Finagle: Dictionary.com Word of the Day
- to trick, swindle, or cheat (a person) (often followed by out of): He finagled the backers out of a fortune.
- to get or achieve (something) by guile, trickery, or manipulation: to finagle an assignment to the Membership Committee.
- to practice deception or fraud; scheme.
From: Word of the Day | Definition, Word Origins and Quotes at Dictionary.com
I signed up to receive the “Word of the Day” from Dictionary.com a couple of weeks ago. It’s kinda fun to get them. Of course I won’t remember many of them unless I make use of them regularly, but it’s still fun.
Today’s word made me realize that there are still some words that I say with a Wisconsin accent even though I was brought up in a family that was very grammar- and pronunciation-centric.
I don’t know that I’ve ever actually seen the word finagle in print before, but now that I look at it, yes the correct pronunciation makes sense.
Pronounced with a Wisconsin accent:
Finagle : \fi-NA-guhl\ – kind of like Haggle.Pronounced correctly:
Finagle: \fi-NEY-guhl\ – just like Bagel.
Ha! It just occurred to me that some people say “Baggel” instead of “Baygel” . So as not to get confused, the proper pronunciation is Bagel with a long “a”.
Somewhere in my youth I like to think that I did, at one time or another, pronounce finagle it correctly. That darn Wisconsin accent will get you no matter how hard you may deny it!
I can see why the Bagel store chose “Finagle a Bagel” as their name. It rhymes if you say it properly. But for those of us in Wisconsin it just sounds funny and makes you lift an eyebrow and think, “Eh?” But then again if you say both of them incorrectly, Finaggle a Baggle [sic], it sounds just fine that way too. Going forward at least I know I will remember that it rhymes with bagel. Finagle a Bagel! Finagle a Bagel! It’s just fun to say.
It looks like Finagle a Bagel has the “best bagels in the world” and they appear to be out of Boston. Hmm… do Bostonians say Baygel or Baggel?