# 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:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**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, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251/21 "2004-11-12T18:43:09Z")
Well those Brits don’t know how to talk English too good. They can’t even say “tomato” or “schedule” correctly. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251/22 "2004-11-12T18:57:38Z")
Reading this thread keeps making me think of the song _Adeste Fidelis_. No question on how to pronounce that, right? Ah-Dess-tay Fee-Day-less Right? _RIGHT?!?!_ So it follows that the proper way to say bona fide would be bone-uh fee-day. But I’ll keep saying bonafied because otherwise someone might think I’m an overeducated democrat or something. 😉 ---
**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, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251/23 "2004-11-12T19:05:07Z")
Hmmm. I wonder if Joe Pedant would tell me it’s: ade-eest-ee fide-ee-lis ---
**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, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251/24 "2004-11-12T20:12:50Z")
> [@Loopydude](#): > > Hmmm. > > I wonder if Joe Pedant would tell me it’s: > > ade-eest-ee fide-ee-lis GAH! Noooooooooooo… Stop the madness! Latin Snob™: it’s like in the song. Really. Gah! (Next thing I know, someone is going to try to claim ‘vice versa’ is really pronounced wee-kay wear-sah…) Cheers, 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, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251/25 "2004-11-12T20:28:33Z")
> [@DaphneBlack](#): > > (Next thing I know, someone is going to try to claim ‘vice versa’ is really pronounced wee-kay wear-sah…) > > Cheers, > Daphne Well, [now that you mention it…](http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/educational/recommended/books/images/made_you_look.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251/26 "2004-11-13T02:31:52Z")
I think we should adjourn this session, _sine die_! Pronounce that one. ---
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251/27 "2004-11-13T03:47:38Z")
I wasn’t too old when Robin Williams sang in the movie “Aladdin”: You got me bona FEE-day, certified You got a genie for your charge d’affaires So I’ve tended to pronounce it that way since. Impressionable eleven-year-old minds, and all that. Then again, I’ve always liked to confuse the hell out of people by pronouncing “veni, vidi, vici” all latin-y. ---
**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 13, 2004, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251/28 "2004-11-13T03:48:40Z")
It’s SIN-ay DEE-ay but I’m sure someone’s going to tell me the Brits say Seenee Dye. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251/29 "2004-11-13T05:21:14Z")
> [@Cheese Monster](#): > > I wasn’t too old when Robin Williams sang in the movie “Aladdin”: > > You got me bona FEE-day, certified > You got a genie for your charge d’affaires Me too. “I’m in the mood to help ya, dude!” I love that movie. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251/30 "2004-11-13T07:49:46Z")
I’m a lawyer, and I pronounce it bona fide-rhymes- with-tide. And I laugh derisively and pretentious people who say “bona fee-day.” But only to myself, because I am a nice person. Mostly. You want to hear 1001 pronunciations? Try “voir dire.” ---
**Author:** ![ageless6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@ageless6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ageless6)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251/31 "2004-11-13T13:16:05Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > It’s SIN-ay DEE-ay but I’m sure someone’s going to tell me the Brits say Seenee Dye. I Googled sine die and got an audio that pronounced it “sine-uh dah-ee”. Then I went to M-W online. Their first pronunciation was “sine-uh dah-ee”. Their second was “sin-ay dee-ay”. I’ve always pronounced it “sine-uh dah-ee” ever since I heard the judge in “Inherit the Wind” say it that way. Although I guess you can say it either way, in this case I’ll go with Hollywood. ---
**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 13, 2004, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251/32 "2004-11-13T15:18:37Z")
_sob_ Ok, **TellMe** , ya got me. Why can’t we all just get along? [Seen-ay dee-ay] Daphne ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251/33 "2004-11-13T16:51:08Z")
To mention above, fete isn’t “faytay” because it isn’t Latin; it’s French (_fête_), and “fett” is (more or less) how it’s pronounced in French. “Faytay” (_fêté_) would be “celebrate_d_”, past participle. Voir dire? Isn’t it vwar deer, as in French? I think part of this is the difference between scholastic and ecclesiastical Latin pronunciation: scholastic Latin has its arcane set of rules, which I believe recently changed, whereas ecclesiastical Latin is basically pronounced as if it were Italian; and they go in and out of fashion. Thus you might have started of saying “ull-tra vyreez”, found everyone else saying “ooltrah vee-ress,” and changed over just in time to have everyone else saying “ooltrah wee-rayz”. ---
**Author:** ![LorieSmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a587f6/32.png) [@LorieSmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LorieSmurf)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251/34 "2004-11-13T19:15:56Z")
> [@AveDementia](#): > > 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!” Yes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bona-fide-how-in-the-hell-do-you-pronounce-that-anyway/274251.md?page=1)