# Another pronunciation pitting **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 16, 2008, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-pronunciation-pitting/468180 "2008-10-16T12:03:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-pronunciation-pitting/468180/1 "2008-10-16T12:03:47Z")
I heard this on a radio commercial this morning. Real-a-tor. It’s real-tor, people! What is wrong with people that they have to add another syllable in there? Jool-er-y. Nuke-u-lar. Just stop it, dammit! You sound like an idiot. (I don’t care about the excuse that it’s a “regional pronunciation,” and perfectly valid. It’s just plain wrong to my ears!) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-pronunciation-pitting/468180/2 "2008-10-16T12:08:36Z")
Why is Dvořák pronounced d-vor-zhak? Do those accents insert actual consonants? ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-pronunciation-pitting/468180/3 "2008-10-16T12:21:47Z")
Never mind… ---
**Author:** ![Hellestal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hellestal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hellestal)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-pronunciation-pitting/468180/4 "2008-10-16T13:03:02Z")
> [@Rebo](#): > > (I don’t care about the excuse that it’s a “regional pronunciation,” and perfectly valid. It’s just plain wrong to my ears!) Variation in language is not an “excuse”. It is a fact. You sound like an idiot yourself when you opine on a topic that you clearly do not understand. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-pronunciation-pitting/468180/5 "2008-10-16T13:08:13Z")
> [@Rebo](#): > > Real-a-tor. It’s real-tor, people! What is wrong with people that they have to add another syllable in there? Did they pronounce the capital “r”? ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-pronunciation-pitting/468180/6 "2008-10-16T13:30:46Z")
> [@Rebo](#): > > Jool-er-y. There are two spellings: jewelry and jewellery Look at that second spelling. The “extra syllable” is right there. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-pronunciation-pitting/468180/7 "2008-10-16T13:37:07Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > There are two spellings: > > jewelry and jewellery > > Look at that second spelling. The “extra syllable” is right there. Neither of those is pronounced “joolery”. The first is “jewelree” and the second is “jew-ellery” (that’s the English pronunciation and spelling). ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-pronunciation-pitting/468180/8 "2008-10-16T13:40:29Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Neither of those is pronounced “joolery”. Well, yeah they are SINCE THAT’S HOW PEOPLE PRONOUNCE THEM. The second spelling is also used in the US, and in the US the word “jewel” is often pronounced with one syllable. JOOL-ery. Goddamn this board is annoying as hell. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-pronunciation-pitting/468180/9 "2008-10-16T13:47:04Z")
> [@Rebo](#): > > (I don’t care about the excuse that it’s a “regional pronunciation,” and perfectly valid. It’s just plain wrong to my ears!) At least they’re not rhyming it with _ventilator._ ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Dead\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Badger)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-pronunciation-pitting/468180/10 "2008-10-16T13:50:12Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > The first is “jewelree” and the second is “jew-ellery” (that’s the English pronunciation and spelling). I have never heard it pronounced the way you have written it, and I’ve been living in England for 25 years. “Joolery”, by contrast, is common. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-pronunciation-pitting/468180/11 "2008-10-16T15:25:28Z")
It didn’t occur to me until recently how very wrong the Gilligan’s Island theme song was. Who the hell is Robinson Caruso? ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-pronunciation-pitting/468180/12 "2008-10-16T15:40:28Z")
> [@Kendall Jackson](#): > > Variation in language is not an “excuse”. It is a fact. > > You sound like an idiot yourself when you opine on a topic that you clearly do not understand. I clearly understand that people started pronouncing it that way “once upon a time.” It caught on, and many people say it that way. What I don’t understand is why! _Why_ would you put the extra syllable in there _in the first place?_ I notice nobody is defending “reel-ter/reel-uh-ter.” ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-pronunciation-pitting/468180/13 "2008-10-16T15:52:39Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Why is Dvořák pronounced d-vor-zhak? Do those accents insert actual consonants? The hook (haček) on the r in Dvořák indicates that the r is to be palatalized. The same is true for the hook in my username - the S in Švejk is to be palatalized, which makes it sound like a ‘sh’-sound. Similarly, a palatalized r roughly sounds like ‘rzh’ in Czech. It’s not new consonants inserted, though, it’s one sound. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-pronunciation-pitting/468180/14 "2008-10-16T15:53:28Z")
> [@Rebo](#): > > What I don’t understand is why! _Why_ would you put the extra syllable in there _in the first place?_ Why? It’s [epenthesis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epenthesis), a perfectly natural formation in human language. See also “nuclear/nucular”. Epenthesis can be _stylistically_ wrong (e.g. marked pejoratively as substandard/uneducated/etc.) in certain contexts, or can be considered “wrong” is meaning is truly obscured. Otherwise, epenthesis is not intrinsically incorrect (for example, Snoop Dogg’s use of “beeyotch” and “hizzouse” when speaking to friends is perfectly correct speech). ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-pronunciation-pitting/468180/15 "2008-10-16T16:34:45Z")
And what’s the deal with sportscasters referring to an “ath-a-lete”? There’s no vowel in the middle of the word “athlete”. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-pronunciation-pitting/468180/16 "2008-10-16T17:02:10Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > It didn’t occur to me until recently how very wrong the Gilligan’s Island theme song was. > > Who the hell is Robinson Caruso? I’d always thought this pronunciation a common mistake by semi-literate people who, although familiar with Enrico Caruso, were not as conversant in the works of Daniel Defoe and so, through laziness and ignorance, Crusoe became Caruso. My grandfather used to say “Robinson Caruso” and I’m quite confident he never watched Gilligan’s Island. ---
**Author:** ![freekalette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/50afbb/32.png) [@freekalette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freekalette)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-pronunciation-pitting/468180/17 "2008-10-16T17:21:59Z")
I’d like to add one. When I stop at the gas station to buy cigarettes, I always get funny looks from the attendants when I ask for a pack of Marlboro Lights. Evidently, it’s “supposed” to be pronounced Marbro. Who knew? I get corrected on it every once in a while, but continue to say it how it’s spelled. _sits back and waits for a black Phillip Morris van to pull up to my door and “take care of it”_ ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-pronunciation-pitting/468180/18 "2008-10-16T18:12:24Z")
[QUOTE=bordelond] Why? It’s epenthesis, a perfectly natural formation in human language. See also “nuclear/nucular”. [/QUOTE] > [@wikipedia](#): > > Epenthesis most often occurs within unfamiliar or complex consonant clusters. For example, the name Dwight is commonly pronounced with an epenthetic schwa between the /d/ and the /w/, and many speakers insert schwa between the /l/ and /t/ of realtor. Epenthesis is sometimes used for humorous or childlike effect. For example, the cartoon character Yogi Bear says “pic-a-nic basket” for “picnic basket.” Another example is to be found in the chants of England football fans in which England is usually rendered as [ˈɪŋgəlænd], or the **pronunciation of “athlete” as “ath-e-lete.”** Some apparent occurrences of epenthesis, however, have a separate cause:**the pronunciation of nuclear as nucular arises out of analogy with other -cular words (binocular, particular, etc.), rather than epenthesis.** Interesting. I can’t help that it sounds wrong to me, though. 😃 ('Cause my mama raised me right! ;)) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-pronunciation-pitting/468180/19 "2008-10-16T18:20:16Z")
> [@Rebo](#): > > I heard this on a radio commercial this morning. > > Real-a-tor. It’s real-tor, people! What is wrong with people that they have to add another syllable in there? Pronounce it however you like, just don’t capitalize it as though “Realtor” was a profession uniquely demanding this recognition, unlike the more respected occupations of (Joe The) Plumber or Barista. > [@](#): > > Another example is to be found in the chants of England football fans in which England is usually rendered as [ˈɪŋgəlænd] Well, as Roger Miller once told us: _Eng-a-land swings Like a pendulum do_ ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-pronunciation-pitting/468180/20 "2008-10-16T18:24:29Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > It didn’t occur to me until recently how very wrong the Gilligan’s Island theme song was. > > Who the hell is Robinson Caruso? They just added a syllable to improve the scansion. I am trying to teach myself not to be pissy about pronunciation except in the case of personal address & proper names. I think it’s dickish to say a person’s name other than how that person says it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-pronunciation-pitting/468180.md?page=2)