# Is the pronunciation of 'biopic' shifting?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-pronunciation-of-biopic-shifting/702355>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 24, 2014, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-pronunciation-of-biopic-shifting/702355 "2014-10-24T14:57:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-pronunciation-of-biopic-shifting/702355/21 "2014-10-25T19:32:39Z")

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> [@CurtC](#):
>
> I first read it maybe five years ago, and pronounced it “bi-oppic” until I figured out that it was a biographical picture so should be bio-pic. I don’t know that I’ve ever heard it said, I’ve just read it.

I had the same path with the older word “whodunit.” I was probably a teen before I figured out both that it wasn’t “wod-younit” and what it meant, exactly.

> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#):
>
> “Trailer” to refer to a movie preview has been around since the 1920s, possibly earlier.

Because they used to be tacked onto the last reel and thus “trail” the feature.

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**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:** [October 25, 2014, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-pronunciation-of-biopic-shifting/702355/22 "2014-10-25T23:58:02Z")

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The [top](http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/pronunciation/british/biopic) [three](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/biopic) [dictionaries](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/biopic) that showed up when I googled the word do not even have bi-opic as an alternate pronunciation. I didn’t notice it in [the rest](https://www.google.com/search?q=biopic+pronuncation), either.

I include Wiktionary because, if any dictionary was going to be updated quickly in response to actual pronunciation changes, it is that one.

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**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2014, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-pronunciation-of-biopic-shifting/702355/23 "2014-10-26T00:12:10Z")

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The one that gets me is miniseries. To me it looks like min isseries. I know it’s nonsense and scan back to it - Ah! - Mini series. Why not two words?

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**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2014, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-pronunciation-of-biopic-shifting/702355/24 "2014-10-26T00:45:44Z")

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hyphens are your-friend

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