# Jaguar **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 13, 2019, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar/831070 "2019-03-13T15:00:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar/831070/1 "2019-03-13T15:00:26Z")
I’m sure most of you heard the news story of the woman who claimed she just “leaned over the barrier” of the jaguar exhibit at an Arizona zoo and had her hand mauled by the jaguar. Reports were that she was trying to take a selfie. She has disputed that. At least the jaguar wasn’t euthanized because of her. And she apologized. She’s still an idiot tho. Anyway, listening to the news reporters, including Savanah Guthrie and Hota Kotb, say jag-wire over and over again just about drove me nuts. I’ve always pronounced it ja-gwar. The dictionary says this is correct. Is jag-wire a regional pronunciation? I’ve heard people pronounce it jag-wire when talking about the car too. UGH ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar/831070/2 "2019-03-13T15:03:46Z")
‘jag-whar’ is what people say. I’ve never heard anyone say ‘jag-wire’. It’s the Mercan word for jaguar. ---
**Author:** ![somepumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@somepumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepumpkin)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar/831070/3 "2019-03-13T15:05:40Z")
I’m not sure about the jag-wire pronunciation. It’s always been jag-u-er to me, whether it’s the car or the beast. I am pretty sure that the selfie-lady was an idiot, though. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar/831070/4 "2019-03-13T15:36:46Z")
Don’t the British sat “jag u wire”? ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar/831070/5 "2019-03-13T15:41:36Z")
For me its more always been jag-u-are; and among the clan/family as well. A few of us have owned the cars now and then over the ages and that is how we’ve said it. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar/831070/6 "2019-03-13T15:48:24Z")
TRC4941, it drives me nuts too. I think more people in these parts say “jag-wire” than say it correctly. I just don’t understand where it comes from. Haven’t they _seen_ the word? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar/831070/7 "2019-03-13T16:44:09Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Haven’t they _seen_ the word? Yeah, it makes me go nucular, too. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar/831070/8 "2019-03-14T10:32:37Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Don’t the British sat “jag u wire”? no, pretty much always “jag you ah” creature or car. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar/831070/9 "2019-03-14T10:40:19Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > no, pretty much always “jag you ah” creature or car. Agreed, though I say/hear something more like shunpiker’s “jag-u-er”. But as usual, these discussions are imprecise without the use of the IPA anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar/831070/10 "2019-03-14T11:08:09Z")
> [@Dead\_Cat](#): > > Agreed, though I say/hear something more like shunpiker’s “jag-u-er”. But as usual, these discussions are imprecise without the use of the IPA anyway. correct, for me “you and u” and “ah and er” can be exactly the same sound for me. Especially the latter, a nonsense rhyme from my childhood memorably went “oompah, oompah, stick it up yer jumper” ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar/831070/11 "2019-03-14T13:38:22Z")
> [@Dead\_Cat](#): > > Agreed, though I say/hear something more like shunpiker’s “jag-u-er”. But as usual, these discussions are imprecise without the use of the IPA anyway. True, in my head I say ‘jhag-you-wuh’, with the ‘wuh’ being very short. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar/831070/12 "2019-03-14T15:00:36Z")
That’s how it’s said in Utah. At least in Salt Lake. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar/831070/13 "2019-03-14T19:14:27Z")
“Jag-wire” is what I remember hearing growing up in St Louis. Of course they pronounce a lot of things funny, so go figure. (Fig-wire?) I’m more likely to say “jag-war” now, although I realize the British say it with three syllables, “jag-you-were”. ---
**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:** [March 14, 2019, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar/831070/14 "2019-03-14T19:23:39Z")
Pan’-thur. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar/831070/15 "2019-03-14T19:24:52Z")
Does ‘wire’ mean something else in these pronunciations than I think it does? I have never heard anyone say ‘jag-wire’, sounding like the word ‘wire’. As mentioned already I mostly hear ‘jar-whar’, where ‘whar’ sounds like ‘car’. Some people do make it into 3 syllables, ‘jag-you-are’ The middle one could be ‘you’, ‘oo’, or ‘uh’, the last syllable could be ‘are’ or ‘whar’ depending on how the middle comes out, and once I met a woman who made the first syllable ‘zhag’, like nothing I can think of rhyming too. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar/831070/16 "2019-03-15T02:31:07Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Does ‘wire’ mean something else in these pronunciations than I think it does? I have never heard anyone say ‘jag-wire’, sounding like the word ‘wire’. That’s how it was said in Utah when I was growing up. That’s still how I say it. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar/831070/17 "2019-03-15T05:36:21Z")
Lucas Electrics! They suck, am I right? They don’t call him “The Prince of Darkness” for nothin’! I’ll be here all week, be sure to tip your bartender and waitress! ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar/831070/18 "2019-03-15T14:37:22Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Lucas Electrics! They suck, am I right? They don’t call him “The Prince of Darkness” for nothin’! I’ll be here all week, be sure to tip your bartender and waitress! ?? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar/831070/19 "2019-03-15T15:01:34Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > That’s how it was said in Utah when I was growing up. That’s still how I say it. Have to keep my ears open now and try to pick that up. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar/831070/20 "2019-03-15T15:27:48Z")
In Chicago, if the car or cat was mentioned at all, it was pronounced, “jag-war”. Jag-u-ar sound affected. Somewhere, I remember a zinger, “What a jag-you-are.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar/831070.md?page=2)