# 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:** 3
**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, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/41 "2023-01-09T04:55:26Z")
> [@phs3](#): > > but I’ve never heard a soft G in giga-anything, in 43 years in the business, fwiw One of the few times I’ve ever heard it was in the context of “1.21 gigawatts.” [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/fzuO9wHrvGg/maxresdefault.jpg "Back To The Future - 1.21 Gigawatts") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzuO9wHrvGg) ---
**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, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/42 "2023-01-09T05:11:31Z")
I always pronounce LED as ell-eee-dee (or really, “Ellie Dee”), but I’ve heard it pronounced just as “led.” Seems to be a Britishism. ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/43 "2023-01-09T05:33:51Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > As anti-examples, in my experience in software engineering, “URL” is always pronounced “you-are-ell”, not “earl”. URL is pronounced “yurl.” One that hasn’t been brought up yet is the ferryman that the ancient Greeks say took the dead across the River Styx. Is Charon pronounced “Karen” or “Sharon”? People differ. ---
**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, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/44 "2023-01-09T05:40:12Z")
> [@Bootb](#): > > Is Charon pronounced “Karen” or “Sharon”? People differ. I’ve always said car-ON. I’ve also heard care-ON and kay-RON. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/45 "2023-01-09T05:41:12Z")
I don’t agree that there is any rule about pronouncing letters in acronyms the same as the word they come from. The issue is more that we tend to use the more basic, general pronunciation unless there is a strong pattern to do otherwise. There are some words that start with gi- and and pronounced with a soft G, but not enough for that to be a rule. Sure, we have “gin,” but also words like “give,” “gift,” “gig,” “gill,” and “girl.” And then there’s the issue that there already is a somewhat common brand Jif and the words jiff and jiffy that have a J, which might inform the spelling, while using a hard G has no such ambiguity. ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/46 "2023-01-09T05:42:42Z")
Day-ta or dah-ta - wherher “data” is alone or part of another word - e.g. “database”? ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/47 "2023-01-09T06:11:20Z")
[Centimeter: [sen-tuh-mee-ter] vs. [sontimeter] Many decades ago, I had a professor who pronounced centimeter, “_sontimeter_.” When asked about this odd pronunciation, he simply said that “_sontimeter_” was the proper way to say it, and left it at that. I thought “_sontimeter_” sounded pretty cool, so I used that pronunciation for a short while. But, people thought I was nuts, or being precocious, so I stopped. I rarely, if ever, heard anyone else say _sontimeter_ since that time, so I figured the prof must have been yanking our chain. But, many years later, I came across other perplexed docs who also learned “_sontimeter_” in med school from…_someone_. And the “_someone_” was typically a surgeon or a radiologist. My professor was in fact a surgeon. _Hmm, maybe there’s something to this._ I still can’t find a proper explanation for “_sontimeter_.” Is it French? Canadian? Australian? Martian? A silly affectation used only by old-time surgeons and/or radiologists? It remains a mystery to me. But, I’m not alone: > **[Centimeter Vs Sontimeter - The White Coat Investor Forum - Investing...](https://forum.whitecoatinvestor.com/the-lounge/166304-centimeter-vs-sontimeter)** > > A student asked me about this the other day. I remember hearing it a lot when I was in medschool and dismissed it as trend following and people trying to sound smart. It seems to be more common in certain specialties. In my experience it has been... > **[What's a sontimeter?](https://doccartoon.blogspot.com/2012/08/whats-sontimeter.html)** > > During my first year of medical student, we had this radiologist who lectured to us once a week. He kept talking about things being "2 son... > **[r/nursing - Centimeter vs Sontimeter](https://www.reddit.com/r/nursing/comments/d4bumc/centimeter_vs_sontimeter/)** > > 27 votes and 10 comments so far on Reddit > **[Urban Dictionary: Sontimeter](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Sontimeter)** > > A word a Doctor uses instead of centimeter...just because he is a Doctor. ---
**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, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/48 "2023-01-09T06:52:03Z")
Pluto’s moon Charon was named by James Christy for his wife Charlene, and he therefore pronounced it with an initial SH- sound. Scientists today differ; some use Christy’s pronunciation and some use the classical pronunciation with initial K-. NASA’s official pronunciation is with initial SH-. That may have contributed to the misperception that the mythological figure can be pronounced with initial SH-. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/49 "2023-01-09T07:19:10Z")
The incarnations of _Caesar_ are interesting: [siː.zər] / [siː.zɚ] / German kaiser [kai-zerr] / Slavic Czar [zarr]. And apparently early Latin C/K transformed from a hard C to a soft C in late antiquity. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/50 "2023-01-09T08:08:12Z")
Patency: pronounced with a long A or a short A. People at my lab use both. I learned it at Pai-ten-cy, a long A, so that’s what I use. ---
**Author:** ![UDS1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47774/32.png) [@UDS1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS1)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/51 "2023-01-09T08:58:36Z")
According to the OED, both pronunciations are standard in BrE, while the short-A pronunciation is standard in USE. ---
**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:** [January 9, 2023, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/52 "2023-01-09T09:51:50Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Oh, and John and Jonathan are Angicized version of two different (albeit, similar, but still distinct) Hebrew names, that each have three syllables. I’m a John who often has to explain to people that my name is **not** short for Jonathan and that they aren’t even the same name. This leads to my having to explain that I’m the third of my name and my grandpa was named after [Jack Pickford](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Pickford), which leads to my having to explain that “Jack” used to be a nickname for “John” even though it also has a different origin. I should probably just start asking people to call me Smapti. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/53 "2023-01-09T10:10:25Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > In English, there’s a rule that a G before an I is a soft G (giraffe, gin, giant), I always gave it a hard “G” on the basis that “Gift” has one. ---
**Author:** ![slicedalone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slicedalone/32/12515_2.png) [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/54 "2023-01-09T11:19:26Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > a distinct difference between “Don” and “Dawn.” [Four Seasons falsetto] Don, go away, I’m no good for you… ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/55 "2023-01-09T11:32:35Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > That’s why “DOS” isn’t pronounced like the Spanish word for two It’s not? I have always pronounced both exactly the same, both rhyming with “boss”, “loss”, “toss” etc. But that could be because my Spanish pronunciation is not great, or it could be a British thing. > [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > I always pronounce LED as ell-eee-dee (or really, “Ellie Dee”), but I’ve heard it pronounced just as “led.” Seems to be a Britishism. Small data point: I’ve never heard this in Britain (or anywhere, in fact). Nor have I ever heard “jigabyte”/“jigawatt” etc. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/56 "2023-01-09T12:14:59Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > Another pair like that is Aaron and Erin. I’ve never noticed that New Yorkers make any distinction between these two names. Are you saying that they use an /æ/ (as in “bat”) for the first sound of “Aaron” but an /ɛ/ (as in “bet”) for the first sound of “Erin”? ---
**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 9, 2023, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/57 "2023-01-09T12:51:34Z")
> [@Dead\_Cat](#): > > It’s not? I have always pronounced both exactly the same, both rhyming with “boss”, “loss”, “toss” etc. But that could be because my Spanish pronunciation is not great, or it could be a British thing. Spanish _dos_ does not rhyme with _boss_, _loss_, or _toss_ in my dialect, at least. The vowel in Spanish is /o/, while in English, it’s either /ɒ/, /ɔː/ or /ɑ/. I know, doesn’t mean much if you don’t know IPA, so the best way I could explain it is it’s like “dose” but with the second half of the “oh” diphthong cut off. > [@psychonaut](#): > > I’ve never noticed that New Yorkers make any distinction between these two names. Are you saying that they use an /æ/ (as in “bat”) for the first sound of “Aaron” but an /ɛ/ (as in “bet”) for the first sound of “Erin”? I don’t know about New Yorkers specifically, but speakers outside the Mary-marry-merry merger do, indeed, make the distinction that way. ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/58 "2023-01-09T13:02:44Z")
Sorry for the digression, just thought I’d toss this out there: Trying to figure out English pronunciation must be very hard for those learning it as a second language. We all know it’s nuts. But consider that, if I make up a word and pronounce it and several natives listen and write it, their spellings will probably coincide. Of course, it won’t work for many words (as confirmed by this thread), but I think it will more often than it won’t. ---
**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, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/59 "2023-01-09T13:05:55Z")
Yes - and Carrie and Kerry are different as well. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898/60 "2023-01-09T13:06:35Z")
I can say and hear “Don” and “Dawn” differently, but it takes some effort, and would be very easy to confuse. I think I also distinguish between “Erin” and “Aaron”, but I might just be deceiving myself there. Another example: “Uranus”. “Your anus” and “Urine us” are both fairly common, but I and a small handful of others use yet a third pronunciation, something like “OOranoos” (i.e., with no initial “Y” sound), which is closer to the original Latin, and also not scatological. Speaking of “closer to the original language”, “Charon” shouldn’t be pronounced “Sharon” nor “Karon”. The chi sound isn’t either of those. “Kh” might not be a common sound combination in English, but it is in Greek and in a number of other languages. And then there’s the neologism “pwn”, which has the (until now) unusual status of having been coined in a textual medium, not spoken, and so even many of the people who use it aren’t sure how it should be pronounced. I think it eventually mostly settled on rhyming with “own”, but in the occasion where it is pronounced, it’s still sometimes “pawn”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-even-experts-disagree-on/977898.md?page=4)