# How do you pronounce 'garrote' **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 1, 2010, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-garrote/555778 "2010-10-01T21:56:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-garrote/555778/21 "2010-10-02T16:44:32Z")
> [@born\_too\_late](#): > > I swear that I’ve heard it pronounced gair-oh-tay. Probably in a movie. This is the **correct** Spanish pronunciation, and also the way I pronounce it because I can’t bring myself to pronounce it the American way. The two-syllable pronunciation is the more common American interpretation. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-garrote/555778/22 "2010-10-03T07:06:23Z")
Guh-ROT. Any other way is just wrong. (Today I’m not in the mood for my usual ‘regional variations are valid’ opinion). > [@Rigamarole](#): > > > [@born\_too\_late](#): > > > > I swear that I’ve heard it pronounced gair-oh-tay. Probably in a movie. > > This is the **correct** Spanish pronunciation, and also the way I pronounce it because I can’t bring myself to pronounce it the American way. The two-syllable pronunciation is the more common American interpretation. It’s not a Spanish word, though. It’d been used in English since at least Elizabethan times. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-garrote/555778/23 "2010-10-03T11:53:43Z")
> [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#): > > GA-rot. This. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-garrote/555778/24 "2010-10-03T12:07:28Z")
> [@Shirley\_Ujest](#): > > > [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#): > > > > GA-rot. > > This. You two mean that you put the stress on the first syllable, so that it sounds similar to “garret” (an attic)? I’m in the guh-ROT camp, and every dictionary I can find agrees with us. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-garrote/555778/25 "2010-10-04T05:54:43Z")
war asusual, Guerre-rote. ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-garrote/555778/26 "2010-10-04T05:57:13Z")
I would say gah-rot. It looks as though it would rhyme with the French “Gavotte,” which I know how to pronounce from years of classical music. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-garrote/555778/27 "2010-10-04T08:37:16Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#): > > Guh-ROT. Any other way is just wrong. (Today I’m not in the mood for my usual ‘regional variations are valid’ opinion). > > > [@Rigamarole](#): > > > > This is the **correct** Spanish pronunciation, and also the way I pronounce it because I can’t bring myself to pronounce it the American way. The two-syllable pronunciation is the more common American interpretation. > > It’s not a Spanish word, though. It’d been used in English since at least Elizabethan times. Uh… [yes it is](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/garrote). > [@Merriam Webster](#): > > Origin of GARROTE: > > Spanish _garrote_ > First known use: 1622 Yeah it’s been used in English for a while… but it’s still a Spanish word. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-garrote/555778/28 "2010-10-05T04:47:26Z")
All these conversations for all these many years - and do you know, the word has never once made it’s way into any of them. But thank you all - it’s the kind of word that when you do need to use it, it seems to me that mispronouncing it would be particularly awkward. ---
**Author:** ![kombatminipig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5ac83/32.png) [@kombatminipig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kombatminipig)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-garrote/555778/29 "2010-10-05T12:12:56Z")
Strange, it’s a common word for me. I usually use it in the same context as the words ‘Microsoft’, ‘HP’, ‘Oracle’ or ‘the fucking people who walk slowly in front of me’. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-garrote/555778/30 "2010-10-05T12:20:07Z")
You don’t have to use a word to be familiar with it. Films, TV, books etc. ---
**Author:** ![kim\_jung\_il](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/54ee81/32.png) [@kim\_jung\_il](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kim_jung_il)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-garrote/555778/31 "2010-10-06T04:50:32Z")
ga-rot (very fast “a” sound) almost like “grot” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-garrote/555778.md?page=1)