# Christmas carol pronunciation **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 10, 2012, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345 "2012-10-10T19:12:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345/21 "2012-10-11T00:09:07Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Fun fact: in Welsh, _Iesu_ is the ordinary word for Jesus and it’s pronounced “Yessie.” Is there an extraordinary word for Jesus? I’d probably have said “Jay-soo” until I read **thelurkinghorror** ’s post, and now I think of course it’s “Yay-soo,” like in _Pie Jesu_. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345/22 "2012-10-11T00:14:23Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Is there an extraordinary word for Jesus? Yes. Iesws, pronounced yes-oose. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345/23 "2012-10-11T01:01:16Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I’m not sure if I have to say this, but don’t click the spoiler until you’ve answered, please. Well, should have put that _before_ the spoiler. 🙂 I always read it as Jay-zoo, but I also always think “I have no idea how that’s supposed to be pronounced.” So I’m interested in what the consensus will be. ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345/24 "2012-10-11T04:14:33Z")
Jes-oo like a truncated Jesuit. But I know I am wrong. Its just how I say it in my head. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345/25 "2012-10-11T07:20:27Z")
In our choral group we sang it as Yay-zoo. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345/26 "2012-10-11T11:19:48Z")
Yay-zoo. Latin, isn’t it, traditionally spelt Iesu? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345/27 "2012-10-11T12:20:32Z")
Agree with those who say it’s “Yay-zoo”, and that I’ve never heard it considered a Christmas carol. I’ve heard it as a staple at Catholic masses in one place. Not to be confused with _SHRDLU, Toy of Man’s Designing_ [http://isbn.nu/toc/9780465026562](http://isbn.nu/toc/9780465026562) ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345/28 "2012-10-11T12:31:28Z")
I hear a lot of “JAY-zoo” versions. “JEE-zoo” is less frequent, and “YAY-soo” only in Latin. ---
**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:** [October 12, 2012, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345/29 "2012-10-12T23:21:42Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Yay-zoo. > > That’s a Christmas carol? > [@Gedd](#): > > Ditto. > > I’ve never seen/heard it as a Christmas carol. I think it’s part of a bigger cantata. Yeah, yeah. I just couldn’t think of a better word. It is associated with Christmas. > [@Malacandra](#): > > Jee-zyu, since the rest of the words are in English. See also the Angel of the Agony in _The Dream of Gerontius_. Yay-zoo if the rest of the words are in Latin. Context is everything, I mean, it’s not like you’ve never heard “Jesus” pronounced “Hay-zooss”, is it? And that’s the reasoning used by this lady who is really important in the choral community. (I’ve lost the webpage, or I’d name her.) Thing is, I’ve never heard of the English word Jesu, so I just assumed they were borrowing from Latin to create a liturgical feel. And enough people are saying YAY-zoo that I think I have an argument that the English word is now commonly pronounced as in Latin, and thus it is not a “common error that school choir directors make.” ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345/30 "2012-10-12T23:26:58Z")
“ee-YAY-soo.” This could either be the result of my Jesuit schooling, or repeatedly slapping myself on the forehead with a Bible. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345/31 "2012-10-13T01:03:06Z")
I pronounce the first word in the title “yay-zoo.”. But I’ve never heard it sung in English, so I pronounce the first word of the song “vole” (Wohl mir, dass ich Jesum habe…). And I don’t associate it with Xmas, either. ---
**Author:** ![Kaio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@Kaio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaio)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345/32 "2012-10-13T07:27:24Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > Recently, I associate it with this [Japanese commercial](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_CDLBTJD4M). > > Put me in the YAY-SOO camp as well. YEH-zhoo. YEH being somewhere halfway between an English schwa “eh” and an English “ay”. I see Jesu I think of Latin… too many years of chorus/chorale singing. I think this must be the first time I was aware that that tune HAD words associated with it. My mom is a piano teacher, so I grew up hearing this melody (to varying degrees of quality), but only ever on piano. (And yes, in TV wedding scenes, in strings, but never voices.) Never sang it in college. If we had, we would have sung it in German. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345/33 "2012-10-16T18:54:44Z")
YEH-soo. Keeps the Texas twang out of the initial syllable. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345/34 "2012-10-17T06:35:28Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > There are people who don’t associate it with christmas? There are people who do? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345.md?page=1)