# How do you pronounce the word "idea"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 2, 2021, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-idea/929539 "2021-01-02T20:32:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-idea/929539/21 "2021-01-03T00:51:16Z")
I pronounce it “I-dee-er”, even though I know it’s wrong, solely 'cause I like the way it sounds. On the other hand, I would never consider saying “nooc-ul-er”. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-idea/929539/22 "2021-01-03T01:07:40Z")
> [@digs](#): > > OP, are you reading these posts? What do you think? > > Where are you from? More importantly, where was your teacher from? Is there a regionalism, or class distinction that would account for the “i-dee” pronunciation? Both from Quebec. Native French speakers. I think he’d picked it up from working class New Yorkers. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-idea/929539/23 "2021-01-03T01:10:57Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Hey, you know what you got if you got a deer with no eyes? A buckeye? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-idea/929539/24 "2021-01-03T01:32:43Z")
A buckeye? A BUCKEYE? Pfft. You truly got no-eye deer. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-idea/929539/25 "2021-01-03T01:35:29Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Hey, you know what you got if you got a deer with no eyes? I have no idea. But what about a deer with no eyes that’s not moving? ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-idea/929539/26 "2021-01-03T01:36:23Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > Both from Quebec. Native French speakers. I think he’d picked it up from working class New Yorkers. Thanks for replying…this would’ve bugged me until I heard. French Canadians and Bronx stevedores? No way would anything normal come of that… ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-idea/929539/27 "2021-01-03T01:43:49Z")
Hmm. Still no-eye deer. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-idea/929539/28 "2021-01-03T03:04:27Z")
How about a deer with no eyes that’s not moving for a long time? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-idea/929539/29 "2021-01-03T03:11:24Z")
Brits I knew in Bangkok always said, “I-deer.” ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-idea/929539/30 "2021-01-03T03:52:04Z")
I could see a strong Bronx accent almost, but not quite swallowing the final syllable. When I try it, I get a closed sort of semi-vocalised -uh at the end. (Sorry if the terminology is wrong. Accents fascinate me, but I have only a passing acquaintance with the jargon.) And the -dee- part is more emphasized. (I don’t have that accent, but I’m speaking of when I try to replicate it, and say “idea.”) I could see a non-native speaker missing the nuance. I have to say, though, an ESL teacher should err on the side of students over-enunciating, rather than warning them against “putting on airs.” That’s just dumb. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-idea/929539/31 "2021-01-03T03:58:39Z")
Yeah, from people in the Bayou or the Hills of Kentucky “I had got no idee that they was gonna do that.” ---
**Author:** ![tripthicket](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripthicket/32/297_2.png) [@tripthicket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tripthicket)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-idea/929539/32 "2021-01-03T04:08:36Z")
eye-DEE-uh (roughly; I’m from The South) My wife has always pronounced it ‘eye-DEE-uhl’, with that L on the end. After 25 years, I’ve learned to let that one alone and chalk it up to one of our family unit’s sayings (I may start a thread someday about inside-phrases and words used within family units). ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-idea/929539/33 "2021-01-03T05:06:12Z")
If I’m staring into the flashlight of southern deputy, I try to avoid putting on airs. Otherwise, it’s three syllables. When he says “Where ya started?”, he means “What destination did you start out for?” ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-idea/929539/34 "2021-01-03T06:36:36Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > I’ve heard “i-DEAR” more often than “I-dee,” that just sounds super weird. Walter Brennan, on The Real McCoys, late 50’s to early 60’s. Strong emphasis on the first syllable, and surrounded with “ain’t” and double negatives, as in “he ain’t got no I-dee of the first thing about farmin’!” ---
**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:** [January 3, 2021, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-idea/929539/35 "2021-01-03T06:57:03Z")
This video contains a completely natural way of saying idea, without putting on any “airs” [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/aLUeQ8A0IEo/maxresdefault.jpg "How to Pronounce Idea") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLUeQ8A0IEo) ---
**Author:** ![Enjoy\_Slurm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enjoy_slurm/32/3937_2.png) [@Enjoy\_Slurm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enjoy_Slurm)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-idea/929539/36 "2021-01-03T07:18:36Z")
That’s a weird way to pronounce idea. I’ve always heard ideeuh or idear. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-idea/929539/37 "2021-01-03T08:48:26Z")
The only people I have ever heard saying “I-Dee” are French delegates at the EU, typically in a phrase like: “Hi 'ave an I-Dee!” It drives me nuts, and I am not the only one, many interpreter colleagues confirm that it is ridiculous. We don’t care if you have an Identity Card or not, you should actually have one, the law of your country requires it, but what we are now looking for is a way out of the mess we’re in. Were it not completely unprofessional I would like to interpret that some day into: “Me heap big I.D.” or something worse, depending on context. Perhaps, on my last day of work before retiring, a French will ask for the floor and … :daydreams of diplomatic incidents, water jugs thrown across meeting rooms, screams, rock&roll: ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-idea/929539/38 "2021-01-03T11:10:54Z")
> Native French speakers. I think he’d picked it up from working class New Yorkers. It’s much closer to, well, native French _idée_ ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-idea/929539/39 "2021-01-03T16:14:34Z")
My Dad pronounces it that way (but isn’t big on double negatives). He grew up in central North Carolina. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-idea/929539/40 "2021-01-03T16:34:56Z")
I would say it’s the teacher who is putting on airs. > [@Mallard](#): > > “I lost my Idy too but not in a flood.” “…I lost my I.D. in… in a flood…” “I lost my wife, too - her name wasn’t Idy, though, and it wasn’t in a flood…” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-idea/929539.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-idea/929539.md?page=3)