How do you pronounce the word “humble?” I have noticed an oddity happening in churches over the past six or seven years. While still living in Waco, I can remember hearing our pastor often use the word in his sermons, but every time that he said it, he would pronounce it as though there were no “H” at the beginning (i.e. umble). I just chalked it up to being quirky and odd… I have recently noticed that every pastor that I have heard use the word in the past year have pronounced it in the same way and even have gone so far as to over-emphasize the way that they are pronouncing it. I find this to be quite amusing because it is often over-emphasized in a way that indicates the “I know how to pronounce this word properly and you do not so I must teach you” type of attitude which is a polar opposite of the actual definition of the word “humble.” So, after hearing yet another example of this last night, I decided to check the authorities on this matter. I have yet to find a dictionary that indicates that it should be pronounced without an “H” at the beginning… in fact, you can listen to the pronunciation at the Merriam-Webster online dictionary. I realize that the word’s etymology derives from the Latin word “humilis” and that in Latin the “H” would not be pronounced, but we are no longer speaking Latin and the word has come through Anglo-French AND Middle English. I suspect that maybe pastors sometimes fall into the trap of assuming that another pastor (maybe one that pronounces a word in a way that is unusual) has done the studying and the research for his sermon… this is certainly not always the case and it is a very dangerous trap to fall into as that assumption will tempt the next pastor to lazily use (or misuse) a word, or a phrase or saying having never actually invested the time and energy into knowing whether or not it is correct.

The thing about all of this is… I still know that there is a VERY good possibility that I am actually wrong about this and that someone does know something of which I am unaware… I want to know the correct way to pronounce the word! Does it actually matter? Does it change the meaning of the sermon? Probably not… so then why give the pronunciation so much EMPHASIS?!