# For the noun "address," which syllable gets accented? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 31, 2017, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-noun-address-which-syllable-gets-accented/787778 "2017-05-31T15:45:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2017, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-noun-address-which-syllable-gets-accented/787778/21 "2017-05-31T19:12:30Z")
I would say: My ADdress is … Did you get the right adDRESS? Lincoln gave the Gettysburg AdDRESS. In sum, I use it both ways, and not congruent to the meaning of the word at the time of use. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2017, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-noun-address-which-syllable-gets-accented/787778/22 "2017-05-31T20:15:01Z")
Fuck. Now I don’t even know what I say anymore! Thanks! Sent from my XT1635-02 using Tapatalk ---
**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 31, 2017, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-noun-address-which-syllable-gets-accented/787778/23 "2017-05-31T21:25:57Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Not. You are just rationalizing preference for your own dialect. No. He, like me, is trying to explain why people in our dialect sometimes use one pronunciation or the other. I’m starting to think it may be a subject/object distinction–for street addresses, anyways. I can’t think of other words that do this, where the pronunciation varies based on something other than meaning. ---
**Author:** ![snoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@snoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snoe)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2017, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-noun-address-which-syllable-gets-accented/787778/24 "2017-05-31T22:00:12Z")
Either syllable for the noun. The natural accent seems to vary based on the accented syllables in context: “WHAT’S your ADD-ress?” “GIVE-me-your-ud-DRESS.” (Which reminds me of “GET-tysburg ud-DRESS”) Context-free, but knowing it’s a noun, I go with “ADD-ress.” ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2017, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-noun-address-which-syllable-gets-accented/787778/25 "2017-05-31T22:02:58Z")
New Order Lyric: “Maybe I’ve forgotten the name and the adDRESS…” with the stress clearly on the second syllable. This is consistent with my own usage. ---
**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 31, 2017, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-noun-address-which-syllable-gets-accented/787778/26 "2017-05-31T22:56:32Z")
The way I use it, the ordinary noun on the first and the verb, even the verb used substantively is on the second. That explains Lincoln’s adDRESS. ---
**Author:** ![igor\_frankensteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/839c29/32.png) [@igor\_frankensteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/igor_frankensteen)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2017, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-noun-address-which-syllable-gets-accented/787778/27 "2017-05-31T23:07:33Z")
Maybe because I’ve moved around a bit, maybe because I live in the DC area, surrounded by people from all over the planet, I use both pronunciations without any pattern to which or when or why. I suspect regionalism is fading, though it’s hard to tell as yet, because of the wild advance of electronic communication. People can learn their pronunciations from the whole world now, instead of just the local yokels. ---
**Author:** ![PoppaSan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/poppasan/32/189_2.png) [@PoppaSan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoppaSan)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2017, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-noun-address-which-syllable-gets-accented/787778/28 "2017-05-31T23:25:06Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > It depends on which noun. Mail is sent to my home ADdress, but Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg adDRESS. > > The verb, though, is adDRESS regardless of which sense you’re using. You adDRESS an envelope, and Lincoln adDRESSed the crowd. I do this ^^^ ---
**Author:** ![Kiwi\_Fruit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kiwi_fruit/32/12_2.png) [@Kiwi\_Fruit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiwi_Fruit)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2017, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-noun-address-which-syllable-gets-accented/787778/29 "2017-05-31T23:30:18Z")
For both noun and verb, uhDRESS. The ADdress stress pattern has always struck me as a North Americanism. I’m from the southernmost point in the anglosphere. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2017, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-noun-address-which-syllable-gets-accented/787778/30 "2017-05-31T23:38:12Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > In British English the stress is on the second syllable for both the noun and the verb: “uh-DRESS”, /əˈdɹɛs/. > > The “AD-dress” pronunciation is never used in the UK as far as I am aware. Correct, I believe. I was wondering how an Australian would pronounce the word and, according to a small sample of a couple of Youtube videos, they follow the British pronunciation. EDIT: And, according to the previous post, in New Zealand. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-noun-address-which-syllable-gets-accented/787778/31 "2017-06-01T00:15:02Z")
In the olden days there was a ‘toast’, said to a woman, that was a bit off-colour: 'Here’s looking up your address!" It works better if you pronounce it ‘(uh)dress’. Or it could be totally innocent. But I’ve always taken it as a bit of upskirt. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-noun-address-which-syllable-gets-accented/787778/32 "2017-06-01T00:55:53Z")
I always stress the second syllable. Stressing the first is one of those words that my friends and I used to say when we made fun of how native Hoosiers speak. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-noun-address-which-syllable-gets-accented/787778/33 "2017-06-01T01:23:53Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > Correct, I believe. I was wondering how an Australian would pronounce the word and, according to a small sample of a couple of Youtube videos, they follow the British pronunciation. > > EDIT: And, according to the previous post, in New Zealand. I think both noun and verb are “adDRESS” throughout the anglosphere, except in North America. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-noun-address-which-syllable-gets-accented/787778/34 "2017-06-01T01:35:50Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I say uh-DRESS, all the time. As in “what are you going to wear?” “uh-DRESS of course, what else?” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-noun-address-which-syllable-gets-accented/787778.md?page=1)