Depends on my mood. Hate the things.
Is someone counting? I lost track.
But this. Emphasis on the first syllable.
The word doesn’t come up often, but I have never noticed someone NOT pronouncing the “i.” Poin-sett-ee-a.
But then I’m doggedly and mostly singlehandedly preserving the 3 syllable (care-uh-mel) pronunciation in a world of “care-muhl.”
It doesn’t take a nucular scientist to pronounce “foilage,” Lisa.
Where I grew up (70s-80s NE US), people said poinsetta.
But in recent decades I also sometimes hear poinsettia, like it’s spelled.
Personally, I like its name in Spanish: nochebuena, literally “good night” but in fact meaning “Christmas Eve.”
I’ve never heard the T at the end of the first syllable either. I didn’t vote because I don’t pronounce it either way. I’ve always said poin setta. That’s how I’ve heard it.
Haven’t looked at the rest of the thread yet.
I pronounce it “poin-SET-ee-ah”, myself. The first t is silent.
It’s not silent, because there isn’t a T in there to begin with.
I say “poin-SETTA” but don’t care in the least if other people pronounce that second “i.”
I love how every xmas we buy a few and they’re beautiful. In January we talk about how they can be stored in a cool, dry place, blah, blah, blah, use next xmas. Yet talk is all it ever is.
When I looked it up, the /t/ at the end of the first syllable is nonstandard, as is not pronouncing the /i/.
That said, around here, pretty much everyone says poin-SET-tuh. But I’m used to people not using standard pronunciations. People around here have to say inkpen to distinguish it from a fenced-in enclosure.
Still, as much as I hear it, I would not be surprised if making the /i/ silent becomes another standard pronunciation. I’m honestly surprised it seems to be the lowest alternate.
Dropping that unstressed /i/ after an unstressed syllable and before an unstressed schwa sound is just so common.
I should say “eliding,” not dropping.
My guess with foliage is that the diphthong with the /l/ is almost like another unstressed syllable. Or maybe it’s just a separate phenomenon with the /l/ being hard to say before /i/. I’ve noticed it all my life.
Poinsettia was named in honor of the first US ambassador to Mexico, Joel Robert Poinsett (it is native to Mexico). I bet Joel pronounced it Pwanset. That’s how I pronounce his plant: pwansettia. Just like it’s spelled. Like most serious gardeners, I have grown accustomed to scientific latin neologisms and their lack of any universally agreed-upon rules about pronunciation.
Latin is a unique language today in that many disciplines including, of course, botany, use it but there are no rules for pronouncing it, or rather there are many, depending on where you live. My daughter in law teaches Latin and uses a classical pronunciation, which is pretty different than the Catholic Church Latin we sing in, which also varies according to where in the world you are singing.
OK, how do you pronounce “peony” - PEE-OH-NEE or PEE-UN-NEE or something different? This might be regional.
“fl-OW-er”. Sometimes “PRIT-tee fl-OW-er”.