almost a malaprop

Last night, while eating my PB and jelly for supper, I scrolled through my feed reader... and came across the word 'egregious'.
Which reminded me of a recent conversation where I tried to use that word and a dear friend, keeping a straight face, said Oh do you mean...........? (with a very odd pronunciation of that word- that I couldn't get, by the way.)
Let me just say that I'd always sort of liked that word- it had a cool sound (I thought) and seemed so specific and Right-to-the-point. If you use it, you don't need the other 15 words- One word covers it.
Conversation moved on. Forgot my 'egregious' friend (the word, not the person).
Then last night...
I just couldn't accept that this really interesting and fun word would sound like that... so I did the logical thing- f/b-ed it- as in My status: How do you pronounce 'egregious'? And within minutes another dear person (who mercifully had never heard me try to pronounce it) had replied: egre·gious Pronunciation: \i-ˈgrē-jəs\
Doesn't look good. I go to a dictionary site and click on the button to hear it... Yikes...
Let me just say- I liked my way a whole lot better. It was just- I don't know- it fit better... it sort of started with a nice 'egg' sound and tripped on from there. Admittedly, I had a few extra syllables in there... but still...

The other blow? It has a much stronger negative connotation than I'd been fondly picturing.

I tell you, this word has let me down. I'm trying to pick up the pieces of my life and go on...

My therapy: