# How do you pronounce 'ramen'? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 7, 2012, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-ramen/612034 "2012-02-07T00:25:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-ramen/612034/21 "2012-02-07T18:41:02Z")
I say it ‘ra-men’. Not ‘ray’, to rhyme with ‘say’, as might be suggested by the spelling; not ‘rah’ with the same a-sound as ‘father’; but ‘ra’ with the a-sound that ‘cat’ has in my dialect, which I think is sometimes indicated as ‘æ’. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-ramen/612034/22 "2012-02-07T18:56:08Z")
So the various pronunciations offered so far include – ['ra mɪ̈n] (rahmen) ['reɪ mɪ̈n] (raymen) ['roʊ mən] (Roman) [roʊ 'meɪn] (romaine) [ra 'me:] ['ræ mɪ̈n] (rammen) Jragon, how would you transcribe the Japanese pronunciation that you use? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-ramen/612034/23 "2012-02-07T19:47:50Z")
Lo mein. ---
**Author:** ![industrialfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/fbc32d/32.png) [@industrialfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/industrialfish)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-ramen/612034/24 "2012-02-07T21:50:00Z")
Well, it’s different than varelse. ---
**Author:** ![dba\_Fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c37758/32.png) [@dba\_Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dba_Fred)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-ramen/612034/25 "2012-02-08T00:52:51Z")
So-baa. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-ramen/612034/26 "2012-02-08T01:48:38Z")
I know it’s “RAH-men,” but when I see it, my mind goes to “RAY-men” first. Just like, when I see “awry” in print, my mind initially says “AW-ree.” ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-ramen/612034/27 "2012-02-10T07:25:16Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > So the various pronunciations offered so far include – > > ['ra mɪ̈n] (rahmen) > ['reɪ mɪ̈n] (raymen) > ['roʊ mən] (Roman) > [roʊ 'meɪn] (romaine) > [ra 'me:] > ['ræ mɪ̈n] (rammen) > > Jragon, how would you transcribe the Japanese pronunciation that you use? About the same as the first one except with an alveolar tap/flap instead of an alveolar approximant. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-ramen/612034/28 "2012-02-10T07:34:28Z")
Egyptian sun god+multiple male humans. ---
**Author:** ![kenner116](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@kenner116](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenner116)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-ramen/612034/29 "2012-02-10T07:43:53Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Egyptian sun god+multiple male humans. Falcon-head dudes I don’t recall ever hearing it called RAY-men. Sounds too much like Raymond noodles. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-ramen/612034/30 "2012-02-10T09:33:22Z")
> [@adeste fideles](#): > > I used to say ray-men, then I heard other people say it the “right” way, felt for a time like an ignorant, uneducated rube, and then started saying rah-men. I’m going throught that right now. I’ve eaten a whole heap of them in my lifetime, but only ever discussed or heard about them in textual media. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-ramen/612034/31 "2012-02-10T11:57:34Z")
I picked rah-men, but normally what I say is closer to “rammin’ noodles”, which looks really wrong when I write it out like that! I haven’t eaten that stuff since elementary school, when the fashion was to crunch up the dry noodles and sprinkle on the seasoning packet and eat it like that as a crunchy snack. ---
**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:** [February 10, 2012, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-ramen/612034/32 "2012-02-10T17:32:01Z")
> [@KinkiNipponTourist](#): > > Archie Bunker would just cut thru the crap and say “noodles,” no? 😃 I was picturing something like “You eating those highfalutin raymon noodles, Meathead? Why can’t you eat spaghetti like a real American?” Incidentally, I just learned that highfalutin is a real word, not just a hickism. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Mama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5ac83/32.png) [@Atomic\_Mama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Mama)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-ramen/612034/33 "2012-02-11T06:20:00Z")
I had a boyfriend who grew up in Alaska and ate a LOT of it as a child (his parents were very poor hippie homesteaders)… he called it, very breathilly, “rahhhhhhhhhhhh-mens” 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-ramen/612034.md?page=1)