# Pronunciation of 'Ikea' and other words **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 28, 2007, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-ikea-and-other-words/389844 "2007-01-28T16:47:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-ikea-and-other-words/389844/21 "2007-01-30T09:17:43Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] Operating system = DOS = Das Vessel = Boat I was saying that it’s pronounced ‘doss bote’, and not ‘doss (or dass) boot’. [/QUOTE] Oh right. Well, that’s certainly better than “boot”, but actually still not exactly how Germans pronounce it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_chao_goes_mu/32/3191_2.png) [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-ikea-and-other-words/389844/22 "2007-01-30T15:08:13Z")
Well, here in the U.S. we are damned if we do and damned if we don’t. Pronounce a foreign words incorrectly and we are arrogant and ethnocentric, if we do bother to pronounce a word as it is in its motherland we are arrogant phony yuppie snobs. 😕 (These criticisms generally come from other Americans by the way) Chao Oh and anheuser busch in the South is ain-hyzer- **bursch** 😛 . ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-ikea-and-other-words/389844/23 "2007-01-30T16:28:50Z")
It took me several minutes to figure out what book an English lady was referring to when she spoke of “Dahn Jew-Ahn.” It wasn’t tilll she started on about “tilting at windmills” that I figured it out. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-ikea-and-other-words/389844/24 "2007-01-30T16:43:57Z")
OK. **Karaoke.** Carry-okie? Kar-okie? ---
**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:** [January 30, 2007, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-ikea-and-other-words/389844/25 "2007-01-30T17:39:44Z")
[QUOTE=whole bean] It took me several minutes to figure out what book an English lady was referring to when she spoke of “Dahn Jew-Ahn.” It wasn’t tilll she started on about “tilting at windmills” that I figured it out. [/QUOTE] Um, it was Don Quixote who tilted at windmills. Don Juan (my high school English teacher, who is American, pronounced it “JEW-ahn” as well) is an epic poem by Lord Byron (among other things). ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-ikea-and-other-words/389844/26 "2007-01-30T17:46:41Z")
[QUOTE=pulykamell] Um, it was Don Quixote who tilted at windmills. Don Juan (my high school English teacher, who is American, pronounced it “JEW-ahn” as well) is an epic poem by Lord Byron (among other things). [/QUOTE] Actually, Byron’s poem is written in such a way that you must scan and pronounce it as JEW-ahn. It’s jarring the first twenty or so times, but you get used to it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-ikea-and-other-words/389844.md?page=1)