# How do you pronounce "Harassment"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-harassment/784866>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 20, 2017, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-harassment/784866 "2017-04-20T18:10:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Emily\_Litella](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emily_litella/32/3370_2.png) [@Emily\_Litella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emily_Litella)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2017, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-harassment/784866/41 "2017-04-21T17:53:58Z")

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What about plain old harass? I pronounce it ha - RASS, I would never say HAIR - ass

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**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2017, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-harassment/784866/42 "2017-04-21T18:21:16Z")

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Okay, now why do you pronounce a word, but it has a pronunciation? What happened to the frigging “o”?

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**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2017, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-harassment/784866/43 "2017-04-21T18:35:31Z")

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> [@Hari\_Seldon](#):
>
> It’s similar to the plural of house. I grew up in Philly, where houses (actually housez) is standard, but practically everywhere else they use the irregular houzez and I use either and do not even hear the difference any more.

> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> Huh. I never noticed that. The “s” is always voiced at the end, but the “s” in the middle can go either way. I _think_ I usually say it with an unvoiced “s”, but now that I think about it, it seems like in slow or deliberate speech, I say “howsez,” but in rapid or spontaneous speech, it comes out more like “howzez.”

> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> I probably say ‘houZeZ’ every time. I kind of think that it’s really ‘houSeS’, and that’s with much more S than Z at the end, but it’s coming out houZeZ every time. On the other hand, I never thought ‘housed’ could be pronounced any way but ‘houZed’.

Sorry to be a boring Brit: but as regards the plural of “house”, I’ve never heard anything over here, but “houzez” – would appear to be here not “irregular”, but standard. Although in the grand scheme of things, there’s no absolute “right / wrong” about pronunciation – any way other than “houzez”, of saying the word for more than one dwelling-unit, feels grotesque to me. (We say “house”, singular, with S not Z; and as per **TriPolar** , we pronounce “housed” as “houZed”.)

(And the whole “-meter” thing, is starting to make my head spin :dubious: !)

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**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-harassment/784866/44 "2017-04-22T13:26:56Z")

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Em-PHA-sis on second syl-LA-ble.

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**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:** [April 23, 2017, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-harassment/784866/45 "2017-04-23T21:15:38Z")

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I would no say kl-LOM-eter than I would ki-LOV-olt or ki-LOG-ram – or, for that matter, cen-TIM-eter or mi-LIM-eter.

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