# FOY-urr or foy-YAY
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foy-urr-or-foy-yay/528659
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [February 12, 2010, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foy-urr-or-foy-yay/528659 "2010-02-12T04:10:27Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foy-urr-or-foy-yay/528659/1 "2010-02-12T04:10:27Z")
I know the latter is the original French pronunciation, but growing up I always heard the former, and can’t help feeling like people who say foy-YAY are pricks.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foy-urr-or-foy-yay/528659/2 "2010-02-12T04:15:28Z")
It depends on where you are in the country. But, I agree that if you are in a place where it is pronounced FOY-urr, and the person’s accent indicates they are from that area, those people who pronounce it fo-YAY sound a bit snobbish.
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foy-urr-or-foy-yay/528659/3 "2010-02-12T04:23:20Z")
I’ve always heard it (and say it) as foy-yay, including when we were in high school, where I first heard the word used. But I think that here in Canada, there may be a greater tendency to use the French pronunciation of French loan words.
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### Author:  [@Zulema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zulema)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foy-urr-or-foy-yay/528659/4 "2010-02-12T04:35:28Z")
I never even heard it pronounced the French way until I moved to a hick town in WI and heard a lady in the wallpaper store going on and on about the wonderful foy-yay in her house. Blah. She was from the yuppier area of a rural city.
I went to a fairly upper class high school in a metropolitan area that had a foy-urr and we ate crescent rolls.
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### Author:  [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foy-urr-or-foy-yay/528659/5 "2010-02-12T04:40:44Z")
FOY-ay. I have never heard it pronounced any other way. FOY-urr sounds asinine.
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### Author:  [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foy-urr-or-foy-yay/528659/6 "2010-02-12T04:43:44Z")
Just so you know, neither of these options is like the original French; /foy-yay’/ is not how ‘Foyer’ is pronounced in French anymore than /foy’-urr/ is; In French it’s /fwa-yay’/.
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### Author:  [@In\_Winnipeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Winnipeg)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foy-urr-or-foy-yay/528659/7 "2010-02-12T05:04:03Z")
Neither; we just say “front entryway”.
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### Author:  [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foy-urr-or-foy-yay/528659/8 "2010-02-12T05:06:44Z")
Another vote for FOY-yay. But I’m Canadian. My American-born-and-raised wife (who lived in Canada as an adult) pronounced it FOY-urr; I had to correct her many times so Canadians would understand what she was talking about.
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### Author:  [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foy-urr-or-foy-yay/528659/9 "2010-02-12T13:35:51Z")
As of my vote, it’s exactly 50/50… hmmm…
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### Author:  [@Hrududu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hrududu)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foy-urr-or-foy-yay/528659/10 "2010-02-12T14:07:41Z")
I’ve never heard it pronounced ‘foy-urr’.
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### Author:  [@Heckity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heckity)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foy-urr-or-foy-yay/528659/11 "2010-02-12T14:10:46Z")
Another Canadian - and it’s always been foy-yay to me.
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### Author:  [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foy-urr-or-foy-yay/528659/12 "2010-02-12T14:17:25Z")
I’ve always pronounced it both ways, depending on whether it’s in a business, hotel, or other public space, or whether it’s in a home.
That is to say, in a public place, I pronounce it “LAH-bee”; in a house, I pronounce it “HALL-way.”
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### Author:  [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foy-urr-or-foy-yay/528659/13 "2010-02-12T14:20:45Z")
I usually say foy-ay. I can’t help thinking that people who say foy-urr sound like uneducated hicks. 🙂
I keed, I keed. You’re all right.
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### Author:  [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foy-urr-or-foy-yay/528659/14 "2010-02-12T14:36:51Z")
When I was a kid it was the FOY-urr. Now, in my own house, it’s still the FOY-urr. I say the word pretty infrequently, and every time I say it both pronunciations are on the tip of my tongue, but I feel like I’d sound like a pretentious twit if I said it the other way.
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### Author:  [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foy-urr-or-foy-yay/528659/15 "2010-02-12T15:01:53Z")
As a kid I said foy-er because I didn’t know any better. As a young adult I said fo-yay because I thought it was right. Now I try to avoid pronouncing the word at all. Saying “foy-er” makes me feel stupid, saying “fo-yay” makes me feel pretentious. Whenever possible I substitute some other word, like “entryway” or “front hall.”
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### Author:  [@fubbleskag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fubbleskag)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foy-urr-or-foy-yay/528659/16 "2010-02-12T15:05:08Z")
I say foy-YAY and I’m a prick.
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### Author:  [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foy-urr-or-foy-yay/528659/17 "2010-02-12T15:09:36Z")
> [@Svejk\_1](#):
>
> Just so you know, neither of these options is like the original French; /foy-yay’/ is not how ‘Foyer’ is pronounced in French anymore than /foy’-urr/ is; In French it’s /fwa-yay’/.
Just like my home state of Illinois–a hybrid between the English-phonetic illi-noise and the French illi-nwah. I hate hybrids. I wish we’d go either illi-noise or illi-nwah. But if I say either one of those, I’ll sound weird.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foy-urr-or-foy-yay/528659/18 "2010-02-12T15:11:15Z")
Option 2. I didn’t even realise there was an option 1 - I’ve never heard anyone say it that way
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### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foy-urr-or-foy-yay/528659/19 "2010-02-12T15:16:30Z")
I’ve heard both, but I would foyer.
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### Author:  [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foy-urr-or-foy-yay/528659/20 "2010-02-12T15:47:35Z")
I would say “FOY-urr” and when I was a kid and a young adult it was said that way. Now I usually hear “foy-YAY”
I don’t care either way. But don’t get me started on the Myanmar/Burma thing 🙂
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