# Do you say cal/que/late or cal/kuh/late?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-cal-que-late-or-cal-kuh-late/580889>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 5, 2011, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-cal-que-late-or-cal-kuh-late/580889 "2011-05-05T22:13:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\
**Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-cal-que-late-or-cal-kuh-late/580889/21 "2011-05-06T09:14:12Z")

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Well, I suppose to be more accurate, there are also other alveolar consonants yod-dropping can occur after (/r/, /l/, /s/, /z/); however, it’s the particular ones /t/, /d/, and /n/ that show the American-British distinction outlined above.

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**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\
**Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-cal-que-late-or-cal-kuh-late/580889/22 "2011-05-06T11:47:33Z")

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On occasion, I have done yod-dropping on the word “calculate” (or at least on similar words). It always confuses (confoozes?) me when it happens; it’s certainly not intentional.

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**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 6, 2011, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-cal-que-late-or-cal-kuh-late/580889/23 "2011-05-06T12:30:43Z")

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Am I the only one who finds it weird that the OP offered “cal/que/late” as an option? Does anybody pronounce the word with a QUE (as in “request” or “quell”)?

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**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\
**Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-cal-que-late-or-cal-kuh-late/580889/24 "2011-05-06T12:58:00Z")

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I use the /j/ for the four words of the OP as well as mule, but not for news or tube. Raised in Philadelphia.

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**Author:** ![EdwardLost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@EdwardLost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EdwardLost)\
**Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-cal-que-late-or-cal-kuh-late/580889/25 "2011-05-06T15:47:34Z")

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> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#):
>
> Am I the only one who finds it weird that the OP offered “cal/que/late” as an option? Does anybody pronounce the word with a QUE (as in “request” or “quell”)?

That was just a bad choice of spelling on my part. I should have used “cue” or “cyew” to show what I meant.

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**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\
**Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-cal-que-late-or-cal-kuh-late/580889/26 "2011-05-06T19:34:41Z")

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> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> I say KAL-kyuh-late, so between your two versions.

Me too.

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