# Pronounce "Racine" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 8, 2010, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounce-racine/535366 "2010-04-08T01:31:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounce-racine/535366/1 "2010-04-08T01:31:26Z")
It’s a city in Wisconsin (and probably other states). I’ve heard it pronounced two ways. The people who live there typically pronounce it one way and the rest of us tend to pronounce it the other way (the right way:p). So I’m curious as to how someone who’s never seen or heard it would pronounce it. (It’s where the Racine Belles from A League of Their Own where from, but I don’t remember how they said it in the movie). Hmmm, I’m thinking I should have spelled the second option as “Ruh-seen” ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounce-racine/535366/2 "2010-04-08T01:39:29Z")
I thought this was the playwright Racine, so I voted the second… ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounce-racine/535366/3 "2010-04-08T01:54:28Z")
Mr. S’s best friend lives there. I’ve lived in WI all my life and I’ve only ever heard “Ruh-seen.” ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounce-racine/535366/4 "2010-04-08T02:03:14Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#): > > Mr. S’s best friend lives there. I’ve lived in WI all my life and I’ve only ever heard “Ruh-seen.” How does Mr. S’s best friend say it? ISTM that people from Ray-seen say Ray-seen, and the rest of us pronounce it Ruh-seen. To me Ray-seen sounds like something a hillbilly would say. I like to joke that the people who live there just don’t know how to say it correctly. ---
**Author:** ![Obeseus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbce88/32.png) [@Obeseus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obeseus)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounce-racine/535366/5 "2010-04-08T02:11:40Z")
I know people who have that as a surname who say their name ‘Ray-sin’ (like ‘racing’ without the ‘g’.) ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounce-racine/535366/6 "2010-04-08T02:12:21Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > How does Mr. S’s best friend say it? > > ISTM that people from Ray-seen say Ray-seen, and the rest of us pronounce it Ruh-seen. To me Ray-seen sounds like something a hillbilly would say. I like to joke that the people who live there just don’t know how to say it correctly. Ray-seen is what you do with cars, horses or dogs on a track. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounce-racine/535366/7 "2010-04-08T02:16:58Z")
My Racinite dorm roommate at college in Milwaukee called it Ray-cine. I’d always done the same and still do. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounce-racine/535366/8 "2010-04-08T02:18:58Z")
Wisconsinite born and raised; I pronounce it “Ruh-seen.” My Chicago-suburban born-and-raised husband, who spent a lot of time in Wisconsin, calls it “Ray-seen.” ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounce-racine/535366/9 "2010-04-08T02:24:09Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > How does Mr. S’s best friend say it? I dunno, but he’s not from there, he’s from here (central WI). ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Woodhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@Miss\_Woodhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Woodhouse)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounce-racine/535366/10 "2010-04-08T02:38:50Z")
They pronounced it Ray-seen in A League of Their Own, so that’s the choice I went with. I’m not surprised to hear that’s not how the locals pronounce it. There are many, many cities and areas of the country that get pronounced differently by outsiders then they do by locals. After all, people from Oregon get to snicker every time someone east of the of the Mississippi pronounces the name of the state. 😉 And I understand that residents of Boise know who the new people are by how they pronounce the name of the city. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounce-racine/535366/11 "2010-04-08T02:42:25Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > How does Mr. S’s best friend say it? > > ISTM that people from Ray-seen say Ray-seen, and the rest of us pronounce it Ruh-seen. To me Ray-seen sounds like something a hillbilly would say. I like to joke that the people who live there just don’t know how to say it correctly. Well, I AM a hillbilly, and I’d say Ray-seen. So, there’s your evidence. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Enuma\_Elish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5e9695/32.png) [@Enuma\_Elish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enuma_Elish)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounce-racine/535366/12 "2010-04-08T03:42:45Z")
Many residents of Two Rivers, WI pronounce it Trivers. Apparently separating two words is difficult when you live on the lake. Oh as for the OP- it is Ruh-seen. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounce-racine/535366/13 "2010-04-08T03:49:38Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Wisconsinite born and raised; I pronounce it “Ruh-seen.” My Chicago-suburban born-and-raised husband, who spent a lot of time in Wisconsin, calls it “Ray-seen.” Chicago-city born-and-raised. I usually say “ray-seen.” I sometimes slip into “ruh-SEEN” in fast speech but, if asked to pronounce the town on its own, it’ll be with the long “a”. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounce-racine/535366/14 "2010-04-08T04:12:41Z")
Usually, in English, there is either a primary or secondary accent on the last syllable anything that ends in -ine. I can imagine ray-SEEN, but not RAY-seen. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounce-racine/535366/15 "2010-04-08T05:03:14Z")
I picked the first option, but don’t really know (or particularly care) which is correct. It’s not like that city comes up in conversation. Not a particularly important town and I couldn’t place it on a map. If I ever get there, or nearby, I suppose I’ll learn the “proper” way. ---
**Author:** ![mkecane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@mkecane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mkecane)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounce-racine/535366/16 "2010-04-08T06:38:45Z")
Milwaukee resident checking in: I don’t remember ever hearing it pronounced “Ray-seen” by anyone from Racine or the metro area. ---
**Author:** ![SecondJudith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@SecondJudith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecondJudith)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounce-racine/535366/17 "2010-04-08T10:53:33Z")
Sorry, I didn’t fully read the OP – I thought it was referring to the playwright as well. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounce-racine/535366/18 "2010-04-08T10:58:43Z")
I don’t know about the city but if it were the French playwright, it would be Rah-Seen. Short **a**. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounce-racine/535366/19 "2010-04-08T11:56:27Z")
“Racine” is the French word for “root”. I would pronounce it “rah-seen” as I have done since I learned to speak, and it would confuse me to hear “ray-seen”. But the a lot of places have historically non-English words as names that have evolved into something totally different over the years. I used to live in a town with a very high German population. The town was called New Berlin, until that was changed during the war. So many of the streets have German names - and almost none of them are pronounced as they were originally. “Vay-burr” has become “wee-burr” etc. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounce-racine/535366/20 "2010-04-08T12:13:49Z")
> [@Eats\_Crayons](#): > > “Racine” is the French word for “root”. I would pronounce it “rah-seen” as I have done since I learned to speak, and it would confuse me to hear “ray-seen”. > > But the a lot of places have historically non-English words as names that have evolved into something totally different over the years. I used to live in a town with a very high German population. The town was called New Berlin, until that was changed during the war. So many of the streets have German names - and almost none of them are pronounced as they were originally. “Vay-burr” has become “wee-burr” etc. We have a New Berlin here too. I know I’m not the only one who tends to forget if it’s pronounced New BUR-lin or New bur-LIN. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounce-racine/535366.md?page=2)