# Alex Trebek... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 31, 2014, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek/694463 "2014-07-31T02:29:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek/694463/1 "2014-07-31T02:29:26Z")
… went way out his way to repeatedly pronounce “sophomore” as \*Sof - A - more \* tonight, but pronounced “waiting” as wading. Sorry, I love Jeopardy but AT is a pronunciation dick head and I got a little snicker out of this. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek/694463/2 "2014-07-31T02:41:01Z")
Don’t correct him - it sickens him. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek/694463/3 "2014-07-31T02:46:57Z")
He’s Canuckian - what do you expect? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek/694463/4 "2014-07-31T06:06:02Z")
If he didn’t like how he pronounced that they would have rerecorded the words. He does that on some of the shows I was at. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek/694463/5 "2014-07-31T06:27:40Z")
Isn’t that the correct pronunciation? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek/694463/6 "2014-07-31T07:08:48Z")
In Canada and the US, we tend to pronounce the “T” as a “D” sound in the middle of most words. Do you pronounce the “T” sound in spaghetti, or butter, or jitter? Sophomore, on the other hand, does in fact have three syllables. Would you be upset if Alex pronounced cummerbund the way it’s supposed to be pronounced instead of “cumberbun”? He probably pronounces foyer and Favre correctly too. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek/694463/7 "2014-07-31T12:48:14Z")
Johnny Gilbert pronounces it the same way, and they’ve both been doing it that way for just about forever. We always chuckle over the pronunciation of that world during the Teen and College Tournaments. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek/694463/8 "2014-07-31T13:32:19Z")
I am waiting for him to say project (prO-ject), eh? ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek/694463/9 "2014-07-31T13:43:14Z")
Sophomore actually has three syllables, so it’s incorrect to pronounce it with two. The pronunciation of “waiting” as “wading” is an alveolar flap. That’s a permissible (IMHO) dialectical variation. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek/694463/10 "2014-07-31T14:15:38Z")
Not according to my dictionary. In fact it gives the two syllable pronunciation first and the three syllable version as “also”. Regardless, that’s not my point. Either way you pronounce it the accent is on the fist syllable, not the O. If this was some average game show host it wouldn’t have blipped my radar but Alex is constantly correcting the contestants pronunciation. I have a feeling he pronounces that way to draw attention to the fact he knows it can be pronounced with three syllables. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek/694463/11 "2014-07-31T14:19:04Z")
Get even. Refer to him as George, and pronounce it “gee-or-gee.” ---
**Author:** ![danhanegan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb9ed0/32.png) [@danhanegan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danhanegan)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2014, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek/694463/12 "2014-08-02T22:24:00Z")
“That’s not how your mother pronounces it, Trebek!” ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek/694463/13 "2014-08-03T06:40:53Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > In Canada and the US, we tend to pronounce the “T” as a “D” sound in the middle of most words. > > Do you pronounce the “T” sound in spaghetti, or butter, or jitter? > > Sophomore, on the other hand, does in fact have three syllables. Would you be upset if Alex pronounced cummerbund the way it’s supposed to be pronounced instead of “cumberbun”? > > He probably pronounces foyer and Favre correctly too. How would he pronounce Worcestershire? ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek/694463/14 "2014-08-03T06:41:53Z")
> [@danhanegan](#): > > “That’s not how your mother pronounces it, Trebek!” “At least, not last night!” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek/694463/15 "2014-08-03T10:22:19Z")
I like Trebek, but there are times when he can be… Oooops! [I’ll take Potpourri for 100 Alex.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvUZijEuNDQ) ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2014, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alex-trebek/694463/16 "2014-08-04T02:27:42Z")
> [@Little\_Pig](#): > > I like Trebek, but there are times when he can be… Oooops! [I’ll take Potpourri for 100 Alex.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvUZijEuNDQ) I had no idea Jeopardy used to be such a low money show. Nowadays, Al would get $1000 just for making it on the show. (I’m not sure if you still get that if you go negative, but Al clearly stayed at 0.)