# How do you pronounce eraser? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 10, 2012, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-eraser/640591 "2012-11-10T18:00:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2012, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-eraser/640591/1 "2012-11-10T18:00:52Z")
The NY Times crossword had a clue last week: Eraser head, with the answer: Long E. What that means is eraser starts with a long E sound, but does it? I don’t pronounce it like that, and no dictionary I checked had anything but a schwa, or “ih” for that sound. Is it an east coast thing? ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2012, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-eraser/640591/2 "2012-11-10T18:06:11Z")
I pronounce it somewhere in between. I definitely pronounce the first syllable as “ee” but I don’t accent it to the point where it sounds like “eeeeeraser”. Same as with the verb “erase”. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2012, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-eraser/640591/3 "2012-11-10T18:14:39Z")
uh-ray-sir If I say really fast, it tends to sound like “a razor.” ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2012, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-eraser/640591/4 "2012-11-10T18:27:09Z")
I pronounce it with a long E. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2012, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-eraser/640591/5 "2012-11-10T18:32:00Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > The NY Times crossword had a clue last week: Eraser head, with the answer: Long E. What that means is eraser starts with a long E sound, but does it? Some people pronounce words unnaturally at times because they think it’s “correct” to do so–they’re affecting their speech artificially. Usually, though, they do this only when they’re being hyper-conscious about their speech for whatever reason. (The rest of the time they speak normally, even though they may insist that they don’t.) The writer of that crossword might have been doing this with the word _eraser_. In any case, it’s a bad practice to use terms like “long” and “short” E, because that implies that there are only 10 vowels in English. ---
**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:** [November 10, 2012, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-eraser/640591/6 "2012-11-10T18:48:06Z")
It’s a long E sound, but it’s been reduced. Some people reduce it all the way to the schwa, but most people I hear reduce it to [ɪ̈], like the **i** in Mitt Romney, only shorter. And I see no reason why using “Long E” implies there are only 10 vowels in English. Besides the long and short vowels, you have broad A, short oo, long oo, oi, ow, and, of course, the schwa, plus a few more I’m probably not thinking of. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2012, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-eraser/640591/7 "2012-11-10T18:51:11Z")
Long E ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2012, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-eraser/640591/8 "2012-11-10T18:55:24Z")
ear-AY-ser ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2012, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-eraser/640591/9 "2012-11-10T18:56:47Z")
When you ask me how I say it, or I’m repeating it for emphasis or clarity, I say it with a long e. If I just say it as part of a sentence, I’m pretty sure I schwa it, but one is rarely as self aware of one’s speech as one thinks, so I can’t be sure… ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2012, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-eraser/640591/10 "2012-11-10T19:00:35Z")
ih-RAY-sir ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2012, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-eraser/640591/11 "2012-11-10T19:00:36Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > I pronounce it somewhere in between. I definitely pronounce the first syllable as “ee” but I don’t accent it to the point where it sounds like “eeeeeraser”. Same as with the verb “erase”. I think what your’re saying is you pronounce it /ɪˈreɪsər/ – the first sound is the unstressed /ɪ/, which is the same as in words like _elect_, _illicit_, etc. That’s the pronunciation (and the only one) that appears in the OED, but I think I hear people use the schwa for the first sound, too. ---
**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:** [November 10, 2012, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-eraser/640591/12 "2012-11-10T19:19:08Z")
With a schwa (I’m from Philadelphia). ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2012, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-eraser/640591/13 "2012-11-10T19:22:04Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > And I see no reason why using “Long E” implies there are only 10 vowels in English. Besides the long and short vowels, you have broad A, short oo, long oo, oi, ow, and, of course, the schwa, plus a few more I’m probably not thinking of. I only say that because if you have to throw in terms like “broad,” and refer to “oo,” etc., it just becomes a patchwork. How do you accurately describe /ɪ/ using terms like “long,” “short”? Because the schwa isn’t the only reduced vowel in English, after all. The point is that _ **letters** _ (as part of the writing system) don’t intrinsically generate sounds–they don’t have any underlying phonemic nature or existence, so you might as well just use the IPA if you want really want to accurately describe the sounds of a language in print. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2012, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-eraser/640591/14 "2012-11-10T19:23:30Z")
Long ee here – ee-ray-sir. Brought up in NY State by Eastern Penna parents. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2012, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-eraser/640591/15 "2012-11-10T19:24:43Z")
Long E ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-eraser/640591/16 "2012-11-10T21:31:04Z")
Uh-racer for the noun. Ee-race for the verb. ---
**Author:** ![RockytheflyingS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a9adbd/32.png) [@RockytheflyingS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RockytheflyingS)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2012, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-eraser/640591/17 "2012-11-10T22:04:43Z")
E-racer. No, you may not have one, because then everyone will want one. ---
**Author:** ![TheChileanBlob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thechileanblob/32/435_2.png) [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2012, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-eraser/640591/18 "2012-11-10T22:41:48Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Long ee here – ee-ray-sir. Brought up in NY State I say it the same way, was born in Syracuse, and have a sister named Gigi…hmmm :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2012, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-eraser/640591/19 "2012-11-10T23:06:59Z")
I pronounce it with a long E. Grew up in KY, if it matters. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2012, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-eraser/640591/20 "2012-11-10T23:11:04Z")
[I pronounce it like Recoome.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsMFm-HGH_s) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-eraser/640591.md?page=2)