# How do you pronounce the phrase "interesting restaurant"?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [October 6, 2010, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218 "2010-10-06T04:55:11Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@elninost0rm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elninost0rm)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/21 "2010-10-06T13:05:22Z")
In-tres-ting rest-ront here.
Pittsburgh.
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### Author:  [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/22 "2010-10-06T13:12:04Z")
I have the impression that many people think they pronounce the extra syllables when they actually don’t really. I don’t know that’s true, but it makes me doubt people’s self-reported pronunciation if they don’t say something like “I always thought this and then I moved to this other place and everyone said something different.”
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/23 "2010-10-06T13:13:49Z")
I had to think about it, and I’m still not sure how I’d naturally pronounce “interesting.” In some contexts (“Very interesting!”) it’d have four syllables, but I _think_ if I said “That’s an interesting restaurant” it’d have three. Restaurant, though, has three syllables.
(I grew up, and still live, in central Illinois.)
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### Author:  [@mil0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mil0)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/24 "2010-10-06T14:25:13Z")
“in-ter-es-ting res-tront”
New York.
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### Author:  [@statsman1982](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/statsman1982)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/25 "2010-10-06T14:33:43Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#):
>
> Seems I pronounce it differently than all posters so far: IN-tə-resting REST-ə-ront. Each syllable is separate, but the shwa in restaurant is slightly less distinct than the other syllables.
>
> It’s funny though, my pronunciation of the word ‘interest’ depends on how I use it. For example, in the sentence “The interest on my savings account is crap”, or any sentence where the word ‘interest’ is money-related, I pronounce it: IN-trest. However, in a sentence such as “I have no interest in your problems”, or for any non monetary reference, I pronounce it: IN-tə-rest.
>
> I was raised in Kansas, went to college in NY, and have spent most of my adult life in the Mid-Atlantic states with a few stints in various parts of Europe.
I make that same distinction in pronunciation between interest (money earned on money) and interest (my attention on something). Maybe it’s not logical. I also do it if I’m talking about “offense” and “defense” (in a sports context, it’s OF-ense and DE-fense" for me), but in normal usage it’s of-FENSE and de-FENSE.
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### Author:  [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/26 "2010-10-06T14:40:57Z")
“in-tres-ting res-tah-ront”
I guess my dialect has influences from north, central, and southern Indiana.
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### Author:  [@Shark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shark)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/27 "2010-10-06T14:44:15Z")
“in-ter-es-ting res-tah-ront” Midwest, but my pronunciation of each word could change when used in a different context. I think it is the combination of the two long words that make me want to pronounce each syllable distinctly in this phrase. If I was going to say “that’s interesting” I would say in-tres-ting. If I was going to say “What restaurant are we going to?” it would be res-tront. Put the two words together and I change my pronunciation.
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### Author:  [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/28 "2010-10-06T14:45:14Z")
INtresting RESTǝront. The schwa is barely there, but there.
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### Author:  [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/29 "2010-10-06T14:53:04Z")
Usually #4. I swallow the extra syllable in interesting, but not in restaurant. If I am e-nun-ci-at-ing, then I put the extra syllable back. But it sounds phoney and pompous, just a little bit.
Living in Northern WV, grew up in Southern WV. My accent’s always been closer to the former than the latter.
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### Author:  [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/30 "2010-10-06T15:24:50Z")
> [@Shade](#):
>
> I have the impression that many people think they pronounce the extra syllables when they actually don’t really. I don’t know that’s true, but it makes me doubt people’s self-reported pronunciation if they don’t say something like “I always thought this and then I moved to this other place and everyone said something different.”
Well, like I mentioned above, sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t.
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### Author:  [@kapri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kapri)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/31 "2010-10-06T15:44:55Z")
I spent my first 13 years in southeastern PA, so that’s where I learned to speak. I don’t have that Philly accent anymore, but I sometimes revert to the way many people speak up there. It sounds kind of “lazy” to me. I voted “in-tres-ting res-tah-ront,” which is how I would probably say it most of the time. However, I am an English professor, and when I’m around colleagues or students my pronunciation tends to be more “correct” than when I’m around family. In a professional context I would generally tend to pronounce every syllable of “interesting.”
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/32 "2010-10-06T16:11:41Z")
You can get anything you want
At Interesting Restaurant…
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### Author:  [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/33 "2010-10-06T16:16:05Z")
I chose the first option, but now that I think about it, I’m not sure how many syllables I pronounce in “interesting.” I definitely _read_ it as four syllables, though. “Restaurant,” without question, has two syllables.
> [@Manwich](#):
>
> I think about this sort of question almost every day because I teach ESL. With words like \*library, restaurant, interesting, everything \*and _different_ I usually teach the “correct” extended pronunciation but I will use the reduced forms whenever I can so students get the opportunity to hear them.
OK, I’ve stared at this for a few minutes and can’t even figure out what the reduced form of “library” would be. Help me out? It’s not “lie-berry,” is it?
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/34 "2010-10-06T16:30:34Z")
#3. Southeast US, but I grew up in the UK.
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### Author:  [@QuercusMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuercusMax)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/35 "2010-10-06T16:33:46Z")
> [@multimediac17](#):
>
> Australian, option number three, though in different sentences I might pronounce interesting as “in-ter-est-ing”.
Ditto. Except I’m from Cleveland.
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### Author:  [@Kalypso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalypso)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/36 "2010-10-06T17:33:26Z")
I’d say “in-ter-es-ting res-tah-ront” or “in-ter-es-ting res-tront” interchangeably. “Interesting” always has three syllables for me, but restaurant can have two or three depending on context and my mood.
Edit to add, I’m from California.
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### Author:  [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/37 "2010-10-06T17:35:39Z")
Option #2 for me. Chicago born and bred.
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### Author:  [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/38 "2010-10-06T17:50:21Z")
> [@BetsQ](#):
>
> OK, I’ve stared at this for a few minutes and can’t even figure out what the reduced form of “library” would be. Help me out? It’s not “lie-berry,” is it?
That’s one. “Lah-bry” is another, and something more like “lie-bree.”
From people whose accent isn’t far off mine, I hear the four-syllable rendition of “interesting” as connoting skepticism, or perceived weirdness. (Eyebrow arch optional.) The three-syllable is face value, actual interest.
So if I meant to say, in fact, that it was an interesting restaurant, I’d use three syllables per word. I’m in Virginia.
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### Author:  [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/39 "2010-10-06T17:57:20Z")
#3. Utah.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-phrase-interesting-restaurant/556218/40 "2010-10-06T18:20:09Z")
“FLY in-FEST-ed SHIT-hole”, usually.
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