# How do you say calliope? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 2, 2012, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-calliope/626968 "2012-07-02T04:14:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-calliope/626968/21 "2012-07-02T14:26:25Z")
All these song references and we’ve missed the calliope crashing to the ground when Blinded by the light. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-calliope/626968/22 "2012-07-02T14:36:56Z")
Hey, didn’t Bruce Springsteen and Manfred Mann have a song that mentioned the calliope? If only I could remember what that was. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-calliope/626968/23 "2012-07-02T14:37:15Z")
> [@Kiyoshi](#): > > How is it pronounced? I imagine a lot of people just say frap. Me, I avoid the whole issue and just ask for the caramel blended coffee drink. Also, I say cuh-lie-oh-pee. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-calliope/626968/24 "2012-07-02T14:38:13Z")
> [@Kiyoshi](#): > > Wait–that’s not how to pronounce “frappe”? (I’ve never heard it out loud, but I assumed it must rhyme with “latte”…) > > How is it pronounced? The chilled coffee drink called a frappé is pronounced fra-pay. The vowel in the first syllable is a short a, like in apple. The regional milkshake drink called a frappe or a frappé is pronounced frap. [http://dictionary.infoplease.com/frappe](http://dictionary.infoplease.com/frappe) ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-calliope/626968/25 "2012-07-02T14:39:01Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Cah-LIE-oh-pee. > > If it’s good enough for Bruce Springsteen it’s good enough for me. Same here. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-calliope/626968/26 "2012-07-02T14:42:47Z")
My Mother is from deepest, darkest, Georgia, and she pronounces it “Call-aye-oh-pee”. I think you just ran into a bit of ignorance. It’s not exactly an everyday word. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-calliope/626968/27 "2012-07-02T14:47:25Z")
Native Georgian checking in. Raised out in the country and everything. ca-LIE-o-pee I don’t think the pronunciation you heard has anything to do with the speaker being from Georgia. It’s just an example of someone trying to pronounce a word they’ve perhaps only encountered in written form. Like “victuals.” ---
**Author:** ![RalfCoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@RalfCoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RalfCoder)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-calliope/626968/28 "2012-07-02T14:49:58Z")
I’ve always used “Cah - LYE - oh - pee” - pronounced with 4 syl - LA - buls. On a related topic - back in the 70’s, I once heard the Sunday morning radio guy (the time slot where they put the most inexperienced guy who probably pays the station to let him near the equipment) give the morning announcements of upcoming events. One item was about a class in macrame. For youse kids, this is that artform of tying knots in fuzzy yarns and stuff to hand plants, pots, decorative bottles, etc. It was da bomb back in the day of shag carpets, afros, and polyester disco shirts. Only this guy pronounced it “mah - KRAME”. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-calliope/626968/29 "2012-07-02T15:02:13Z")
As a small child I learned it as ‘ca-LYE-o-pee’. Which threw me for a loop when I visited New Orleans and heard ‘Cally-ope Street’. It was like hearing someone pronounce Hueneme as ‘Hyoo-neem’ or Sepulveda as ‘Sepple-veeda’ or La Jolla as ‘La JOLL-a’. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-calliope/626968/30 "2012-07-02T15:06:07Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > As a small child I learned it as ‘ca-LYE-o-pee’. Which threw me for a loop when I visited New Orleans and heard ‘Cally-ope Street’. It was like hearing someone pronounce Hueneme as ‘Hyoo-neem’ or Sepulveda as ‘Sepple-veeda’ or La Jolla as ‘La JOLL-a’. Here in Chicago, we have streets named Devon (duh-VAHN), Paulina (paul-EYE-nuh) and Goethe (GO-thee). Makes out of towners twitchy. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-calliope/626968/31 "2012-07-02T15:10:57Z")
“Many an infant that is screaming like a calliope Could be soothed with a little attention to its diope.” –Ogden Nash ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-calliope/626968/32 "2012-07-02T15:17:17Z")
I used to have a subscription to Calliope Magazine as a kid (and Cobblestone too) and would pronounce it Cally-ope. I don’t remember any phonetics that told me differently and was in my 20s before consciously hearing it differently and pronouncing it as cah-lie-oh-pee. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-calliope/626968/33 "2012-07-02T15:31:51Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > **Penel** -ope and **Pers** -ephone know the problem too well. I was thinking about Penelope, actually. I know very well how to pronounce it, but every time I see it in print, I always read it as PEN-uh-lope until mentally correcting myself. ---
**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:** [July 2, 2012, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-calliope/626968/34 "2012-07-02T15:32:17Z")
I say kəˈlʌɪəpi, but I remember looking it up to be sure of the pronunciation. I don’t remember ever mispronouncing it, but I’m still sure I must have at least once. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-calliope/626968/35 "2012-07-02T15:40:54Z")
Always Kuh-lye-oh-pee for me. But I had read the word cacophony many times, never having heard it pronounced. In my head it was kawk-oh-phoney. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-calliope/626968/36 "2012-07-02T15:58:29Z")
Detritus is and always will be “DEH-trih-tuhs” (emphasis on first syllable, short i in the middle) in my head. :smack: Learning words from books does have its perils. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-calliope/626968/37 "2012-07-02T16:08:35Z")
kuh-LYE-oh-pee. I was going to suggest cal-lee-OH-pee to be facetious but I guess that’s how some really say it that way. I suppose one could make the case for a silent e and come up with kuh-LYE-up. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-calliope/626968/38 "2012-07-02T16:10:05Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > As a small child I learned it as ‘ca-LYE-o-pee’. Which threw me for a loop when I visited New Orleans and heard ‘Cally-ope Street’. It was like hearing someone pronounce Hueneme as ‘Hyoo-neem’ or Sepulveda as ‘Sepple-veeda’ or La Jolla as ‘La JOLL-a’. Yep, New Orleans has a way with street names. Tchoupitoulas, Burgundy, and of course, Calliope (kahl-ee-ope). ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-calliope/626968/39 "2012-07-02T16:20:35Z")
I just showed this word to my boyfriend who hadn’t ever seen it or heard it before, and asked him to pronounce it. He came very close to the correct pronunciation sounding it out. He said something like cuh-lie-oh-pee. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-calliope/626968/40 "2012-07-02T16:20:51Z")
> [@lost4life](#): > > Yep, New Orleans has a way with street names. Tchoupitoulas, Burgundy, and of course, Calliope (kahl-ee-ope). You meen ‘CHOP-i-too-las’ and ‘Bur-GUN-dee’? 😛 Actually, I had no problem with Tchoupitoulas since I’d never heard the word before going to New Orleans. Say, there’s this shop I want to go to in the French Quarter. I think it’s on Rue-something… 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-calliope/626968.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-calliope/626968.md?page=3)