Book excerpt: It sounds ominous, but it is unfortunately true: a virus has crept nearly undetected into the American English language, affecting the pronunciation of all who speak it. In this guide, a seasoned language professor shares his unique method that teaches you to avoid embarrassing mistakes in pronunciation-all while expanding your vocabulary. Dr. William Harrison relies on his extensive experience studying and teaching languages for the past forty years to provide a comprehensive guide that combines jingles and pictures as mnemonic devices to teach students of all ages the two most important pieces of information about each English word-pronunciation and meaning. While using fun and lively jingles to model pronunciation patterns, Dr. Harrison encourages students to overcome such articulation errors as saying "coldslaw" instead of "coleslaw" and "bet" instead of "bed." Included are eighteen obstacles to proper pronunciation, reminding English speakers to rely on new, innovative ways to remember proper pronunciations instead of an archaic spelling system. This practical reference manual can help anyone interested in correct pronunciation of American English and the evolution of pronunciation in America.