# Military guys mispronouncing "cache" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 10, 2003, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-guys-mispronouncing-cache/167720 "2003-04-10T04:17:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![djbdjb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@djbdjb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/djbdjb)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-guys-mispronouncing-cache/167720/1 "2003-04-10T04:17:47Z")
I have at least twice now heard interviews with soldiers saying they were looking for arms “Ka-shays”. Coincidence, or is this the way some DI says it, with no recruits daring to correct him? ---
**Author:** ![lorinada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5e925/32.png) [@lorinada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorinada)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-guys-mispronouncing-cache/167720/2 "2003-04-10T04:33:24Z")
I heard a reporter say it today, too, and wondered if it was an alternative pronunciation I had not encountered before. But according to **[dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com)** the only pronunciation is _cash_. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-guys-mispronouncing-cache/167720/3 "2003-04-10T04:48:43Z")
They’re just trying to add a little cachet to their speech. ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-guys-mispronouncing-cache/167720/4 "2003-04-10T05:02:27Z")
Considering that they’re more-or-less in the ball park on sabot, I’m suprised that they’d mispronounce cache. So I checked my Oxford Dictionary of Foreign Words & Phrases and it matches [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com): cache is pronounced cash. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-guys-mispronouncing-cache/167720/5 "2003-04-10T06:36:38Z")
Well, the military also pronounces Five as “fife”, and Nine as “Niner”. Sometimes pronunciations are changed to avoid confusion with other words, especially in terse radio communication. I suspect “Cache” is pronounced “Cash-AY” for that reason. ---
**Author:** ![BF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5ac83/32.png) [@BF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BF)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-guys-mispronouncing-cache/167720/6 "2003-04-10T13:19:12Z")
A weird dichotomy as I pronounce weapons hoards, etc., as cash-ay, yet I’m a computer geek, and when speaking in computerese, pronounce it as cash?!?! ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-guys-mispronouncing-cache/167720/7 "2003-04-10T14:45:05Z")
Almost everyone I know pronounces “forte” as fot-tay, so what are you gonna do? ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-guys-mispronouncing-cache/167720/8 "2003-04-10T14:45:12Z")
Almost everyone I know pronounces “forte” as for-tay, so what are you gonna do? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-guys-mispronouncing-cache/167720/9 "2003-04-10T15:02:03Z")
Hey, I pronounce forte “for-tay” and I’m a French speaker. Maybe it’s all those Italian classes… ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-guys-mispronouncing-cache/167720/10 "2003-04-10T15:47:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CurtC \* > \*\*Almost everyone I know pronounces “forte” as for-tay, so what are you gonna do? \*\* Depends, are they talking about music being played loudly? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-guys-mispronouncing-cache/167720/11 "2003-04-10T15:57:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CurtC \* > \*\*Almost everyone I know pronounces “forte” as fot-tay, so what are you gonna do? \*\* Well, for-tay is the correct pronounciation if you’re talking about loud music. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-guys-mispronouncing-cache/167720/12 "2003-04-10T15:58:06Z")
Maybe the military were watching that old W.C. Fields film. “I have a _kash-ay_ of the elusive spondulix!” ---
**Author:** ![Flying\_Monk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/48db29/32.png) [@Flying\_Monk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flying_Monk)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-guys-mispronouncing-cache/167720/13 "2003-04-10T16:31:31Z")
Maybe there’s some sort of connection to “nucular”… ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-guys-mispronouncing-cache/167720/14 "2003-04-10T17:06:32Z")
I have to point out that all the computer guys I knew back in high school and college had a tendency to pronounce the kind of “cache” a motherboard or CPU has as “ka-shey”. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Doris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Sir\_Doris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Doris)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-guys-mispronouncing-cache/167720/15 "2003-04-10T17:21:05Z")
I’d go with [btomndeb\*\* - mixing up cache with cachet. I’ve heard an alternative to “cash” as “caysh” but never “cashsay”. ---
**Author:** ![Kalashnikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/2bfe46/32.png) [@Kalashnikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalashnikov)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-guys-mispronouncing-cache/167720/16 "2003-04-10T17:37:43Z")
\ I haven’t had a chance to observe this myself, but I read somewhere that sometimes people who pronounce nuclear nuc-u-lar when speaking of nuclear weapons or power, will still pronounce it correctly when speaking of nuclear families - go figure.v 😕 \ ---
**Author:** ![T.Slothrop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3e96dc/32.png) [@T.Slothrop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T.Slothrop)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-guys-mispronouncing-cache/167720/17 "2003-04-10T20:25:43Z")
The military has been consistently mispronouncing “cache” since Viet Nam and probably before. I don’t know why the journalists have picked it up, ignorance ? The military has little quirks like that which become institutionalized. For instance, in the Army, when you are leading physical training exercises, “the small of the back” is the nape of the neck, but for the rest of the English speaking world, it the back of the waist. ---
**Author:** ![T.Slothrop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3e96dc/32.png) [@T.Slothrop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T.Slothrop)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-guys-mispronouncing-cache/167720/18 "2003-04-10T20:38:27Z")
I think the pronunciation of cache as “cashay” is what was called a “reading pronunciation” or “reading mispronunciation” in a speech class I took once. It is a mispronunciation caused by learning the word from reading it rather than hearing someone else say it. It is like pronouncing the “p” in “pseudo”, when it should be silent, like the “p” in "swimming. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-guys-mispronouncing-cache/167720/19 "2003-04-10T20:39:22Z")
T.S. Not ignorance, but rather analogy, in the Linguistic sense. ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-guys-mispronouncing-cache/167720/20 "2003-04-10T21:35:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by T. Slothrop \* > \*\*I think the pronunciation of cache as “cashay” is what was called a “reading pronunciation” or “reading mispronunciation” in a speech class I took once. It is a mispronunciation caused by learning the word from reading it rather than hearing someone else say it. \*\* Yeah, but if they get “sabot” more-or-less right, why would they have that problem with “cache”? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-guys-mispronouncing-cache/167720.md?page=2)