The fifth commandment

Can you say the words fourth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth? Of course you can. But you may stumble over the word fifth. If this word is an issue for you, you have lots of company. Newscasters, business executives, and salespeople are among those I've heard mispronounce it in just the last few weeks.

The key to pronouncing fifth correctly is to sound every letter in the word. If you don't pronounce the second f, the word comes out fith, which is wrong; if you neglect the full th sound, you get fift, which isn't right either. So just say fif, and then add th, and you'll be on the side of the angels. And you'll sound smart when you talk about that famous Beethoven symphony.