# Porcupine- how do you say it? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 10, 2004, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porcupine-how-do-you-say-it/274070 "2004-11-10T19:49:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![porcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac91a4/32.png) [@porcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/porcupine)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porcupine-how-do-you-say-it/274070/41 "2004-11-11T01:57:56Z")
> [@UncleBeer](#): > > Usually it’s "Yes, [dear](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php?username=porcupine). You are so very right. That’s only because I _am_ always right. Anybody calls me porky-pine, they’re gettin’ the smack-down. ---
**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:** [November 11, 2004, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porcupine-how-do-you-say-it/274070/42 "2004-11-11T02:01:20Z")
Roadkill. ---
**Author:** ![pokey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ebca7d/32.png) [@pokey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pokey)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porcupine-how-do-you-say-it/274070/43 "2004-11-11T02:58:25Z")
> [@Anastasaeon](#): > > Concubine. Conkeybines! ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porcupine-how-do-you-say-it/274070/44 "2004-11-11T03:02:04Z")
It’s always been pork-you-pine to me. I only say pork-ee-pine when I’m being silly. ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porcupine-how-do-you-say-it/274070/45 "2004-11-11T03:12:21Z")
Pork-you-pine or quickly, pork-ya-pine. Though it does sound a lot like porky-pine anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porcupine-how-do-you-say-it/274070/46 "2004-11-11T03:13:32Z")
PORK-you-pine. By halfway through this thread, it started to look like a really weird thing to call an animal, though. I bet I won’t be able to remember what you call the thing now! ---
**Author:** ![smartini](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/22d042/32.png) [@smartini](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smartini)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porcupine-how-do-you-say-it/274070/47 "2004-11-11T03:40:13Z")
> [@EJsGirl](#): > > When I hear someone pronounce it “pork-eee-pine” I think of the South, in a bad, less-than-intelligent kind of way. > > “Pork-you-pine” is correct. South checking in here. That would be “por cue pine” por - like “for” ie, no K cue - like a pool cue pine - like a Georgia pine (tree, that is) ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porcupine-how-do-you-say-it/274070/48 "2004-11-11T03:45:37Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > Pork You Pine. I agree with this pronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![Sample\_the\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Sample\_the\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sample_the_Dog)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porcupine-how-do-you-say-it/274070/49 "2004-11-11T03:48:46Z")
por-kyi-pine here. In fact, I’d bet that many folks who think they say “pork-you-pine” actually do not, at least in regular conversation. Unaccented syllables in English tend to get reduced to schwa, which is probably the character **tremorviolet** ran across. As for the people who claim that one pronunciation is “correct” and others “incorrect”… that’s just silly. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porcupine-how-do-you-say-it/274070/50 "2004-11-11T03:53:31Z")
Probably ephemeral, but around here, it may well become _perk-uh-poine_. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porcupine-how-do-you-say-it/274070/51 "2004-11-11T03:54:57Z")
> [@Sample\_the\_Dog](#): > > As for the people who claim that one pronunciation is “correct” and others “incorrect”… that’s just silly. Unfortunately, it’s common for what somebody was taught in English when they were thirteen to be asserted as fact. In most threads, we can at least debunk their source. In this case, we just have to tell them they’re wrong. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porcupine-how-do-you-say-it/274070/52 "2004-11-11T04:07:25Z")
While poor-cue-pine would be the popular pronunciation, I reserve right to use the Walt Kelly pronunciation, as in Pogo, which is Porky-pine. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porcupine-how-do-you-say-it/274070/53 "2004-11-11T06:45:58Z")
Definitely por-cue-pine. “Porky-pine” sounds like something Bugs Bunny would say. ---
**Author:** ![lynxie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e99b99/32.png) [@lynxie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lynxie)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porcupine-how-do-you-say-it/274070/54 "2004-11-11T07:55:01Z")
I thought that I’d say “por cue pine” but after saying it a few times it’s actually closer to “por kyuh pine”. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porcupine-how-do-you-say-it/274070/55 "2004-11-11T11:24:13Z")
Meh-heh-heh… I could a tale unfold whose lightest word Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood, Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres, Thy knotted and combined locks to part And each particular hair to start an end, Like quills upon the fretful porpentine… Hamlet, I, v, 15-20 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porcupine-how-do-you-say-it/274070.md?page=2)