# How many people here can pronounce Chamois, the material and common purpose? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 20, 2023, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-here-can-pronounce-chamois-the-material-and-common-purpose/994889 "2023-12-20T15:42:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2023, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-here-can-pronounce-chamois-the-material-and-common-purpose/994889/21 "2023-12-20T18:40:33Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > I don’t know offhand how common it is now but it used to be _the_ material for the inner liner of cycling shorts. Yup. traditional cycling bibs were always real chamois, frequently one-piece, & worn against the skin (no underwear). I still have one or two in the closet. For many years they’ve been replaced by synthetics. ---
**Author:** ![FrenchDunadan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frenchdunadan/32/5449_2.png) [@FrenchDunadan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrenchDunadan)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2023, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-here-can-pronounce-chamois-the-material-and-common-purpose/994889/22 "2023-12-20T20:35:32Z")
Well, the pronunciation is like Sham-waa. it’s originally from a kind of mountain goat of the same name. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2023, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-here-can-pronounce-chamois-the-material-and-common-purpose/994889/23 "2023-12-20T20:56:30Z")
Late to the thread, but i have also always pronounced it “shammy”. And chamois shirts, made of cotton but designed to feel like the soft leather, were very popular when i was young. ---
**Author:** ![UDS1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47774/32.png) [@UDS1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS1)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-here-can-pronounce-chamois-the-material-and-common-purpose/994889/24 "2023-12-21T00:35:52Z")
The European antelope: SHAM-wah The leather cloth, now more usually made from sheepskin than from chamois skin; SHAM-ee. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-here-can-pronounce-chamois-the-material-and-common-purpose/994889/25 "2023-12-21T01:44:01Z")
Morrison really was a window washer before he made it big. The chamois cloth references his youth, while most of the rest of the song is about his current life and how much he hated the music business. Of course, he put that into evocative poetry accompanied by stirring music. I think _St. Dominic’s Preview_ is one of the great albums of rock, Morrison as bard peering deep into the world and singing incantations to his followers. Oh, and the third line "And I hear blue strains of “No Regredior” probably means “je ne regrette rien,” the lyrics of the Edith Piaf song. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-here-can-pronounce-chamois-the-material-and-common-purpose/994889/26 "2023-12-21T02:50:32Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Apparently _originally_ originally not sheepskin, but skin of the antelope named chamois. I knew that! Don’t remember where I learned it, but I picked it up somewhere ages ago. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-here-can-pronounce-chamois-the-material-and-common-purpose/994889/27 "2023-12-21T03:15:21Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Morrison really was a window washer before he made it big. The chamois cloth references his youth, while most of the rest of the song is about his current life and how much he hated the music business I discovered Van Morrison later in my life. I always knew Brown Eyed Girl. His other work is quite a revelation. Great lyricist and poet. Anyone that wants a start… get _Van Morrison Still on Top_ A nice 2 CD selection of his popular work. 18 Tracks on CD1 and 19 CD2 You can always get his albums later. But everything you might need is on the 2 cd set. You might want a album just for the vision and story the songs represent. I haven’t bought any yet. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-here-can-pronounce-chamois-the-material-and-common-purpose/994889/28 "2023-12-21T03:22:07Z")
As in “Chamois Chamois Coco Bop”? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-here-can-pronounce-chamois-the-material-and-common-purpose/994889/29 "2023-12-21T04:10:07Z")
Watch the full dance! [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/T0VKl9qwA6s/maxresdefault.jpg "JABBAWOCKEEZ - "BOP" by DaBaby | FULL DANCE + TUTORIAL") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0VKl9qwA6s) ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-here-can-pronounce-chamois-the-material-and-common-purpose/994889/30 "2023-12-21T04:10:45Z")
Yep, I learned that although the French pronunciation is another thing, in the US, it’s just call “shammy”, for better or worse. Made no sense to me, but try telling that to Des Moines. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-here-can-pronounce-chamois-the-material-and-common-purpose/994889/31 "2023-12-21T04:14:31Z")
Exactly. It’s always been a “shammy” to me. My French language sensibilities say something like “sham-wah,” but nobody says it like that. ---
**Author:** ![UDS1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47774/32.png) [@UDS1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS1)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-here-can-pronounce-chamois-the-material-and-common-purpose/994889/32 "2023-12-21T05:48:15Z")
The cloth is “SHAM-ee” in British English as well (though the animal is “SHAM-wah”). This is (mildly) interesting, because one of the characteristics of US English, in contrast to British English, is a tendency to “frenchify” the pronunciation of words taken from French - _fillay_ rather than _fillett_; _garazh_ rather than _garridge_, etc. The pronunciation of _chamois_ seems to be an exception to this rule. (But perhaps it’s a rule with many exceptions.) ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-here-can-pronounce-chamois-the-material-and-common-purpose/994889/33 "2023-12-21T13:26:31Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Morrison really was a window washer before he made it big. The chamois cloth references his youth, while most of the rest of the song is about his current life and how much he hated the music business. That explains why _Saint Dominic’s Preview_ and _Cleaning Windows_ are on his hits album. It confused me because Cd1 track 17 is Saint and track 8 on Cd2 is Cleaning. Thought it was a duplicate until listening closer. Makes sense that he once had that job. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-here-can-pronounce-chamois-the-material-and-common-purpose/994889/34 "2023-12-21T15:06:10Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I’ve always felt comfortable knowing that in a emergency financial bind I could scrap up money by detailing cars in driveways. I know a guy who owns an auto-parts store but is retired from actually working there. He and his wife detail a car or two a week as a sideline. He does the exterior, his wife the interior. My gf has her car done twice a year, $100 a pop, cash only please. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-here-can-pronounce-chamois-the-material-and-common-purpose/994889/35 "2023-12-21T17:48:01Z")
The family business when I was growing up was making signs (everything from sandblasted signs to vinyl truck lettering.) We used “shammies” all the time - the sheepskin ones. I had no idea until now that “chamois” is that same thing. I would pronounce that cham-WAH. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-here-can-pronounce-chamois-the-material-and-common-purpose/994889/36 "2023-12-21T19:27:12Z")
When I was a very little kid like before I started school, my dad used a chamois to clean the car. I always knew it as a shammy. I don’t think I learned the spelling until high school. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-here-can-pronounce-chamois-the-material-and-common-purpose/994889/37 "2023-12-21T19:51:59Z")
I wonder how those would do on monitors and tv screens. ---
**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:** [December 21, 2023, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-here-can-pronounce-chamois-the-material-and-common-purpose/994889/38 "2023-12-21T20:01:57Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > There’s no English cognate to “chamois”, but German has “Gämse”. That is correct for the goat (_Rupicapra rupicapra_ - which is actually an [antelope](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamois)), but the leather is tanned with a special procedure called _[Sämischgerbung](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A4mischgerbung)_, where _Gerbung_ means tanning, and _Sämisch_ is chamois. That is the German cognate you’re looking for, I believe. This kind of tanning is called in French _[chamoisage](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamoisage)_, i.e. chamois-ing. And of course it is pronounced the logical French way in French and “wrong” in English: sham-wah vs. shammy. I find it funny that the German wikipage says the stuff is used to make mainly traditional Bavarian clothes (_[Trachten](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayerische_Tracht)_), while the French page says it is mainly used to make the finest gloves. And you know it as a window cleaner or a car washing utensil! If you look at the picture of the Trachten article you will see the man has a curious brush sticking out of his hat: that is also chamois, but it refers not to the leather but to the hair of the goat (or antelope). And in this case it is called [Gamsbart](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamsbart), (goat’s beard, the goat being of the species _Rupicapra rupicapra_). ---
**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:** [December 21, 2023, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-here-can-pronounce-chamois-the-material-and-common-purpose/994889/39 "2023-12-21T20:31:58Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > _Rupicapra rupicapra_ - which is actually an [antelope](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamois) It’s confusing. In my original post, I had “antelope”, but after looking at the Wikipedia page, I decided “goat” is the better term in English. The species is more closely related to other goats than to antelopes. And the English word “antelope” is basically a catch-all for members of [Bovidae](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovidae) that don’t look like cattle, goats, or sheep. > [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > _Sämisch_ is chamois. That is the German cognate you’re looking for, I believe. Oh, that is interesting. I’m having trouble finding “Sämisch” in online dictionaries; is it a recent loan? German has apparently borrowed the French word for the cloth, while keeping the original Germanic word for the animal. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-here-can-pronounce-chamois-the-material-and-common-purpose/994889/40 "2023-12-21T20:41:04Z")
Shammy. By the time I was old enough to know what they are, I already preferred the synthetic ones. > [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > monitors and tv screens. As far as I know, they’re really best for drying and screens aren’t really a soap & water wash thing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-here-can-pronounce-chamois-the-material-and-common-purpose/994889.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-here-can-pronounce-chamois-the-material-and-common-purpose/994889.md?page=3)