# How do you pronounce greasy **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 10, 2013, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-greasy/668499 "2013-09-10T14:07:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-greasy/668499/21 "2013-09-10T17:32:09Z")
I almost always hear it with an ‘S’ but I used to work with a guy from the south (Georgia? maybe) who always said it with the ‘Z.’ I figured it was a regional thing. ---
**Author:** ![want2befree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3e96dc/32.png) [@want2befree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2befree)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-greasy/668499/22 "2013-09-10T18:33:51Z")
How about a nice big greezzy pork sandwich served in a dirty ashtray? ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-greasy/668499/23 "2013-09-10T18:39:57Z")
Grease-ee unless I’m talking about a gree-zee spoon ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-greasy/668499/24 "2013-09-10T21:05:29Z")
I unapologetically say it “greezy.” It drives my wife nuts. She also doesn’t like the way I pronounce “aunt.” ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-greasy/668499/25 "2013-09-10T22:46:22Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > I unapologetically say it “greezy.” It drives my wife nuts. She also doesn’t like the way I pronounce “aunt.” That we have reached detente on. She has ants, I have aunts. She is ant to her sister’s son and aunt to my sister’s daughters. If we have kids they will have one ant and one aunt. Thus is the peace preserved. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-greasy/668499/26 "2013-09-11T00:27:12Z")
Always “greesy,” never “greezy.” I always figured the ones who say “greezy” were lead astray by the resemblance between _greasy_ and _easy_. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-greasy/668499/27 "2013-09-11T01:16:28Z")
Neither. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-greasy/668499/28 "2013-09-11T01:16:32Z")
On reflection, my pronunciation of the word is context-sensitive. In a food context, I generally seem to pronounce it with the sibilant, “gri si”. In a mechanical context, I pronounce it “gri zi”. Oddly–though I’m second-guessing my own pronunciation now–the exception is in the expression “greasy spoon”. Even though it’s food-related, it gets the Z treatment. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-greasy/668499/29 "2013-09-11T01:36:48Z")
I say gree-see. I’ve never heard the gree-zee pronunciation. ---
**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:** [September 11, 2013, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-greasy/668499/30 "2013-09-11T01:53:37Z")
> [@fachverwirrt](#): > > My wife, on the other hand, varies her pronunciation based on context. If something just has grease on it, she agrees with me. However, the food in a hole-in-the-wall diner or similar place is “gree-zee”. Sounds kind of like the Southern pronunciation of Naked vs. Nekkid. According to Lewis Grizzard, “_Naked_ means you ain’t got no clothes on. _Nekkid_ means you ain’t got no clothes on and you’re up to somethin’.” ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-greasy/668499/31 "2013-09-11T02:13:47Z")
Gree-zee, as in the commercial linked in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-greasy/668499/32 "2013-09-11T02:19:49Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > I say gree-see. I’ve never heard the gree-zee pronunciation. You need to get out more. Hang with some lowlifes. Date Mickey Rourke.😉 ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-greasy/668499/33 "2013-09-11T03:01:56Z")
Greezee. No one I know pronounces it the other way. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-greasy/668499/34 "2013-09-11T03:07:52Z")
Pizza can have too much greeSe on it, but the pan is greeZy. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-greasy/668499/35 "2013-09-11T03:37:03Z")
If I wanted to pronounce it with a “z,” I’d spell it with a “z.” ---
**Author:** ![Silvorange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Silvorange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silvorange)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-greasy/668499/36 "2013-09-11T03:52:24Z")
> [@fachverwirrt](#): > > I say [gri-si] (“gree-see”) (i.e. with an unvoiced “s”). > > My wife, on the other hand, varies her pronunciation based on context. If something just has grease on it, she agrees with me. However, the food in a hole-in-the-wall diner or similar place is “gree-zee”. I think it’s an interesting distinction. > > I am from New Hampshire, she is a native St. Louisan. I am with your wife all the way. I am from Kentucky. ---
**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:** [September 11, 2013, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-greasy/668499/37 "2013-09-11T04:05:55Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > If I wanted to pronounce it with a “z,” I’d spell it with a “z.” Yeah, but English doesn’t work that way. I’m only slightly exaggerating when I say about half the time you see an “s” you actually pronounce a “z.” ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-greasy/668499/38 "2013-09-11T04:27:40Z")
Nm, thought better of it. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-greasy/668499/39 "2013-09-11T05:02:43Z")
It’s gree-see. Unless we’re talking about grease in the past tense, as in _Greezed Lightning_ ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-greasy/668499/40 "2013-09-11T17:40:27Z")
> [@sahirrnee](#): > > Grease-ee unless I’m talking about a gree-zee spoon Yep, exactly. I do this too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-greasy/668499.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-greasy/668499.md?page=3)