# Pronounciation poll: Thoreau and Thorough **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 4, 2007, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-poll-thoreau-and-thorough/402787 "2007-05-04T18:42:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-poll-thoreau-and-thorough/402787/1 "2007-05-04T18:42:01Z")
My roommate contends that Thoreau and Thorough are homonyms. I contend that the first is pronounced “Tha-Row” (emphasis on the Row, but very definitely an a sound then a row sound) and the latter is pronounced “Thur-oh”. Thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![tashabot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tashabot/32/6250_2.png) [@tashabot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tashabot)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-poll-thoreau-and-thorough/402787/2 "2007-05-04T18:44:15Z")
I’m with you on this one. ~Tasha ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-poll-thoreau-and-thorough/402787/3 "2007-05-04T18:47:09Z")
me too. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-poll-thoreau-and-thorough/402787/4 "2007-05-04T18:50:13Z")
Yup. It’s not like “through” and “threw”. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-poll-thoreau-and-thorough/402787/5 "2007-05-04T18:56:22Z")
Yes, tha-ROE and THUR-oh. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-poll-thoreau-and-thorough/402787/6 "2007-05-04T18:59:02Z")
Down here, we tend to pronounce the latter as “THUR-rah,” but otherwise, yeah. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-poll-thoreau-and-thorough/402787/7 "2007-05-04T19:02:26Z")
The way I say them, the vowel sounds are the same and just the emphasized syllables are different: thuh-ROW vs THUH-row. So I think I see what your roommate is saying, though I wouldn’t call them homonyms. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-poll-thoreau-and-thorough/402787/8 "2007-05-04T20:03:17Z")
I say “thor-oh” (to rhyme with borrow) for Thoreau, but that’s just the influence of names such as “Trudeau”. I’ve never heard anyone pronounce the name, so In could be totally off with it. “Thorough” I pronounce similarly to “thurl”. Likewisem “Peterborough” is “pee-dur-burl”. However, “Scarborough” is “scar-burrow” or even “scar-bro”. I was born in Peterborough. Maybe that has something to do with it… ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-poll-thoreau-and-thorough/402787/9 "2007-05-04T20:05:16Z")
From [this page:](http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:ucfaj6U2maIJ:www.library.ucsb.edu/thoreau/thoreau_faq.html+Thoreau+thorough+job&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=10&gl=us) > [@](#): > > If you go to Concord today, you can hear people pronounce Thoreau’s name as he and his family almost certainly did–they put the accent on the first syllable, and the “o” is short, so it sounds like “thorough.” The current pronunciation in Thoreau’s hometown is significant: the community has remained essentially residential since Thoreau’s time, and the longtime residents are likely to have learned their pronunciation from those who learned it from those who knew the family. > > Another piece of evidence is the fact that one of Thoreau’s correspondents, Daniel Ricketson, sometimes addressed him in letters as “Mr. Thorough” or “Mr. Thoroughly Good,” apparently playing on the pronunciation as an indication of character. I also recall reading a quote from Henry in which he says something like “I’m Thoreau; the pronunciation is apt, for I do a thorough job.” So although we don’t have any recordings of the writer’s voice, the evidence is clearly in favor of **Diosa** ’s roommate. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-poll-thoreau-and-thorough/402787/10 "2007-05-04T20:08:10Z")
[QUOTE=DiosaBellissima] I contend that the first is pronounced “Tha-Row” (emphasis on the Row, but very definitely an a sound then a row sound) [/QUOTE] That’s pretty much how I’ve pronounced it, but with more of a schwa sound than an a sound in the first syllable. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-poll-thoreau-and-thorough/402787/11 "2007-05-04T20:22:30Z")
Without peeking, and risking redundancy: Thoreau: thor-OH Thorough: thur-oh ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-poll-thoreau-and-thorough/402787/12 "2007-05-04T20:27:38Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] I say “thor-oh” (to rhyme with borrow) for Thoreau, but that’s just the influence of names such as “Trudeau”. [/QUOTE] Heh, so how do you pronounce “borrow”? I think it might be the same way I pronounce “burrow”. “Borrow” for me is BAH-roh, very different from “Thoreau”. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-poll-thoreau-and-thorough/402787/13 "2007-05-04T21:50:16Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] Heh, so how do you pronounce “borrow”? I think it might be the same way I pronounce “burrow”. “Borrow” for me is BAH-roh, very different from “Thoreau”. 🙂 [/QUOTE] For me, the first syllable of “borrow” rhymes with “bore”, “more”, “door”, and “floor”. The vowel in the second syllable is almost the same., just without the R-sound on the end. “bore-owe” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-poll-thoreau-and-thorough/402787/14 "2007-05-04T22:54:47Z")
:: check’s **Sunspace** ’s location :: Yep, Canada. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-poll-thoreau-and-thorough/402787/15 "2007-05-05T00:18:17Z")
[QUOTE=Thudlow Boink] :: check’s **Sunspace** ’s location :: Yep, Canada. [/QUOTE] Eh? What was that? 🙂 (I love these comparative-pronunciation threads. It never seases to amaze me how differently we say things. A few years ago I went to my work’s US subsidiary, in Erlanger, Kentucky (near the airport and across the river from Cincinnati), and there were some people there from even further south, and we were talking about various things, and they kept mentioning “pins”. I was quite confused until I suddenly realised that they were talking about “pens”, the things you write with. (Or maybe it was the other way around.)) ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-poll-thoreau-and-thorough/402787/16 "2007-05-05T00:22:00Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] Without peeking, and risking redundancy: Thoreau: thor-OH Thorough: thur-oh [/QUOTE] That’s almost how we hear and say them down this way. Only “thorough” is more “thur-ruh”. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-poll-thoreau-and-thorough/402787/17 "2007-05-05T00:32:10Z")
I would say thor-ROW for the guy, and THOR-row for the, er, other word thingie. Does that make them homonyms or not? I don’t thnk so. OTOH, I use the word “thingie” often when talking about parsing words. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-poll-thoreau-and-thorough/402787/18 "2007-05-05T00:33:45Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] Without peeking, and risking redundancy: Thoreau: thor-OH Thorough: thur-oh [/QUOTE] Yup, that’s how I’ve always heard 'em both. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-poll-thoreau-and-thorough/402787/19 "2007-05-05T01:20:10Z")
That’s odd. I’ve always heard Thoreau pronounced THUR-row. Thorough would be THOR-row, I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-poll-thoreau-and-thorough/402787/20 "2007-05-05T01:24:12Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] I say “thor-oh” (to rhyme with borrow) for Thoreau, … [/QUOTE] I’m with this, which I guess means I’m ready for Canada. Or at least Ontario. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-poll-thoreau-and-thorough/402787.md?page=2)