# 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:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**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, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732/61 "2011-05-15T00:52:53Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > 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. Yes that’s right. The first syllable of “coyote” is “KAHY,” no? What does that have to do with “KYOO”? Or, if we need to do this in IPA: /kaɪ/ vs /kjuː/. They’re not remotely similar. 😕 ---
**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, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732/62 "2011-05-15T01:21:00Z")
The coyote pronunciation thing has actually come up before: [Although it focused more on the second half of the word](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=601556&highlight=coyote). There is variation in the first part too, but TBH whenever there’s a vowel involved you can guarantee that not all English speakers pronounce i the same way. ---
**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, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732/63 "2011-05-15T01:40:29Z")
nm ---
**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, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732/64 "2011-05-15T01:50:34Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > The coyote pronunciation thing has actually come up before: [Although it focused more on the second half of the word](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=601556&highlight=coyote). There is variation in the first part too, but TBH whenever there’s a vowel involved you can guarantee that not all English speakers pronounce i the same way. I was actually confused by **elfkin477** ’s original post, which said > [@](#): > > “kyoo”?? Like the first syllable of coyote? In my last response, I didn’t realize he was the one who made this statement, so I thought I was sharing in his confusion. What I _thought_ I was responding to was the confusion over how the first syllable of “coyote” could sound like “cue” or “coo.” ---
**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 15, 2011, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732/65 "2011-05-15T02:20:41Z")
When I lived in New Mexico, the first syllable of “coyote” was commonly “kai,” rhyming with “sky.” I think I have also sometimes heard “khay,” rhyming with “pay,” but not very often. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732/66 "2011-05-15T13:46:01Z")
COO-pon for me & most folks I know. KYEW-pon sounds like an affectation. Seriously people, if you want to use an affectation, use Ron White’s coo-P’n as shown up-thread. Aside: When living in the Southwest I have heard people butcher the word “coyote” as KYO-tay where the o vowel sound is the same as in “so” or “go”. They were usually recent transplants from the East who were trying to sound local or Spanish or something. ---
**Author:** ![ShelliBean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@ShelliBean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShelliBean)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732/67 "2011-05-16T05:01:49Z")
I checked “other” because that particular word is kind of like asking about breathing - I don’t notice it until I’m asked, then I can’t think of anything but how I pronounce it and it all sounds right! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732/68 "2011-05-16T06:35:21Z")
I tend to prefer to be _descriptivist_ over _prescriptivist_ but will make an exception here. 😃 > [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Well, technically the “ou” combination is typically a diphthong, which would make it “cow-pon”. Uh, technically the “ou” is ambiguous, as we see looking no farther than “bough”, “cough”, “dough”, “through”, “bought.” Not a _yoo_ sound in the bunch. Can anyone show _any_ examples of “ou” being pronounced _yoo_ (not counting the faulty(:D) “coupon” and words like “bayou” where a “y” is actually present) ? > [@](#): > > This pronunciation is used by educated speakers and is well-established as perfectly standard, although it is sometimes criticized. Its development may have been encouraged by analogy with words like curious, cupid, and cute, where c is followed by a “long u ” and the [y] is mandatory. Three examples, all “cu” not “cou.” The mention of “educated speakers” may suggest a kinship with _hypercorrection_. ---
**Author:** ![soulmurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@soulmurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulmurk)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732/69 "2011-05-16T13:41:11Z")
I grew up in NJ saying it “queue-pon” but was “corrected” so many times once I moved out west that I now catch myself using both. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732/70 "2011-05-17T18:21:19Z")
> [@Max\_the\_Immortal](#): > > It looks to me like it’s derived from French; “couper” means “to cut”. No “y” sound. Adding in a superfluous “y” sound just sounds asinine. Yep on both counts :). “Queue-pon” makes me stabby. ---
**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 19, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732/71 "2011-05-19T15:35:43Z")
I just read the title of [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=605487) in GQ aloud, and I realized I naturally say /ˈkjupɒn/ (i.e. “Queue-pon”). But when I think about it, I say /ˈkupɒn/ (“coo-pon”). But since natural is probably what you want, I went with the first option. ---
**Author:** ![BomTek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bomtek/32/21364_2.png) [@BomTek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BomTek)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732/72 "2011-05-19T17:13:05Z")
In my neck of the woods (American midwest), it seems like the people who pronounce it kyoo-pon outnumbered the ones who pronounce it coo-pon. I grew up saying kyoo, but changed at some point. It used to bother me hearing my old pronunciation, but not anymore… I guess at some point it just seemed like a stupid thing to let myself get irritated over. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732/73 "2011-05-21T06:31:18Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > Really? How do you pronounce the letter q? I pronounce it like…Q. I don’t know how to qualify that better because Q sounds like Q, and not remotely like the letters K and Y. How do you pronounce the word queue? To me you could drop all the letters after q and it’d sound exactly the same. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coo-pon-or-queue-pon/581732.md?page=3)