# Megalodon should be pronounced similar to iguanodon and pteranodon **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 24, 2025, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megalodon-should-be-pronounced-similar-to-iguanodon-and-pteranodon/1014745 "2025-02-24T20:02:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [February 25, 2025, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megalodon-should-be-pronounced-similar-to-iguanodon-and-pteranodon/1014745/41 "2025-02-25T20:26:11Z")
Yeah, pronunciation rules for English are something like: 1. Try to think of familiar words, or parts of familiar words that resemble the new word (or parts of it). 2. Try to pronounce it that way 3. Good luck and Gods peed. ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2025, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megalodon-should-be-pronounced-similar-to-iguanodon-and-pteranodon/1014745/42 "2025-02-25T21:22:55Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I still struggle with “epitome”, which I pronounce like a book: EPPY tome. If they wanted “e PIT o mee” they could have spelt it “epitomy”. > > (I am serious. It’s a stupid spelling.) Holy cow, I’m not the only one! In my slightly younger days, I read it with the “tome” sound in my head, but would speak it properly, until one day I read it out loud (it was the name of a store in a mall we were driving by) and everyone was very confused. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2025, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megalodon-should-be-pronounced-similar-to-iguanodon-and-pteranodon/1014745/43 "2025-02-25T21:24:16Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > > [@CalMeacham](#): > > > > I was surprised to read that the accepted American pronunciation is IM-pee-us, which seems calculated to confuse the unfamiliar about the meaning and root of the word. > > Huh? > > impious: IM-pee-us > pious: PEE-us > piety: PEE-it-ty > > They match perfectly. Of course, I also say EE-ther, not EYE-ther. What? Where are you from that you pronounce pious as PEE-us. That’s… utterly bizarre. ---
**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:** [February 25, 2025, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megalodon-should-be-pronounced-similar-to-iguanodon-and-pteranodon/1014745/44 "2025-02-25T21:27:01Z")
I wonder if they worked backwards from imperious (which is not im-per-eye-us) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2025, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megalodon-should-be-pronounced-similar-to-iguanodon-and-pteranodon/1014745/45 "2025-02-25T21:33:26Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > There is no Spanish word “quixotic”, it’s a word coined by English speakers. True, but “Quixote” isn’t pronounced “Quix-oat” in Spanish, or in American English ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2025, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megalodon-should-be-pronounced-similar-to-iguanodon-and-pteranodon/1014745/46 "2025-02-25T21:33:41Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > imperious Most kids of my generation will know that one from the original Battlestar Galactica. Imperious Leader! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2025, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megalodon-should-be-pronounced-similar-to-iguanodon-and-pteranodon/1014745/47 "2025-02-25T21:37:01Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I actually am not sure how to pronounce that! > > For years I thought it was “Sigh-ny doch”. If someone would be so kind… suh nek duh kee > [@](#): > > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8\_LDxZReTc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8_LDxZReTc) This is why there’s a movie entitled _Synecdoche, New York_. It’s a pun on Schenectady, New York. > **[Synecdoche, New York](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synecdoche,_New_York)** > > Synecdoche, New York (/sɪˈnɛkdəki/ sin-EK-də-kee) is a 2008 American postmodern psychological drama film written and directed by Charlie Kaufman in his directorial debut. It stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as an ailing theater director who works on an increasingly elaborate stage production and whose extreme commitment to realism begins to blur the boundaries between fiction and reality. The film's title is a play on Schenectady, New York, where much of the film is set, and the concept of syne Th... ---
**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:** [February 25, 2025, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megalodon-should-be-pronounced-similar-to-iguanodon-and-pteranodon/1014745/48 "2025-02-25T22:14:19Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > So I will willfully mispronounce “Quixotic” […] and other words that appear incorrect in an effort to change the norms. It’s gotta start somewhere. > [@Pleonast](#): > > > [@CalMeacham](#): > > > > I insist that it should be pronounced Kee-hoh-tic, not Kwix-oh-tic. > > There is no Spanish word “quixotic”, it’s a word coined by English speakers. In case you are interested, the original Spanish terms are: quijotesco, -a: **[cite](https://dle.rae.es/quijotesco?m=form)** donquijotesco, -a: **[cite](https://dle.rae.es/donquijotesco)** quijotil, which has no femenine, as it means relative to or pertaining to _the book_ El Quijote. **[cite](https://dle.rae.es/quijotil?m=form)** It’s a nice hill to fight a guerrilla warfare from. I’m with you in spirit. Though I still don’t know how anyone wants megalodon, iguanodon, pteranodon (the “p” is silent! that much I care for) to be pronounced. I guess I am doing it wrong. > [@CalMeacham](#): > > “Quixote” isn’t pronounced “Quix-oat” in Spanish, or in American English That would be weird, even by the standards of any English, American or not. Now I wonder what you call the inhabitants of **[Ibiza](https://dle.rae.es/ibicenco?m=form)**. ---
**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:** [February 25, 2025, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megalodon-should-be-pronounced-similar-to-iguanodon-and-pteranodon/1014745/49 "2025-02-25T22:26:25Z")
Right. Just like speed limits. ---
**Author:** ![Quondam\_Mechanic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quondam_mechanic/32/3404_2.png) [@Quondam\_Mechanic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quondam_Mechanic)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2025, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megalodon-should-be-pronounced-similar-to-iguanodon-and-pteranodon/1014745/50 "2025-02-25T22:26:59Z")
Not to mention that some substantial fraction of Spaniards (speakers of the Castilian dialect, I believe) pronounce “x” the way English speakers pronounce “sh” – so “Don kee-SHOTTAY”. Ninja’ed – I was replying to **Pardel-Lux.** ---
**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:** [February 25, 2025, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megalodon-should-be-pronounced-similar-to-iguanodon-and-pteranodon/1014745/51 "2025-02-25T22:52:39Z")
You can’t tell the English language what to do. Logic has nothing to do with pronounciation. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2025, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megalodon-should-be-pronounced-similar-to-iguanodon-and-pteranodon/1014745/52 "2025-02-25T23:18:10Z")
Yep. If people were logical, we would never hear mischievous mispronounced as miss cheeve ee us. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2025, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megalodon-should-be-pronounced-similar-to-iguanodon-and-pteranodon/1014745/53 "2025-02-25T23:21:28Z")
I remember once reading about something bilobed and spending a breif time trying to figure out what a bill-oh-bed was. ---
**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:** [February 25, 2025, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megalodon-should-be-pronounced-similar-to-iguanodon-and-pteranodon/1014745/54 "2025-02-25T23:21:40Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > Yep. If people were logical, we would never hear mischievous mispronounced as miss cheeve ee us. Or people misspelling “[mischievious](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mischievious)”. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2025, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megalodon-should-be-pronounced-similar-to-iguanodon-and-pteranodon/1014745/55 "2025-02-25T23:33:59Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Yeah, pronunciation rules for English are something like: > > 1. Try to think of familiar words, or parts of familiar words that resemble the new word (or parts of it). > 2. Try to pronounce it that way > 3. Good luck and Gods peed. Did you do #3 on purpose? Either way, I love it. ---
**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:** [February 26, 2025, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megalodon-should-be-pronounced-similar-to-iguanodon-and-pteranodon/1014745/56 "2025-02-26T00:00:30Z")
There’s also the case of Raymond Luxury-Yacht… ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2025, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megalodon-should-be-pronounced-similar-to-iguanodon-and-pteranodon/1014745/57 "2025-02-26T21:37:26Z")
Back in the olden days, when I transferred from community college to a University, my major required that I take one Classical Language course. At registration, I found exactly one class with a seat open, which is how I came to be the only music major among a bunch of pre-medical students studying Bioscientific Terminology. It was in this course that I learned about the Greek prefix MEGALO (as opposed to simply MEGA), from which we derive such terms as _megalomaniac, megalopolis_, and _MEGALODON_. I’m also aware that the Greek root for tooth is ODON, not simply DON, and that dropping the supernumerary O was a well-thought out convention adopted by the paleotaxonomists. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megalodon-should-be-pronounced-similar-to-iguanodon-and-pteranodon/1014745.md?page=2)