Okay, I know the dictionaries say si-KAY-duh or si-KAH-duh. But I knew a man who pronounced it chi-KAH-duh or chi-KAY-duh (I don’t remember which). He was not prone to mispronunciations in general, and he was highly educated (B.S. in biology, M.S. in biochemistry, and another Masters degree for good measure). I never asked him about his odd pronunciation of this one word, and now he’s dead so I can’t.
I know “cicada” is a Latin word. The way Latin pronunciation is taught now is supposed to be more like the way the ancient Romans spoke. But before WWII (when he was a schoolboy), they taught different pronunciation rules. I know that he used to pronounce “Veni, vidi, vici” with vs like English vs (instead of like English ws) and the c was like the ch in English “church.” This site has the rules of Church Latin pronunciation. C before e or i is pronounced like English ch. Otherwise (I presume) c is to be pronounced like English k.
Is it possible he was pronouncing “cicada” as a Latin word? Would his pronunciation have been considered correct Latin in his school days? Most importantly, was his pronunciation ever correct English?
As for your friend well, nobody’s perfect. Most of the edjumacated people I know have had a word or two that they pronounced wrong, until corrected at least. I sure have.
Having lived my early life in Ohio, home of the nastiest of those little critters, I can say sa-KAY-da was the preferred pronunciation. However, there are quite a few of the people in that area (southern Ohio, sorta Kentucko maybe) who insisted (to my extreme consternation… little pet peeve I guess) on pronouncing it sa-KAY-dee-uh. For some reason, they insist on inserting the extra i as if it were spelled cicadia.
I have always heard it pronounced
si-KAY-duh. A dictionary should give the proper way to pronounce it.
P.S. Thankyou for the name of that movie, it was Brewster McCloud.
Here in DC, it’s lo-CUST. Actually, during the 1987 swarm, the pronounciation si-KAY-duh won out.
For those that have recently moved to the Washington area, be prepared for Spring 2004. That’s when this 17-year-cicada population is going to hatch. (Actually, they’ve already hatched. They’re just waiting things out underground in their pupal stage.) They’re be @!#?@! everywhere. If you’re bugged by bugs, plan to be away from the area until late June.
Hubby enjoys catching me, the wordsmith, pronouncing words wrong. (Hey, I can spell them, and I know what they mean, I’ve just never heard them spoken!) So it was with great pleasure that I corrected his pronunciation of this word: KEE-kee-dah.
I like to think it’s because I picked up most of my prodigious vocabulary through reading rather than by listening to people, but it’s entirely possible I’m subhuman, and lucky just to be alive.
I say si-KAY-duh, but I am changing immediately over to the Garcia pronunciation cited by Shaky Jake.
I know a bunch of articles came out showing how to cook 'em up. Grossed me out.
One almost killed me. I was leaning against the railing of our 6th floor balcony talking with my dad. Then one of the @!#?@! things flew right in my face. I lost my footing, and started to fall over the railing. Fortunately, I grabbed a vertical support next to me real quick. Gave me the largest surge of adrenaline I’d ever experienced.
There were a few traffic accidents blamed on them as well, from them flying into cars with windows down. Damn, this is DC! Why weren’t they using their A/C!? :D:D
When they first emerged, I awoke to an eerie sound. From my bedroom, it sounded like the sound effect on “Star Trek” when a phaser was on overload. But I was the only one home, and the TV was off. I looked all around the apartment for the source (A/C register? Water pipes? Parents’ TV?). Then I looked outside and saw the sides of all the buildings crawling with cicadas! And me with my bug aversion! It was a lovely couple of months. :rolleyes:
This is a joke, right? The locust is a completely different insect.
And consider yourself lucky that you live in an area where the cicadas come out only once in 17 years. In other parts, such as down here in Texas, they’re out every year.
CICADA - After 17 years of dormancy underground, the best known of the 1,500 species of cicada emerges for five weeks of lively activity in the sunlight, and then dies. With the possible exception of the termite queen, this cicada may be the longest living insect.
The nymphs–as the cicada’s young are called–drop from the tree twigs where they have hatched from eggs. They burrow into the ground, attach themselves to rootlets, and remain there motionless, sucking the tree sap, for 17 years. Then by instinct they leave their burrows to climb the trunk of a tree. Their skins split open, and mature cicadas emerge.
For their few weeks of aboveground life the cicadas make the air resound with their shrill ear-piercing song. Only the males can make this noise, which led an ancient Greek to say, “Happy are the cicadas’ lives, for they have voiceless wives.” The sound varies with different species. The noisemaking apparatus consists of little drumlike plates at the base of the abdomen that are vibrated rapidly by strong muscles. The female cicadas do immense damage to forests and orchards by cutting row upon row of egg pockets in twigs, causing twigs and leaves to fall off. One female lays from 200 to 600 eggs.
More than 100 species are found in America north of Mexico. The 17-year cicada (which in the South matures in 13 years) lives only in the United States. The commonest cicada is the black and green harvest fly, which matures in two years. The 17-year cicada is often incorrectly called the 17-year locust. True locusts are grasshoppers.
The cicada, usually greenish with red and black markings, is 2 inches (5 centimeters) or more in length, with four wings, a wide head, a three-jointed beak, an abdomen of six segments, prominent compound eyes, and three ocelli, or simple eyes. Cicadas are in the genera Magicicada and Tibicen.
Actually, during the 1987 swarm, the pronounciation si-KAY-duh won out.