Ex- words seem to be particularly prone to mispronunciations, and to a lesser extent misspellings, and if they’re not caught early, then they can be a challenge to correct—but who doesn’t like a good challenge?

Expecially is an especially perplexing English grammar error. It has the word special in it, so there really shouldn’t be so much trouble remembering the correct word, which is especially.

Espresso is often pronounced incorrectly as expresso.  Maybe people get confused because of how quickly the caffeine can hit them (hence, express-o), but it’s still just espresso.

Well, if you’re prone to saying expresso and expecially, then I can see why you also say excape. (Even just writing those words makes me squinch my face as if I’d just bitten into a lemon rind.) The correct word is escape, as in the scape escapes the underground and becomes part of the landscape. (Try saying that one ten times fast—without the caffeine!)

Sherry

Sherry’s Grammar List and Paul’s book–Literally, the Best Language Book Ever