I recently read something disturbing at Merriam-Webster

[conuly]

It's been haunting my very dreams.

Answer the question before you click, please: How do you say the word "detritus"?

Poll #22807

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 87

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So?

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Yeah, M-W is right
73 (83.9%)

Nah, they absolutely gotta be trolling us somehow
14 (16.1%)

Comments

[conuly]

Stress on first syllable, all vowels short. Which appears to be pretty common, so.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Ah well; these things happen; eventually it'll probably be an accepted alternate pronunciation. I've never heard anyone say 'DEH-tritt-uss' that I recall, but detritus isn't exactly a frequently-used word these days anyway.

The "alternate pronunciation" that really annoys me is 'puh-TEEN-uh' for patina. I realize it's a bit of a classist shibboleth, but it only got to be one because some people won't shut up when they don't know what they're talking about.

[conuly]

...

okay, so what pronunciation do you go with?

(And for me, it's "the hoi polloi". I believe I've said this before, but since the only reason to use that phrase unironically is to be a pretentious asshole, you have GOT to get it right or not even bother.)

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

I go with the correct one: 'PAT-in-uh'. I never even heard 'puh-TEEN-uh' till I was past 30.

I understand your point about hoi polloi, which is a phrase almost no one uses unironically anyhow, but disagree with it (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hoi%20polloi). "English doesn't borrow from other languages. It follows them down dark alleys, knocks them on the head, and goes through their pockets for spare grammar." 'The hoi polloi' would be bad Greek, but it's perfectly correct English, insofar as 'correct English' isn't an oxymoron to begin with.