Today’s entry has to do with pronunciation and a couple of nasty “r’s” that have indecorously intruded into some otherwise wonderful words.
The victimized words are “persevere” and “sherbet.” The first has two r’s—not three. The second has one r, not two.
So what the first word isn’t is per-ser-veer. It’s actually per-suh-veer. (with no r in the middle of the word). In other words, there’s no serve in persevere.
That wonderful summertime confection is not “sure, Bert.” It’s pronounced shur-bit. (I know, the –bet part of the word should technically be pronounced bet, not bit. But it’s enough of a victory to get rid of Bert!)
I don’t know how those sneaky little “r’s” have snuck into those words. But let’s make an effort to keep them out!
Dedicated to Grammar 
Or as my mother used to say “I need to warsh the dishes”.
In some of my ed classes we referred to it as the bossy R.
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There are also New Englanders who drop R’s in the middle of their words, but they save them up so they can add them onto the end of other words. So instead of saying, “Mr. Martin, I have an idea,” they say, “Mr. Mah-tin, I have an ide-r,”
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