# Erwin Schrödinger

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erwin-schrodinger/512188>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 1, 2009, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erwin-schrodinger/512188 "2009-10-01T01:20:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\
**Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erwin-schrodinger/512188/21 "2009-10-01T23:07:40Z")

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> [@samclem](#):
>
> A “w” is pronounced like a “v.”

In upstate New York, around Albany, there is a state road designated 9W.

Those rascals at the state DOT came up with what may well be the only joke about a road:

Engineer: "Herr Wagner, do you spell your name with a “V?”

Wagner: “Nein. W.”

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**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:** [October 4, 2009, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erwin-schrodinger/512188/22 "2009-10-04T19:57:07Z")

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> [@fachverwirrt](#):
>
> I usually just hear it as / **shroh** -ding-er/, but if you want to be strictly correct, the ö is pronounced as a sort of mixture of /eh/ and /oh/, like the French “dieu”.
> 
> Of course, if you’re going to be that precise, you need to pronounce his first name /Er-vin/.
> 
> (Is there an easy way to do IPA here?)

More precisely, “ö” in German is quite close to the “eu” in French _dieu_.

Although I can be a bit fussy when it comes to matters of language and pronunciation, I wouldn’t call anyone out for saying “Shrow-dinger” when discussing the man in English. After all, the “ö” sound doesn’t exist in English, and most English speakers don’t know how to pronounce it, so why should I expect them to pronounce it as if they lived in Berlin? “Shrow-din-jer” would be a little more dubious, but not enough raise my hackles.

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