When I was a kid, for years I thought
nihilism
was pronounced "nil-ism".
I guess this is because I only ever read it, rather than being exposed to hearing it.
Since "nil-ism" perfectly expresses the concept by coincidence, it stuck, until I embarrassingly learned I was pronouncing it wrong! (Making it hard to discuss Sartre, etc.)
{For anyone learning English reading this, it's just pronounced nye-ill-ism - it's a variation of "annihilate".}
A similar thing, I once heard an adult (well-educated) say "pseudo" as "puh-sway-do" rather than sue-doh.
(Again, I assume since the person had only read it and not heard it.)
A similar word might be segue: I bet lots of people say "seeg".
In fact, do linguists (or .. someone?) have a technical term for this? What's the deal?
Mispronunciation due to, I suppose in short having never heard the word in use but rather just reading it.
So, if you have a wonderful liberal education with professors saying "nihilist" and "pseudo" all the time, this wouldn't happen - it's kind of a, let's say, "self-taught pronunciation misunderstanding!"
Term?