# Sawyer pronunciation **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 8, 2008, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sawyer-pronunciation/440565 "2008-03-08T04:32:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [March 8, 2008, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sawyer-pronunciation/440565/1 "2008-03-08T04:32:09Z")
There’s a show on TV now mentioning people who saw – sawyers. The narrator pronounces it SOY-er. I’d always thought it was pronounced SAW-yer, rhyming with ‘lawyer’. So I looked it up on Merriam-Webster and listened to the pronunciation. M-W has the SOY-er pronunciation. For ‘lawyer’ they have both LAW-yer and LOY-er, respectively. [Answers.com](http://Answers.com) has a pronunciation (on their audio link) that sounds like something in between SAW-yer and SOY-er. Is SAW-yer an acceptable pronunciation? If not, why not? ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2008, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sawyer-pronunciation/440565/2 "2008-03-08T04:49:26Z")
Actually, [m-w.com](http://m-w.com) lists two pronunciations for sawyer: \ˈsȯ-yər, ˈsȯi-ər\ Cutting and pasting those characters didn’t work quite as well as I’d hoped, but the first syllable is the same as “saw” and “soy” respectively. ---
**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:** [March 8, 2008, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sawyer-pronunciation/440565/3 "2008-03-08T04:54:03Z")
[QUOTE=TWDuke] Actually, [m-w.com](http://m-w.com) lists two pronunciations for sawyer: \ˈsȯ-yər, ˈsȯi-ər\ Cutting and pasting those characters didn’t work quite as well as I’d hoped, but the first syllable is the same as “saw” and “soy” respectively. [/QUOTE] You’re right. :smack: I was going by the audios. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2008, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sawyer-pronunciation/440565/4 "2008-03-08T05:02:42Z")
I’m a transplant up here in New York (albeit not one of recent vintage). I get teased a lot for my southern-inflected pronunciation of “lawyer”. Up here they say loy-er, so I guess that rhymes with soy-er. I did say that _they_ made fun of _me_, right? In their attempts to mock my pronunciation, they say “low yurr”. That’s not how my own pronunciation sounds to me, the “aw” diphthong being more of a moving target than the syllable “low” suggests. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2008, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sawyer-pronunciation/440565/5 "2008-03-10T00:41:48Z")
I’ve been involved in logging and lumberjack competitions for years here in the northeast and it’s always been pronounced SOY-ers. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2008, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sawyer-pronunciation/440565/6 "2008-03-10T02:21:07Z")
SOY-er/LOY-er here. Never heard anything else. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2008, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sawyer-pronunciation/440565/7 "2008-03-10T03:31:52Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] SOY-er/LOY-er here. Never heard anything else. [/QUOTE] Ditto. The antipodes Dogs have it. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2008, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sawyer-pronunciation/440565/8 "2008-03-10T03:56:47Z")
Well, since he’s a Southern character, it’s SAW-yer. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2008, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sawyer-pronunciation/440565/9 "2008-03-10T04:04:25Z")
What about Huckleberry Finn? I’ve heard “Huhckelbehrry Phinn” And “Huwlkerbearie Feen” ?? ---
**Author:** ![Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boozahol_Squid_P.I)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2008, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sawyer-pronunciation/440565/10 "2008-03-10T04:10:22Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] Well, since he’s a Southern character, it’s SAW-yer. [/QUOTE] Southern? Kid’s from Missouri! Border State! SOY-yer (Geddy Lee also says “SOY-yer”) ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2008, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sawyer-pronunciation/440565/11 "2008-03-10T04:24:36Z")
[QUOTE=Diomedes] Southern? Kid’s from Missouri! Border State! SOY-yer **(Geddy Lee also says “SOY-yer”**) [/QUOTE] He also says “Bytor And The Snowdog”. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2008, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sawyer-pronunciation/440565/12 "2008-03-10T04:31:49Z")
Never mind. ---
**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:** [March 10, 2008, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sawyer-pronunciation/440565/13 "2008-03-10T05:40:25Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] SOY-er/LOY-er here. Never heard anything else. [/QUOTE] Same here. ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2008, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sawyer-pronunciation/440565/14 "2008-03-10T14:48:31Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] SOY-er/LOY-er here. Never heard anything else. [/QUOTE] I’ve heard SOY-er/LOY-er, but only from northern transplants. That pronunciation makes no sense to me. Of course, this is English we’re talking about, so all pronunciation bets are off. On a side note, I remember a thread a couple of years ago where people discussed the pronunciation of “caught.” It turns out that some people pronounce it identically with “cot.” This blew my mind. RR ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2008, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sawyer-pronunciation/440565/15 "2008-03-10T21:36:45Z")
I’ve always said law-yer and saw-yer (even though evil Dad despised lawyers.) A similar occupational surname, Bowyer, (guy who makes bows, I guess) is always Boy-er. ---
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2008, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sawyer-pronunciation/440565/16 "2008-03-10T22:26:17Z")
LAW-yer, SAW-yer. My best friend growing up had parents from Chicago. She said LOY-yer, SOY-yer. Drove me nuts. As I always asked her - do LOYyers practice LOY? No, they do not. QED, I’m right. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2008, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sawyer-pronunciation/440565/17 "2008-03-10T22:47:07Z")
The branch of my family named Sawyer prefers Saw-yer. I spoke to one of my relatives from that branch this weekend. Apparently it is not uncommon for people to say Soyer, and I even heard a story about Soyer’s soybeans and childhood teasing. But according to them, it is Saw-yer.