I had to read a scene aloud from a published novel for a writing class I took a few years ago. I can't remember why.
What I do remember was that the scene I chose had the word "Poseidon" in it four times. I didn't know quite what it meant, and it didn't seem to matter much in context. It was some olden literature reference, I imagined. Or maybe some pop culture reference from the 60s.
All four times, I pronounced the word which didn't matter to me in a rushed way that breaks down as "poize-eye-DON."
Recently, I saw "Poseidon" in print again and realized right off that it was a word I do know well enough. Poseidon! Of course! The same word that had eluded me that one time I was reading aloud to a room full of people!
No one in the class could see what I was reading and follow along, so I'm not even sure if they realized what the word was supposed to be. But every single time I think of that day now (which is more often than you'd expect), I get this embarrassed-beyond-belief naseated feeling.