# How would you say this (sentence) out loud? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 13, 2013, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-say-this-sentence-out-loud/652854 "2013-03-13T20:34:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-say-this-sentence-out-loud/652854/21 "2013-03-14T15:03:20Z")
> [@phouka](#): > > Instead, I’d say “How would you say the following out loud? ‘Sentence’.” Um… no. That’s about the worst interpretation of my question that I can think of. Correction: There’s no way I would have thought of that. ---
**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:** [March 14, 2013, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-say-this-sentence-out-loud/652854/22 "2013-03-14T15:05:17Z")
Your question isn’t terribly clear. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-say-this-sentence-out-loud/652854/23 "2013-03-14T15:18:32Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Your question isn’t terribly clear. Maybe not. Everyone else seems to be getting it, though. Let’s try this: If you’re reading written text out loud, and that text contains one or more words in parentheses, how do you say those words? ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-say-this-sentence-out-loud/652854/24 "2013-03-14T16:16:18Z")
Doing the “air quotes” thing with your voice would make it sound sarcastic, as though you’re mocking the idea that this pathetic string of words is a proper sentence. The best option, I think, is just a slight pause before and after the word. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-say-this-sentence-out-loud/652854/25 "2013-03-15T03:18:35Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Really? You’d replace the “t” with a “d”? I replace it with a little stop - no consonant. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-say-this-sentence-out-loud/652854/26 "2013-03-15T05:36:09Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Really? You’d replace the “t” with a “d”? I live in FL now but I’m an East TN country person. We almost always voice a d instead of a t. The reaction to anybody who _did_ succinctly pronounce a t (in the middle of a word) would be, “You’re not from around here…are you?” ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-say-this-sentence-out-loud/652854/27 "2013-03-15T06:10:22Z")
Missed the Edit window. It’s one of the give-aways. Like Hollywood’s insistence on “thin’.” We don’t end a word on “thin.” Takes too much effort. It’s “thun’.” (“Nuthun’” for nothing. “Sumthun’” (or summ-[stop]-un) for something.) Not hard. Falls off the tongue, from the back of the throat. Probably more than you wanted to hear about it. 😛 I miss our sound. Like I’ve said in other threads, we have to drive into Alabama to hear people who talk right. ---
**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:** [March 15, 2013, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-say-this-sentence-out-loud/652854/28 "2013-03-15T08:52:58Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Maybe not. Everyone else seems to be getting it, though. Let’s try this: > > If you’re reading written text out loud, and that text contains one or more words in parentheses, how do you say those words? That was how I interpreted it (albeit with insight from posts 2 to 14). I pronounce “(” as “That is…”, or similar. ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-say-this-sentence-out-loud/652854/29 "2013-03-15T10:27:47Z")
I paused and flattened my pitch. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-say-this-sentence-out-loud/652854/30 "2013-03-15T10:53:51Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > OK, OK, probably hold up my hands to form parentheses, with a little pause before and after “sentence”. Assuming I was saying it to a person who could see me. Me too. I’m a hand-talker. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-say-this-sentence-out-loud/652854.md?page=1)