# How do you pronounce 'experiment'? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 24, 2023, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-experiment/980300 "2023-02-24T13:31:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-experiment/980300/21 "2023-02-24T14:27:59Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > Using IPA would help very much in these sorts of discussions, but for some reason many people are triggered by IPA. “triggered by” might be a bit dismissive. I can understand why some might not want to [use a chart](https://www.ipachart.com/) to figure out what they are trying to say if it is not part of their day to day activities. I suspect that among people in the field, using IPA is just as natural as jazz musicians using shorthand for various chord flavors amongst themselves. And it provides a substantial degree of precision over homebrew methods. But it should be easy to see why many would shy away from it. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-experiment/980300/22 "2023-02-24T14:29:18Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > Using IPA would help very much in these sorts of discussions, but for some reason many people are triggered by IPA. I’m surprised it took 19 posts for that to be mentioned. I’m not in the least “triggered” by IPA and I acknowledge that it’s a useful tool, but since this is a general interest message board and not a club for professional linguists, there’s no way everyone is going to know it, or want to take the time to learn it. Luckily, [we have tools accessible to all](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V2Y94tTfAI) to help with discussions like this one, regardless of IPA facility. As for me, I put myself in the “spear” camp and voted accordingly, but listening to the above, it sounds just fine to me even though she’s saying “spare.” Saying it both ways, I realize they sound very similar in natural speech, so the pronunciation variations are not the huge divide I thought they must be when I read the OP. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-experiment/980300/23 "2023-02-24T14:37:10Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > Saying it both ways, I realize they sound very similar in natural speech, so the pronunciation variations are not the huge divide I thought they must be when I read the OP. I don’t know if I’d describe it a ‘huge divide’; I mean, I’m well aware that there are differing regional pronunciations, and there’s no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ (though we all secretly think our accent is the ‘correct’ one, or that we have no accent at all 😊). But ‘ex-SPEAR-i-mint’ does sound a bit odd to me, and I hadn’t been aware of hearing that pronunciation until fairly recently. So as I mentioned in my OP, I was just wondering whether it was a regional or generational thing. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-experiment/980300/24 "2023-02-24T14:40:11Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > “triggered by” might be a bit dismissive. Well, that’s true, and I apologize for that wording. But there really is no other way to discuss regional pronunciations without doing the whole These-Words-Rhyme-No-They-Don’t-Yes-They-Do back and forth. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-experiment/980300/25 "2023-02-24T14:42:06Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Is it a generational thing? A regional thing? Education is an ever increasingly rare commodity. ---
**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:** [February 24, 2023, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-experiment/980300/26 "2023-02-24T14:44:33Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > I can understand why some might not want to [use a chart](https://www.ipachart.com/) to figure out what they are trying to say if it is not part of their day to day activities. And that chart is chock full of technical terms that aren’t going to be meaningful to the kind of people who are “triggered by” IPA. ---
**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:** [February 24, 2023, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-experiment/980300/27 "2023-02-24T14:45:29Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > Education is an ever increasingly rare commodity. How does this relate to people pronouncing a relatively common word in more than one way? ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-experiment/980300/28 "2023-02-24T14:46:02Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I say ek-sperr-iment, with sperr rhyming with perry. Both spare and spear look equally weird to me. Same. SPERR, not SPARE or SPEAR. NYC here, we do not have the Mary-merry-marry merger and all three are pronounced differently. [![](https://i.imgur.com/ewimqk7.png) ](https://i.imgur.com/ewimqk7.png) ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-experiment/980300/29 "2023-02-24T14:47:38Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > > [@Jasmine](#): > > > > Education is an ever increasingly rare commodity. > > How does this relate to people pronouncing a relatively common word in more than one way? Yeah, I didn’t quite get Jasmine’s meaning there either. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-experiment/980300/30 "2023-02-24T14:49:16Z")
I’ve said it out loud about ten times now and it comes out either ex-SPARE-i-ment or ex-SPEAR-i-ment or somewhere in between. Midwesterner who speaks with the General American Accent (I think\*). \*My research says that, geographically, the General American fizzles out in Western Illinois. I’m from Central Illinois. As far as I can tell my accent is no different from that of newscasters, etc. But a cunning linguist may be able to tell a difference. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-experiment/980300/31 "2023-02-24T14:52:44Z")
SPARE here. And I’m glad there’s a poll. And MARY, MERRY, and MARRY are all pronounced the same. I come from Upstate New York. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-experiment/980300/32 "2023-02-24T14:54:28Z")
ɛks pIr ǝ mǝnt Admittedly that’s not how it’s spelled, so I won’t defend it as “correct”. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-experiment/980300/33 "2023-02-24T15:07:36Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Yeah, I didn’t quite get Jasmine’s meaning there either. [\*\*My God, I stand corrected! \*\*](https://youglish.com/pronounce/experiment/english/uk)😮 ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-experiment/980300/34 "2023-02-24T15:16:43Z")
So you follow up my and @Thudlow_Boink 's questions as to the exact meaning of your original post with another head-scratcher: ‘My God, I stand corrected!’ with a link to the British pronunciation of ‘experiment’. Am I missing a joke or cultural reference here? I like you Jasmine, but you can be a bit oblique at times. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-experiment/980300/35 "2023-02-24T15:19:02Z")
> [@solost](#): > > I like you Jasmine, but you can be a bit oblique at times. 😆 ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-experiment/980300/36 "2023-02-24T15:25:13Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](#): > > I thought this was going to be a reference to Sheldon Cooper, as he pronounces that way on **Big Bang Theory.** That character / actor is from Texas, so maybe it _is_ a regional thing? True, though Sheldon also intentionally affected a non-Texas accent, in an effort to not sound like a hick; I recently watched an old episode of TBBT, in which Sheldon claimed to have intentionally adopted a Mid-Atlantic accent – whatever his accent is, it’s not _that_, but he clearly has some particular and unusual pronunciations. At any rate, I pronounce the word ex-SPAIR-ih-ment; the second syllable rhymes with “air.” I’m from Great Lakes region. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-experiment/980300/37 "2023-02-24T15:26:32Z")
I am from Mary-merry-marry merger land, and I usually say ex-SPARE-uh-ment, but I do sometimes say ex-SPEAR-uh ment. And sometimes the second vowel is even closer to the vowel in “pet.” It’s all over the place with me, depending on the phase of the moon, or something. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-experiment/980300/38 "2023-02-24T15:40:25Z")
Spear. I’m not a young Millennial or Gen Z. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-experiment/980300/39 "2023-02-24T15:41:26Z")
I pronounce it “al-EWE-min-ee-um”. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-experiment/980300/40 "2023-02-24T16:11:35Z")
Yeah, I distinguish merry/mary/marry, so I can’t vote in the poll, since they are both wrong to my ear. Oh, there’s a “something else”, I guess that’s my vote. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-experiment/980300.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-experiment/980300.md?page=3)