# How do you pronounce "porcupine"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 3, 2012, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-porcupine/636599 "2012-10-03T17:01:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-porcupine/636599/41 "2012-10-05T16:47:37Z")
por-cue-pine The “k” sound is definitely the beginning of the second syllable and not the end of the first. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-porcupine/636599/42 "2012-10-05T16:59:50Z")
Option 1, but I think I’ll begin pronouncing it ‘Pore-shoe-peen’. Because it sounds fancy and vaguely ‘European’ (see ‘Jag-you-are’ and "al-you-min-i-um’). ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-porcupine/636599/43 "2012-10-05T18:51:40Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > I always thought that was Walt Kelly’s doing. I don’t think he originated it, but was reflecting a southern dialect (although Kelly coined quite a few words and phrases in that genre). My mother, who didn’t have the slightest idea who Walt Kelly was, nor would be likely to read any comics (the work of the Devil, they were), used the term “porky” informally, much in the same way she used “possum” or “wood pussy” (for skunk). And all her life she wondered why people laughed when she said she saw a skunk that way; she never caught on. ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-porcupine/636599/44 "2012-10-05T19:13:35Z")
Porkwarbler Mangrupine. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-porcupine/636599/45 "2012-10-05T21:47:06Z")
Pour Cue Pine ---
**Author:** ![foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9a140/32.png) [@foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolscap)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-porcupine/636599/46 "2012-10-05T22:32:03Z")
por-cue-pine:D ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_Urquhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-porcupine/636599/47 "2012-10-05T23:01:31Z")
“Pork-uh-pine,” but only for the same reason that I pronounce another word “speck-tack-uh-lar.” Not sure what that reason is, but it’s what I do. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-porcupine/636599/48 "2012-10-05T23:09:09Z")
I used to say porkypine, but I say porc-you-pine now. ---
**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:** [October 10, 2012, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-porcupine/636599/49 "2012-10-10T19:08:36Z")
Closest to the top one, but the second syllable is neutralized, closer to a schwa. Closer to a dropped off “ya” at the end of a sentence than a “you.” ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-porcupine/636599/50 "2012-10-10T19:29:59Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > I failed to perform a search on a [poll pronouncing coupon,](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=667478) even though that poll is still going, here’s another word that crossed my mind. > > “Porcupine”, how you say? How often do you use _porcupine_ in conversations ? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-porcupine/636599/51 "2012-10-10T20:45:25Z")
I chose option 1, though I divide the syllables slightly differently than you: pore_cue_pine. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-porcupine/636599.md?page=2)