At work, this woman I work with was laughing about a typo in a client email where they referred to a coworker named Tom as "Tome." She was pronouncing that "Toe-ME" and thought that it was a funny word. I pointed out that 'tome' is a word and is pronounced "tohm." She says, "In what language?" I reply that it's an English word. She doubts me and goes to look it up in a dictionary. Of course, the word is in there. I'm stunned that a grown woman who was born and raised in this country wouldn't know that word. Later, I'm retelling the story to my supervisor only to find out that he doesn't know the word, either. In asking around, no one does and now I either feel incredibly smart or that I've really over-estimated the intelligence of people.