# Pronunciations even experts disagree on **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 8, 2023, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898 "2023-01-08T23:50:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2023, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/1 "2023-01-08T23:50:45Z")
I’m talking mainly about pronunciation of technical or jargon terms used in a profession, where different people, equally experienced in the area, disagree about the pronunciation. As anti-examples, in my experience in software engineering, “URL” is always pronounced “you-are-ell”, not “earl”. “OS” is “oh-ess”, not “awss”, but “MS-DOS” is “em-ess-dawss”. “80486” is (was) always pronounced “eighty-(pause)-four-eighty-six”, not “eight-oh-four-eight-six” or any other variant. On the other hand, there is no clear agreement on “SQL”. Some database engineers says “ess-kyu-ell” and other equally experienced ones say “sequel”. “GIF” might be another example, although in my experience, the pronunciation with the hard G is more common among professionals. What are some other examples of this latter situation? They don’t have to be related to computer technology of course, they could be terms from plumbing, auto repair, architecture or any other field with its own jargon. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/2 "2023-01-09T00:11:36Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > “GIF” might be another example, although in my experience, the pronunciation with the hard G is more common among professionals. You’d think from the military I’d have examples, but can’t think of one now. There’s a reason for GIF being tough, though. In English, there’s a rule that a G before an I is a soft G (giraffe, gin, giant), but this is an acronym, and the G stands for “graphic,” a hard G. Generally, in acronyms, letters are pronounced as they are in the word from which they are derived. That’s why “DOS” isn’t pronounced like the Spanish word for two, or with a voiced S, even though a single S at the end of a word is often pronounced like a Z in English-- not always, but often enough that if you saw “dos,” in lowercase, you’d pronounce it “dooz”; cf. “Dos and don’ts.” ---
**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:** [January 9, 2023, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/3 "2023-01-09T00:16:38Z")
You only have a one in three chance that any two random automobile mechanics will agree on how to pronounce “Jaguar”. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/4 "2023-01-09T00:17:24Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > “GIF” might be another example, although in my experience, the pronunciation with the hard G is more common among professionals. Agreed, though the person who created the format insisted that it should be pronounced “Jif.” > **[Stephen Wilhite, creator of the GIF, has died](https://www.theverge.com/2022/3/23/22992066/stephen-wilhite-gif-creator-dies)** > > The man behind the internet’s favorite animated images ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/5 "2023-01-09T00:18:38Z")
Political operatives and physicists/chemists disagree on the pronunciation of “unionized”. Does that count? (To answer my own question: no) ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/6 "2023-01-09T00:20:46Z")
I never understood why it was decided that SCSI should be pronounced “scuzzy” and not “sexy”. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/7 "2023-01-09T00:23:14Z")
Since you’re looking at technical terms, I’ll throw in one from biology: apoptosis. There is no consensus on whether the second p is silent, and variation on syllable emphasis. [Language Log » Ask Language Log: pronouncing apoptosis](https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=19827) ---
**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:** [January 9, 2023, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/8 "2023-01-09T00:25:51Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > In English, there’s a rule that a G before an I is a soft G But exceptions to this rule do exist (give, begin, Gilbert). “Gigabyte” also seems to be pronouceable with either a hard or a soft G. ([cite](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gigabyte)) ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/9 "2023-01-09T00:45:00Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > But exceptions to this rule do exist (give, begin, Gilbert). I’m guessing that pronunciation of Gilbert comes from another language. Loan words violate rules all the time. I love the verb “filet” in English, when it gets conjugated, or inflected for time: “filets”; “fileted.” There’s also a rule in English that a G is soft before an E (gestation, general-- “guess” has the U just to make the G hard). Notorious exception is the loan word “Gestapo,” which I recently heard a 19-yr-old college student, who had seen it written but never heard it, pronounce with a soft G. I, unfortunately, laughed before I could stop myself. Felt very bad about it. She wasn’t dumb, and was clear on what the word meant. She’d just never heard it, and textbooks don’t have foot- or paranthetical notes on pronunciation, although seems like it’s time. ---
**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:** [January 9, 2023, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/10 "2023-01-09T00:46:25Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > There’s also a rule in English that a G is soft before an E I get that. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/11 "2023-01-09T00:47:36Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > but “MS-DOS” is “em-ess-dawss” I’ve only ever heard it as em-ess-doss > [@RivkahChaya](#): > > In English, there’s a rule that a G before an I is a soft G (giraffe, gin, giant) Never heard of this rule before, but I guess as garage is a French work it’s okay it breaks it twice! My example is species, said as spea-seez or spea-sheez. ---
**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:** [January 9, 2023, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/12 "2023-01-09T00:49:47Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > > [@RivkahChaya](#): > > > > In English, there’s a rule that a G before an I is a soft G (giraffe, gin, giant) > > Never heard of this rule before, but I guess as garage is a French work it’s okay it breaks it twice! Huh? There are no i’s in “garage.” ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/13 "2023-01-09T00:51:14Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > > [@markn\_1](#): > > > > but “MS-DOS” is “em-ess-dawss” > > I’ve only ever heard it as em-ess-doss We’re probably saying the same thing: /dɔːs/. I was trying to avoid IPA because some people get freaked out about it. Oh, also, my dialect doesn’t have the [COT-CAUGHT merger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_merger), so those are two different sounds for me. There could be some confusion if those sounds are not distinguished in your dialect. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/14 "2023-01-09T00:54:27Z")
I was at a meeting once where two of us were native New Yorkers, and three were from the midwest. We were discussing two clients, one a man named Don, and the other a woman named Dawn. When either of us NYers referred to them, we just used the first names-- no confusion at all. But the midwesterners had to refer to them by first and last name. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/15 "2023-01-09T00:57:59Z")
Another pair like that is Aaron and Erin. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/16 "2023-01-09T01:01:34Z")
Are you asking about words where the experts actually disagree about which pronunciation is correct or are you including words that have more than one correct pronunciation like “the” or “either”? ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/17 "2023-01-09T01:06:09Z")
The former. Cases where expert A consistently pronounces a word one way, while expert B pronounces it another way. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/18 "2023-01-09T01:09:16Z")
There’s also a Hebrew girls name Aron. Completely different name from Aaron in Hebrew. Oh, and John and Jonathan are Angicized version of two different (albeit, similar, but still distinct) Hebrew names, that each have three syllables. My son’s name on his US birth certificate is John, but his certificate for his bris and bar mitzvah have his 3-syllable Hebrew name. I’m amused when gentiles create spelling mash-ups, and name boys things like Johnathan. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/19 "2023-01-09T01:35:10Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Generally, in acronyms, letters are pronounced as they are in the word from which they are derived. That may be the common case, but it’s hardly universal. See SCUBA, POTUS, NATO, SIM, YOLO, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/20 "2023-01-09T01:48:14Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > There’s also a rule in English that a G is soft before an E (gestation, general-- “guess” has the U just to make the G hard). Notorious exception is the loan word “Gestapo, 🤔 geeky gelded gecko gears get geyser [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898.md?page=2)