# Could we get a movement underway to change the spelling of "Yarmulke" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 5, 2012, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-get-a-movement-underway-to-change-the-spelling-of-yarmulke/611839 "2012-02-05T07:27:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2012, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-get-a-movement-underway-to-change-the-spelling-of-yarmulke/611839/21 "2012-02-05T22:09:13Z")
Your location says you’re in Australia. That means the people you know are going to pronounce that word with a silent “R”, and to you, that’s going to be how it’s spelled, since the R in the middle of a word after a vowel is not enunciated with the Australian accent. In other words, it’s going to sound like “Yah-maka.” ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2012, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-get-a-movement-underway-to-change-the-spelling-of-yarmulke/611839/22 "2012-02-05T22:45:16Z")
> [@AnalogSignal](#): > > I think yarmulke is Yiddish and kippah is Hebrew. That might be it, then - my Jewish relatives speak a lot of Yiddish, but for them Hebrew is pretty much just a ceremonial language. Rather like Latin is for a lot of Catholics. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2012, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-get-a-movement-underway-to-change-the-spelling-of-yarmulke/611839/23 "2012-02-05T22:51:42Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > I always thought the word “Yarmulke” is totally ridiculous. Never in my life have I ever heard anyone actually pronounce it the way it’s spelled. It’s a yamaka. Can we just have the spelling changed to “yamaka”? Please? Please please please? No. The “r” is pronounced. And the “u” is closer to “oo” sound than the “ah” sound. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2012, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-get-a-movement-underway-to-change-the-spelling-of-yarmulke/611839/24 "2012-02-05T22:53:39Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > No. The “r” is pronounced. And the “u” is closer to “oo” sound than the “ah” sound. I’ve always heard it as “yah-mah-kah” from my relatives who wore them. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2012, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-get-a-movement-underway-to-change-the-spelling-of-yarmulke/611839/25 "2012-02-05T23:01:31Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > I’ve always heard it as “yah-mah-kah” from my relatives who wore them. My grandparents, on both sides, were native Yiddish speakers, one set spoke the Litvish dialect, the other the Ukrainian/Polish dialect. Both pronounced the word with “r” not silent and the “oo” kind of sound for the “u”. The difference was the ending - “ah” for one and “eh” for the other. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-get-a-movement-underway-to-change-the-spelling-of-yarmulke/611839/26 "2012-02-06T00:38:18Z")
Right after we agree about how best to spell Hanukah or Chanukkah or Hannaka. My daughter was dinged for spelling it that way recently. Her teacher has decided the correct spelling is Hanukkah. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-get-a-movement-underway-to-change-the-spelling-of-yarmulke/611839/27 "2012-02-06T00:51:07Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > Your location says you’re in Australia. That means the people you know are going to pronounce that word with a silent “R”, and to you, that’s going to be how it’s spelled, since the R in the middle of a word after a vowel is not enunciated with the Australian accent. In other words, it’s going to sound like “Yah-maka.” You’re right. The R isn’t sounded. But the L most definitely is. It’s not “yah-maka”. It’s “yah-mulka”. ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-get-a-movement-underway-to-change-the-spelling-of-yarmulke/611839/28 "2012-02-06T02:47:39Z")
I wear one of them, and usually say “kipa”. If I were to call it a “yarmulka”, I definitely would not pronounce it “yamaka”. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-get-a-movement-underway-to-change-the-spelling-of-yarmulke/611839/29 "2012-02-06T03:10:44Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > I always thought the word “Yarmulke” is totally ridiculous. Never in my life have I ever heard anyone actually pronounce it the way it’s spelled. It’s a yamaka. Can we just have the spelling changed to “yamaka”? That looks Japanese. Of all the nutty English spellings that aren’t even caused by the word being borrowed from another language, and you pick this one? Of all the _meshugah_ ideas… ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-get-a-movement-underway-to-change-the-spelling-of-yarmulke/611839/30 "2012-02-06T03:12:47Z")
Yommocka then. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-get-a-movement-underway-to-change-the-spelling-of-yarmulke/611839.md?page=1)