# "jag-wire" is simply not an acceptable pronunciation, right? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 7, 2008, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jag-wire-is-simply-not-an-acceptable-pronunciation-right/432592 "2008-01-07T14:33:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jag-wire-is-simply-not-an-acceptable-pronunciation-right/432592/21 "2008-01-07T20:38:19Z")
Ad for the car call is a “jag-you-are.” Sounds a bit snobby to me, though. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jag-wire-is-simply-not-an-acceptable-pronunciation-right/432592/22 "2008-01-07T20:53:50Z")
My sports anchor says Jag-wire. Always makes me cringe. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jag-wire-is-simply-not-an-acceptable-pronunciation-right/432592/23 "2008-01-07T22:22:50Z")
[QUOTE=Crotalus] Good one. Actually, we had a bus tire in the back yard which we used as a sand box. [/QUOTE] Hee. My favorite is [these](http://www.mpbonline.org/radio/programs/GestaltGardener/images/RadioGarden/070727/1%20-%20New%20Tire%20Planter.JPG), though the ones I’ve seen around here are painted white. ETA: Good God, [here’s](http://www.mindspring.com/~erhoades/yardart/er13a.jpg) a variant I hadn’t seen before! Do British people say Jag-you-are like the women on the commercial? ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jag-wire-is-simply-not-an-acceptable-pronunciation-right/432592/24 "2008-01-07T22:26:36Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] Do British people say Jag-you-are like the women on the commercial? [/QUOTE] Note- I am not making a Monty Python joke here. That is all. ---
**Author:** ![Sockmunkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Sockmunkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sockmunkey)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jag-wire-is-simply-not-an-acceptable-pronunciation-right/432592/25 "2008-01-08T01:04:49Z")
When I looked at the thread name I thought jag-wire was going to be some sort of slang for something really rude or nasty. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jag-wire-is-simply-not-an-acceptable-pronunciation-right/432592/26 "2008-01-08T01:54:08Z")
[QUOTE=vison] Just remember that no one drives a Porsh. In German, if there’s a letter, you say it. [/QUOTE] You know, as a many-year student of German, this is embarrassing. I never thought about it, but then went and looked up \*sche on an online German dictionary, and damned if I wouldn’t pronounce every other one of those endings. Thanks. (although since everyone else around here would say “Porsch”, I’ll probably continue to so as not to sound like a douchebag.) ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jag-wire-is-simply-not-an-acceptable-pronunciation-right/432592/27 "2008-01-08T04:27:23Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] I watched a documentary about the Cold War two nights ago with a very well-spoken Northern Irish woman doing the voice-over, who repeatedly referred to “nuc-u-lar” escalation. GWB, I take it all back - you only do it occasionally; this woman did it about twice a minute [/QUOTE] Bear in mind that Jimmy Carter also used that pronunciation - and he spent time on a nuclear submarine. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jag-wire-is-simply-not-an-acceptable-pronunciation-right/432592/28 "2008-01-08T04:33:14Z")
[QUOTE=MrFloppy] I also live in Baltimore where it is pronounced Jag-Wire by everyone except for me since I’m not from around these parts. In Baltimore, I’m from _Yerp._ More fine Baltimorese: Earl (oil), Tarrs (tires), Zinc (sink), chimley (chimney)and the favorite…‘Downy Owshun’ as in ‘This summer, we’re going downy owshun hon’ as in we’re going to the beach. [/QUOTE] **MrFloppy** , since you’re a Yerpeen, I’ll forgive you this slip, but in the summer we Bawlamerians go “danny ayshun.” (We can’t be bothered to open our mouths wide enough to make the long O sound!) ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jag-wire-is-simply-not-an-acceptable-pronunciation-right/432592/29 "2008-01-08T04:44:53Z")
Uhhgggg. There’s a radio spot in my area where someone pronounces incubator as ink a bator. Drives me nuts. ---
**Author:** ![straykat23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@straykat23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straykat23)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jag-wire-is-simply-not-an-acceptable-pronunciation-right/432592/30 "2008-01-08T06:03:44Z")
My daughter began spouting the jag-wire thing somewhere in the mid-Nineties. The Brits do the jag-u-ar thing so I was a bit sheepish about my jag-war pronunciation; after all, it’s a Brit car, right? Isn’t that the way it should be pronounced? Somehow I can’t make myself do the u-ar thing (why is it so unnatural?) so I ignore my daughter and hope that someday she’ll learn to speak my kinda’ English. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jag-wire-is-simply-not-an-acceptable-pronunciation-right/432592/31 "2008-01-08T06:15:09Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] Everyone I know pronounces it “JAG-wahr”. Some commercials have a British-accented voice soundng out all the vowels – “JAG-you-are”, which sounds pretentious and false to my ears. [/QUOTE] Everyone in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK pronounces it “Jag-You-Are”. “Jag-wahr” just sounds so “American” and wrong to my ears, FWIW. ---
**Author:** ![PaulParkhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jag-wire-is-simply-not-an-acceptable-pronunciation-right/432592/32 "2008-01-08T09:33:17Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] Do British people say Jag-you-are like the women on the commercial? [/QUOTE] Wow, a question I know the answer to 😃 Yes, that’s how Brits generally pronounce the word. ---
**Author:** ![Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bites_when_provoked/32/18073_2.png) [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bites_When_Provoked)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jag-wire-is-simply-not-an-acceptable-pronunciation-right/432592/33 "2008-01-08T09:48:09Z")
Generally I pronounce it ‘jag-you-are’ for the car … and something sorta like ‘zjhag-wahr’\* for the beastie. There is \*no \*excuse for jag-wire. 😃 - I really have no idea how to render the sound in letters, so sorry for the eye-bleeding horribleness of that explanation. ---
**Author:** ![Manikarnika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dfb087/32.png) [@Manikarnika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manikarnika)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jag-wire-is-simply-not-an-acceptable-pronunciation-right/432592/34 "2016-04-28T09:10:17Z")
I dunno about any of you, but I pronounce Jaguar like this… Black Panther Yeah, I’m just being awnry. I’m from Oregon, and the way I was taught to pronounce Jaguar was Jag wahr. Whenever I hear Jag yoo ahr on the Jaguar commercial I think to myself ‘Who says it that way?!’ The reason Jag yoo ahr seems so unnatural to many; including myself, is because ua is generally put together as one syllable, not two. ---
**Author:** ![Manikarnika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dfb087/32.png) [@Manikarnika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manikarnika)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jag-wire-is-simply-not-an-acceptable-pronunciation-right/432592/35 "2016-04-28T09:26:45Z")
There are many, many other words that do separate the vowels u and a though. Accrual for example. Its all in how a person was taught to speak certain words. Equalize can be another one that is pronounced different ways. E-cue-ahl-ize or e-qwah-lize. Actually… actshally, or act yoo ah lee… It is all just a matter of what a persons parents taught, instructors, or even a personal thing just to annoy the hell out of someone. My sister pronounces theatre ‘thee tea err’ and it drives me nuts. Nothing to do with where she is, a speech impediment, or teachings. Its just how she says it. Cause it annoys me. Others I’ve heard on theatre are thee uh ter, and thee aye ter ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jag-wire-is-simply-not-an-acceptable-pronunciation-right/432592/36 "2016-04-28T14:01:10Z")
[QUOTE=Winnie ther Pooh] That’s what Jagular’s always do. They call "Help! Help! and then when you look up, they drop on you. [/QUOTE] I’m looking DOWN! ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jag-wire-is-simply-not-an-acceptable-pronunciation-right/432592/37 "2016-04-28T14:02:28Z")
> [@chaoticbear](#): > > …I’ll probably continue to so as not to sound like a douchebag.) Is that doosh-bag or doo-shə-bag? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jag-wire-is-simply-not-an-acceptable-pronunciation-right/432592/38 "2016-04-28T14:08:55Z")
Can we all agree on the pronunciation of “zombie?” ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jag-wire-is-simply-not-an-acceptable-pronunciation-right/432592/39 "2016-04-28T14:09:27Z")
Most of the people I knew that said “jag-wire” also said “tie-ota”. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jag-wire-is-simply-not-an-acceptable-pronunciation-right/432592/40 "2016-04-28T14:30:58Z")
The animal is a jag-wahr. The car is a jag-you-are, like a mother talking to her baby “Jag you are, yes! Jag you are.” Appropriately IMHO. 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jag-wire-is-simply-not-an-acceptable-pronunciation-right/432592.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jag-wire-is-simply-not-an-acceptable-pronunciation-right/432592.md?page=3)