instead of "uh-RAY" because that's how eight-year-old me read it in that little manual. It would be years until I actually heard it pronounced the "correct" way. By then it was too late. Old habits die hard.

Of course, that wasn't my only linguistic quirk. I loved reading The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings as a kid, so I ended up forming my own private version of Tolkienese. Words like "Aragorn" came out more like "a-RAG-orn," and I only realized much later when I saw the movies that the rest of the world had a different pronunciation. When you learn from reading, you sometimes lock onto a word before you ever hear another human say it.

Fast forward to the present, and the teasing is non-stop. I get YouTube comments, friendly jabs in conversation, all pointing out that I'm "saying it wrong." But you know what? It's a small price to pay for the joy of having taught myself programming back in the day. I'm grateful for that old Tandy Color Computer 2 and for every line of BASIC that guided me into the world of code. If the trade-off is saying "AIR-ray" a little differently, I'll take it.

And you all have to deal with it. LOL.

So to everyone who has found my unusual pronunciations entertaining, thanks for the laughs. It's all part of the journey of a kid who learned from books and never let go of certain habits.

If you have your own stories of words you pronounced "incorrectly" for years, share them.