# bona fide - How in the HELL do you pronounce that, anyway? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 11, 2004, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251 "2004-11-11T19:30:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251/1 "2004-11-11T19:30:11Z")
I used to say "bo-nah fide (rhymes with “tide”). Then I went to Ireland. First time _bona fide_ came out of my mouth, nearly a half-dozen Irish youths collapsed beneath the table in laughter. “It’s bo-nah FEE-day, you bloody stupid American!” they jeered. Well, that beery Latin lesson brought me 'round pretty quickly to “bo-nah FEE-day”. Since I was 21 I’ve been pronouncing it thusly. Then, at a party last weekend, a snotty friend, let’s call him Joe Pedant, stared long and hard at me down his nose, and announced, with Ivy League disdain, that it’s “bo-nah FIDE-ee”. Well, what the fuck is it? My dictionary tells me it’s "bo-nah fide (rhymes with tide, again), _or_ “bo-nah fide-ee”. No mention of “bo-nah fee-day”, though a sizable portion of the Irish lads I got to know nearly laughed me out of the pub for thinking otherwise. Now Joe Pedant (who is almost _never_ wrong, goddamn him) has weighed in. Oooo, I would love to stick it to that bastard, but he’s smarter than I am, which makes it doubly annoying when he knows he’s right. Thing is, maybe all the pronunciations I’ve heard are “right”, and it doesn’t matter. Maybe it’s just personal preference. Which is why I’m asking here: For the love of McPete, what are the _bona fide_ pronunciations of “_bona fide_”? ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251/2 "2004-11-11T19:35:09Z")
It’s pronounced “genuine.” ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251/3 "2004-11-11T19:56:36Z")
> [@](#): > > It’s pronounced “genuine.” Is that pronounced jen-u-inn or jen-u-Ine? ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251/4 "2004-11-11T20:03:58Z")
I’ve always pronounced it the first choice given. Bona Fide. Rhymes With Tide. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251/5 "2004-11-11T20:14:54Z")
How do you pronounce " Fete" ( I don’t know how to do the ’ thingie) Is it Fete, like Boba Fett? Or Fa-tay? Inquiring minds want to know. ---
**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:** [November 11, 2004, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251/6 "2004-11-11T20:48:10Z")
> [@Loopydude](#): > > For the love of McPete, what are the _bona fide_ pronunciations of “_bona fide_”? From what Latin I remember, “fide” should be pronounced “FEE-day.” The I like ee, the e like ay. But! That’s, I think, the Classical Latin pronunciation. During the middle ages or the Renaissance or somesuch, pronunciations of Latin started changing, like substituting a soft g for a hard g, things like that. And I the vowels sometimes changed around, too. AND! Added to that you have simply a shift in pronunciation borne of not as many people knowing or giving two whits about Latin, AND! you have certain professions having different pronunciations becoming accepted as standard. In the US, I think bone fide rhymes with tide most often. FIE-dee sounds like porkypine in the porcupine thread. BUT! things like, I think, fish taxonomy involves weird pronunciations of Latinate words, so don’t be completely flummoxed if you run across a plumber or someone who swears up and down, and is right, that the National Association of Plumbers calls it FIE-dee. 'Cause people are weird. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251/7 "2004-11-11T22:24:34Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > Is it Fete, like Boba Fett? Yep. “We feted him,” that is we threw a celebration for him, is pronounced “fetted.” Sort of like how “forte,” as in strength, “writing is my forte,” is pronounced “fort,” not “for-tay.” ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251/8 "2004-11-11T22:27:20Z")
> [@](#): > > Sort of like how “forte,” as in strength, “writing is my forte,” is pronounced “fort,” not “for-tay.” Quit messing with my mind! You’re joking right? ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251/9 "2004-11-11T23:48:44Z")
You had the typical U.S. pronounciation originally. Sometimes in the legal community it’s pronounced the way the Irish folks said it (because we lawyers are Latin snobs), but in standard American conversation, fide rhymes with tide. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251/10 "2004-11-12T01:32:09Z")
> [@Ghanima](#): > > Quit messing with my mind! You’re joking right? Nope. “Forte” pronounced “for-tay” is a music direction meaning “loud.” But “forte” pronounced “fort” is the thickest and thus strongest part of a fencing sword, typically the ten to twelve inches of the blade directly above the guard (i.e. at the handle end). Hence, when one wants to use a word to mean “one’s strength or strongest area,” one should say “forte” pronounced “fort.” However, it’s been misused so widely and for so long that no doubt the descriptive-not-prescriptive dictionaries will have “for-tay” as the primary pronunciation for all usages soon, if they don’t already, thus making it “right.” Sigh. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251/11 "2004-11-12T01:38:34Z")
So, is bona fide-rhymes-with-tide one of those “accepted-by-convention-but-just-plain-_wrong_” kinda things as well? ---
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251/12 "2004-11-12T01:40:46Z")
Here’s a description of usage per _forte_ from [Merriam-Webster dot com](http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=forte), somewhat contrasting to that which seems usual with regard to tone (and amusingly so): > [@](#): > > …So you can take your choice [between 'fort\ 'for-"tA\ and 'for-tE], knowing that someone somewhere will dislike whichever variant you choose. And, upon preview, I see **Cervaise** beat me to it, sigh. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![AveDementia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@AveDementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AveDementia)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251/13 "2004-11-12T02:01:35Z")
Did anyone else think of the little Wharvey girls in **O Brother, Where Art Thou?** when they saw this thread? “He’s _bona fide_!” [/self assured little girl nod] “He’s a suitor!” ---
**Author:** ![Keapon\_Laffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e274bd/32.png) [@Keapon\_Laffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keapon_Laffin)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251/14 "2004-11-12T02:12:00Z")
Lets all join hands and do the Cecil dance. Maybe he’ll come in and answer this for us. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251/15 "2004-11-12T02:15:47Z")
**O Brother, Where Art Thou?** immediately came to \*my \* mind. 😉 I suspect it’s regional; for us up here it’s always been “boh-nah FI-duh”, not “FEE-day.” ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251/16 "2004-11-12T03:16:54Z")
Just so long as we’re all sure it’s not _bonified_. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251/17 "2004-11-12T03:21:34Z")
In Latin it’s bona FEEday, In English it’s bona FIDE (rhymes with tide). In nothing is it “bonah fidee.” ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251/18 "2004-11-12T12:31:37Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > In Latin it’s bona FEEday, In English it’s bona FIDE (rhymes with tide). In nothing is it “bonah fidee.” Not true. I pronounce it “bonah fidee”, and my (British English) dictionary agrees with me, giving that as the only pronunciation for the adjective. (In IPA, 'b@un@ 'faidi, where @ = schwa and the i has no dot). The noun “bona fides” is pronounced the same, with a Z sound at the end. Interestingly, given the OP’s Irish experience, it also gives a secondary sense, this time with the pronunciation “BAW-na FIDE” (rhymes with tide), meaning “Irish informal: a public house licensed to serve alcohol after hours to bona fide travellers.” ---
**Author:** ![DaphneBlack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daphneblack/32/5389_2.png) [@DaphneBlack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaphneBlack)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251/19 "2004-11-12T15:23:13Z")
I’m normally on the side of the Latin snobs, but this is just ridiculous. In the US, rhymes-with-tide is the only way you will get your point across in most contexts. The plural noun (‘gotcher “bona fides” right here, buster!’) is bona-fiedz, (hard ‘s’) which is hardly correct since it’s originally an adverbial phrase, but that doesn’t mean it is ‘wrong’. The ‘British’ pronunciation is ‘bonah fidee’? Really? Well, I’ll be goll-darned. Even the dictionary agrees, along with my informal poll of two actual Brits. Whuddaya know? Daphne ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251/20 "2004-11-12T17:06:22Z")
This thread has only served to make me wonder what friggin language I’ve been speaking all these years. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251.md?page=2)