# Coo-pon or Queue-pon? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 13, 2011, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732 "2011-05-13T00:47:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732/41 "2011-05-13T21:49:28Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > My recollection is the opposite. Until I was in college, in the early to mid 80s, the only time you heard an adult say “koo-pon” was if he was pretending to be a “widdle kid”. Then I started hearing more and more people pronounce it that way. In the early 90s I started hearing a few people pronounce it that way in radio ads, but it wasn’t ubiquitous until the mid to late 90s. Depends on where you grew up. These things are regional. I grew up with “kyoo-pon” (learning it from adults–I mean, what kid has use for that word) and it wasn’t until later in life that I started changing. I don’t see how the “kyoo-pon” pronunciation is particularly cutesy or kid-like. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732/42 "2011-05-13T21:55:58Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I have often wondered where the “kyoo” pronunciation came from, since I hear it all the time but it makes no friggin’ sense. > By the way, even though I know it’s wrong, I pronounce “ **queue** ” the way it’s spelled, making it rhyme with “kiwi.” KWEE-wee? That’s one of those words where “pronounced as spelled” can mean ten things to ten different people. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732/43 "2011-05-13T21:59:04Z")
Just another example of people from the coasts making fun of the central dialects. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732/44 "2011-05-13T22:30:17Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Depends on where you grew up. These things are regional. I grew up with “kyoo-pon” (learning it from adults–I mean, what kid has use for that word) and it wasn’t until later in life that I started changing. I don’t see how the “kyoo-pon” pronunciation is particularly cutesy or kid-like. I think you misunderstood me. I grew up with “kyoo-pon” as well. It was the “koo-pon” pronunciation that was considered kid-like. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732/45 "2011-05-13T22:34:21Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > I think you misunderstood me. I grew up with “kyoo-pon” as well. It was the “koo-pon” pronunciation that was considered kid-like. Whoops. I swear your words were in a different order when I read them! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732/46 "2011-05-13T22:56:56Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > This has been a minor bone of contention in my house, one that I regret. When we married, my wife said queue-pon, while I, on the other hand, pronounced it correctly. Her pronunciation grated so much I finally mentioned it to her, and gently explained that to my ears, her version sounded, well, slightly uneducated. She had never even noticed that there were two pronunciations, and now she’s horribly paranoid about it. Half the time, she comically overpronounces it just to get my goat: “KOOOOOOOOOO-pawwwn”. I wish I’d never said anything. Divorces have resulted from less than this. ---
**Author:** ![MrSquishy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9e5f3/32.png) [@MrSquishy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSquishy)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732/47 "2011-05-13T23:21:25Z")
> [@Kyrie\_Eleison](#): > > Coo-pon now. But I switched pronunciations at some point. My family all use the other pronunciation, as did I when young. Same here! I think I switched when I was about 20. A friend made fun of the way I said it (kyoo-pon), but it also occurred to me that koo-pon made more sense. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732/48 "2011-05-14T02:10:10Z")
“kyoo”?? Like the first syllable of coyote? Coo-pon, cue-pon, no one around here seems consistant, myself included. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Tone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ccd318/32.png) [@Lucas\_Tone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Tone)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732/49 "2011-05-14T03:39:09Z")
I never even knew ‘Queue-pon’ was an option in pronunciation; I’ve only ever heard ‘Koo-pon’ used. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732/50 "2011-05-14T04:51:39Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > Koopon, like ketchup, is a case where the “kiddie” pronunciation has gradually taken over. I don’t recall hearing very many adults say koopon - in person or in commercials - until the mid 80s or so. Haven’t you got that backwards? “Koo-pon” is how everyone, or nearly everyone used to pronounce it. “Queue-pon” seems to have taken over in the last 20 or 30 years. Fifty years ago in America, some knowledge of the French language was almost a given, once one had reached a certain level of education; this probably helped reinforce the earlier pronunciation since “coo” is how you would pronounce the first syllable of the word. Now that French is not as widely studied as it once was, there’s really not any particular “hint” for most people telling them that “koopon” is correct. ---
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732/51 "2011-05-14T05:11:40Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > My recollection is the opposite. Until I was in college, in the early to mid 80s, the only time you heard an adult say “koo-pon” was if he was pretending to be a “widdle kid”. Then I started hearing more and more people pronounce it that way. In the early 90s I started hearing a few people pronounce it that way in radio ads, but it wasn’t ubiquitous until the mid to late 90s. Maybe in your little neck of the woods that is true, but coo-pon is a (not ‘the’, I’m not going there) standard pronunciation that has nothing to do with widdle-kid talk. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732/52 "2011-05-14T05:15:16Z")
> [@surrounded\_by\_literalists](#): > > Damn, I thought this was going to be a somewhat pornographic thread… Me too. Pretty fucking disappointing. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732/53 "2011-05-14T06:05:56Z")
Coo-pon here, from Arizona. My mom’s roommate (sort of like my second mom) pronounced it kyoo-pon and I always found it weird. She was the only one I ever heard say it like that before I grew up. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732/54 "2011-05-14T12:34:58Z")
nm ---
**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:** [May 14, 2011, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732/55 "2011-05-14T12:41:37Z")
I hate this question, because I can never remember what I do. With other words, it’s fairly easy, but not with this one, for some reason. ---
**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:** [May 14, 2011, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732/56 "2011-05-14T12:43:21Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > “kyoo”?? Like the first syllable of coyote? > > Coo-pon, cue-pon, no one around here seems consistant, myself included. The y is a consonant. It’s another way to spell cue-pon or Qpon. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732/57 "2011-05-15T00:15:16Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > The y is a consonant. It’s another way to spell cue-pon or Qpon. I’ll have to take your word for it because I cannot even begin to imagine how Ky could sound like Cue or Q. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732/58 "2011-05-15T00:17:50Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > I’ll have to take your word for it because I cannot even begin to imagine how Ky could sound like Cue or Q. Think of “kyoo” as in “thankyou.” ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732/59 "2011-05-15T00:40:17Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > I’ll have to take your word for it because I cannot even begin to imagine how Ky could sound like Cue or Q. Really? How do you pronounce the letter q? To me it’s k+y+oo. /kju:/ in the IPA. I would have expect there to be some variation in how people pronounce u: part, but not the kj bit. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732/60 "2011-05-15T00:50:13Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > I’ll have to take your word for it because I cannot even begin to imagine how Ky could sound like Cue or Q. You’re not the only one. I can’t figure out how the first syllable of “coyote”, in either of its common pronunciations, is similar to the first syllable of “coupon,” in either of its common pronunciations. Doesn’t the first syllable of “coyote” rhyme with “sky”, or is there a pronunciation I’m unaware of? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732.md?page=4)