Pronunciation. Pronunciation.

     I realize that I still need to talk all about seeing the Great Barrier Reef and Melbourne, which was absolutely amazing (except for the plane ride home of course, haha!)  But I am going to take a moment to talk about class today!
     I had my marketing tutorial class this afternoon and we were learning about diffusion of new products into the market.  Innovators are the people who buy new gadgets, like the new ipad right away, then the early adapters buy the product, and finally the majority.  The last group buys past-years models (if they buy any new technology at all) and they are called LAGGARDS.
     When we got to this part of this story, my professor thought it would be funny to call on me to pronounce laggard for the class, "The American Way."  You would have thought that I just said the funniest joke ever because he started laughing and fellow classmates giggled.  And, as if this was not enough, they asked if I could say it again.  "That is the funniest word" he said, overemphasizing the GAAAARRRD part of the word.
     So here is a question that I should pose to the class next week: HOW IS LAGGARD SPELLED?  Is it spelled lageeeeeeer'ds?  I DON'T THINK SO!  Therefore I am correct and all Australians are wrong.  End of story, haha!