# Pronunciation question: "Gemini"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-question-gemini/1033667>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Tags:** movies\
**Created:** [October 8, 2026, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-question-gemini/1033667 "2026-10-08T13:35:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-question-gemini/1033667/21 "2026-10-08T21:42:28Z")

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And where do Gemini Croquettes fall into all this?

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**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2026, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-question-gemini/1033667/22 "2026-10-09T02:15:54Z")

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It’s a minced oath used by French food fanatics

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**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2026, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-question-gemini/1033667/23 "2026-10-09T02:44:43Z")

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The songs “I Took a Trip on a Gemini Spaceship” by the Legendary Stardust Cowboy, and “The Revenge of Vera Gemini” by Blue Oyster Cult and Patti Smith, use the gem-i-knee pronunciation that NASA preferred.

According to a docent I briefly talked to at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago (which houses the Gemini 12 capsule) a few years ago, the story is that whoever it was in NASA that named the program had only ever read the word in books rather than hearing it out loud and didn’t know it’s usually pronounced “gem-in-eye”, and so that’s what NASA stuck with.

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**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2026, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-question-gemini/1033667/24 "2026-10-09T02:52:00Z")

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> [@Smapti](#):
>
> whoever it was in NASA that named the program

Alex Nagy. He was rewarded with a bottle of scotch.

[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/lbPFT1-1x_U/maxresdefault.jpg "Why Was NASA's Gemini Program Called Gemini?") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbPFT1-1x_U)

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