# Pronunciation of "wolf" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 9, 2010, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-wolf/556645 "2010-10-09T23:49:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-wolf/556645/41 "2010-10-12T00:25:28Z")
Grew up in middle California. Have always said _wolf_ myself, but have known lots of people who said _woof_. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-wolf/556645/42 "2010-10-12T01:58:54Z")
> [@Miss\_Woodhouse](#): > > You should hear my mother completely mangle “hormone.” _giggle_ How does one mispronounce that? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-wolf/556645/43 "2010-10-12T02:15:20Z")
I pronounce the ‘w’, ‘l’, and ‘f’ in the normal manner, and the ‘o’ as a schwa. ---
**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:** [October 12, 2010, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-wolf/556645/44 "2010-10-12T02:38:23Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > I pronounce it “woolf” as in Leonard and Virginia Woolf. Yes, but anyone who says “Woof Blitzer” would probably also say “Leonard and Virginia Woof.” ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-wolf/556645/45 "2010-10-12T02:44:30Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > My seventh grade English teacher was from somewhere else (not New England) and she said “woof.” Kids gave her a hard time about it when she read something about wolves to us and said woof every time she got to the word wolf. I’ve never heard anyone else say it that way. My fifth grade teacher, from somewhere down south (her southern accent was noteworthy in 1960’s rural Idaho), a racist and an idiot, pronounced it “woof.” I had never heard it pronounced that way before, and I still associate it with ignorant bigotry. I hear very few people pronounce it “woof,” fortunately. ---
**Author:** ![Electric\_Warrior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Electric\_Warrior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electric_Warrior)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-wolf/556645/46 "2010-10-12T03:52:38Z")
I’m wondering how accurate this poll is going to be considering it’s self-reported. A friend of mine is from Louisiana and she can’t distinguish between the sounds in “wolf” and “woof”. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-wolf/556645/47 "2010-10-12T03:57:28Z")
> [@LorieSmurf](#): > > I say wolf, my husband says woof. I make fun of him when he says it. I always made fun of my mother for pronouncing “tiger” as “tagger”. But she managed to get “wolf” right. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-wolf/556645/48 "2010-10-12T04:01:39Z")
I say “wolf,” but my dog pronounces it “woof.” ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2010, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-wolf/556645/49 "2010-10-16T05:59:11Z")
I didn’t know anyone pronounced it “woof”. ---
**Author:** ![LorieSmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a587f6/32.png) [@LorieSmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LorieSmurf)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2010, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-wolf/556645/50 "2010-10-16T06:49:21Z")
I say “wolves”, my husband says “wooves”. I always laugh and say “What? What are they?” and he’ll hit me or something (not hard) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-wolf/556645/51 "2011-01-26T04:37:49Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I’ve noticed that Mike Wolfe of _American Pickers_, who is from (or at least in) Iowa, sounds like he’s pronouncing his name ‘Woof’. I’ve just noticed he also says ‘Vokes-wagen’ instead of ‘Volks-wagen’. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-wolf/556645/52 "2011-01-26T04:41:57Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I’ve just noticed he also says ‘Vokes-wagen’ instead of ‘Volks-wagen’. That’s how everyone I knew where I grew up in Texas pronounced it. “Vokes-wagen.” I still do (unless I’m speaking German, which happens rarely these days). ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-wolf/556645/53 "2011-01-26T05:16:48Z")
I hear it as “volts-wagon” around here a lot. Regarding wolf/wolves: there is a kind of parasitic worm that gets in squirrels; the old folks call them “wolves”. My first husband would pronounce the word “wolf” as “woof” but when he talked about the worms he’d say “wools”. Most of his pronunciation problems stem from the fact that he doesn’t read very well. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-wolf/556645/54 "2011-01-26T05:29:43Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > I always made fun of my mother for pronouncing “tiger” as “tagger”. But she managed to get “wolf” right. 🙂 [QUOTE=LorieSmurf] I say “wolves”, my husband says “wooves”. I always laugh and say “What? What are they?” and he’ll hit me or something (not hard) [/QUOTE] We really shouldn’t make fun of people for pronouncing things wrong. Eventually linguistic karma is going to catch up to me and someone is going to call me to the carpet for pronouncing howling “howing.” ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-wolf/556645/55 "2011-01-26T06:28:20Z")
People around here say wolf. They also (annoyingly to my ears) pronounce the L in salmon, walk, and talk. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-wolf/556645/56 "2011-01-26T06:51:02Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > We really shouldn’t make fun of people for pronouncing things wrong. Eventually linguistic karma is going to catch up to me and someone is going to call me to the carpet for pronouncing howling “howing.” They’re not wrong and neither are you. ---
**Author:** ![Cara\_mel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/22d042/32.png) [@Cara\_mel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cara_mel)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-wolf/556645/57 "2011-01-26T11:00:52Z")
I voted “woof”. That’s what we say in Australia…AND we say “pahm” for palm. You Americans talk funny 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-wolf/556645/58 "2011-01-26T12:39:16Z")
I pronounce the l but I know many people who don’t. Haven’t bothered keep track of who did what, it’s not a word which comes up too often in casual conversation. ETA: salmon has an l. Walk and talk are wok and tok, no l. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-wolf/556645/59 "2011-01-27T03:02:14Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > ETA: salmon has an l. Walk and talk are wok and tok, no l. No ‘L’ in salmon. ‘Walk’ and ‘talk’ have 'L’s. I worked with a guy from Texas who spoke Spanish as his first language. He pronounced ‘salmon’ the Spanish way, with the ‘L’. Drove me nuts. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-wolf/556645/60 "2011-01-27T09:33:10Z")
That’s not the Spanish way, the Spanish way also has a different emphasis. I say SALmon in English, salMON in Spanish. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-wolf/556645.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-wolf/556645.md?page=4)