# Oregon & Uranus **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 21, 2018, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-uranus/810968 "2018-03-21T14:29:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-uranus/810968/21 "2018-03-21T20:39:05Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > I seem to remember growing up in the '60’s and '70’s that the last syllable of “Oregon” was pronounced like the word “gone”. The problem with saying that one word is pronounced like another, is that your reader may not share your pronunciation of that other word. I’ve always said “Or - (e) - gun”, with the middle syllable barely there. The last syllable has a schwa for a vowel. I was born in 1961 by the way. I have also heard many people say what I would describe as “Or - e - gahn”, but that always sounds wrong to me. I’ve never heard it said to rhyme with the word gone. That one sounds like “gawn” or “gaun” in my dialect. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-uranus/810968/22 "2018-03-21T22:04:19Z")
Doesn’t Orgone have something to do with [a Kate Bush video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Cfm35RY1rQ)? ---
**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:** [March 21, 2018, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-uranus/810968/23 "2018-03-21T22:10:04Z")
Sometimes I cannot tell whether a person is speaking of the state or of a noble gas. ---
**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 22, 2018, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-uranus/810968/24 "2018-03-22T03:50:32Z")
Thread title make me wanna scream, “What are ‘Two places you can’t pump your own gas’, Alex!” ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-uranus/810968/25 "2018-03-22T04:44:42Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > The classical Greek pronunciation is, “YOUR-uh-nus”. Though the dictionary says that either is correct, a true purist would go with the original Greek. No. The classical Greek (transliterated) is Ouranos, which I think is pronounced something like oo-RAH-nos. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-uranus/810968/26 "2018-03-22T05:07:44Z")
I cannot ever recall Uranus being pronounced as “your anus,” except for TV shows in which it was probably deliberately done as a joke. It was usually “urine-nus” - which, of course, sounds bad in its own right. There’s just no way that name can sound good no matter what. ---
**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:** [March 22, 2018, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-uranus/810968/27 "2018-03-22T05:25:32Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Thread title make me wanna scream, “What are ‘Two places you can’t pump your own gas’, Alex!” Says the guy who lives in Nevahda. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-uranus/810968/28 "2018-03-22T07:34:19Z")
There’s a tendency in English for unstressed vowels to become schwas. I have always pronounced it ORE-uh-gun, and that’s how I usually hear it pronounced. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-uranus/810968/29 "2018-03-22T09:55:22Z")
When I moved to Oregon in 1960, everybody was diligently ontask to make sure I pronounced it like “organ” with a faint vowel hitch between the R and the G. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-uranus/810968/30 "2018-03-22T09:57:49Z")
In school, in the 1950s, it was “your anus” and nobody snickered, because kids in those days didn’t know what an anus was. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-uranus/810968/31 "2018-03-22T14:45:54Z")
Anyone claiming that we pronounce it “Ory_gin_” is pulling it out of theranus. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-uranus/810968/32 "2018-03-22T16:45:19Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > In school, in the 1950s, it was “your anus” and nobody snickered, because kids in those days didn’t know what an anus was. I was born in 1950, and by 6th Grade we certainly knew that word. Snickering would ensue. 1962, but still. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-uranus/810968/33 "2018-03-22T19:06:05Z")
I pronounce “Oregon” as instructed by the locals: “DAM-site-better-than-callie-fornyah” Turns out the “g” is silent. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-uranus/810968/34 "2018-03-22T23:21:03Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Thread title make me wanna scream, “What are ‘Two places you can’t pump your own gas’, Alex!” Well, it wouldn’t be very healthy, but there’s no law against pumping gas into Ur-anus… Personally, I live in (and pronounce it) Nogero, but I’m kind of backward that way. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-uranus/810968/35 "2018-03-22T23:43:06Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > I’m on the other side of the country, and I’ve never heard the ‘g’ in ‘Oregon’ pronounced with a ‘j’ sound. If you think a ‘j’ was endorsed or suggested by anyone upthread, there may be confusion. Perhaps we need to bump the _Phonetic Transcription_ thread. 🙂 ---
**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:** [March 23, 2018, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-uranus/810968/36 "2018-03-23T03:46:44Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Well, it wouldn’t be very healthy, but there’s no law against pumping gas into Ur-anus… > > Personally, I live in (and pronounce it) Nogero, but I’m kind of backward that way. One guy who said he went to school down there told me the locals pronounce it like “engway”, but we always said it like “enegoo”. Was he having me on? ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2018, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-uranus/810968/37 "2018-03-23T04:09:16Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Other than the Midwest twang on the second syllable (approximately ‘can’ instead of ‘con’), I’m not sure how else it would be pronounced. Funny someone mentioned the sportscasters prompting the correct pronouncing of “Oregon”. The same sportscasters are responsible for the mispronouncing of _Wes_consin. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2018, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-uranus/810968/38 "2018-03-23T05:06:10Z")
41-Year old, lived my entire life in Washington State. There is a lot of variety on how you pronounce the first two syllables. Most people prounounce it or-a-gun, with the middle syllable done quickly but never omitted. A few say ore-a-gun, while a lot more pronounce it or-ah-gun or or-eh-gun. I almost never hear OR-y-gun in this state. The one thing everyone agrees is NEVER rhyme with “gone”. By the way, what’s with the people pronouncing this state as war-sheen-ton? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2018, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-uranus/810968/39 "2018-03-23T05:49:02Z")
All I know is I can see Uranus quite clearly tonight. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2018, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-uranus/810968/40 "2018-03-23T13:24:14Z")
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