# Ski or Schee?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ski-or-schee/33730
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [September 19, 2000, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ski-or-schee/33730 "2000-09-19T15:47:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2000, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ski-or-schee/33730/1 "2000-09-19T15:47:45Z")
Why do the English pronounce ski as schee (soft consonant)? The dictionary says its from OE scid, but would that be pronounced with a soft “c”? I guess it would in England.
---
### Author:  [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2000, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ski-or-schee/33730/2 "2000-09-19T16:16:05Z")
To be honest, I think the English DO pronounce it “ski”.
It’s the Germans that pronounce it “shee” 😉
---
### Author:  [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2000, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ski-or-schee/33730/3 "2000-09-19T16:20:17Z")
Just to note, its pronounced that way in German, and spelled the same way as in English. (ski = schee) So it would seem it’s us Americans that changed it (what do Canadians, Aussies, or other English-speaking countries say?).
I also know that it was common in older German words for the s + consonant to have a sound like engl. sh + consonant at the start of a word (st is the only one I know of that’s still around (as in Stadt))
---
### Author:  [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2000, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ski-or-schee/33730/4 "2000-09-19T16:26:07Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by barbitu8 \*
> \*\*Why do the English pronounce ski as schee (soft consonant)? The dictionary says its from OE scid, but would that be pronounced with a soft “c”? I guess it would in England. \*\*
They don’t.
---
### Author:  [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2000, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ski-or-schee/33730/5 "2000-09-19T16:27:33Z")
The German word is spelled “Schi”, with the verb being “schifahren”. No k’s involved.
---
### Author:  [@SavageNarce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SavageNarce)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2000, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ski-or-schee/33730/6 "2000-09-19T16:33:44Z")
Barbitu8 said:
> [@](#):
>
> Why do the English pronounce ski as schee…
Gee, I guess when we went down to the pub for “beer and skittles” I must have been saying it wrong…?
---
### Author:  [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2000, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ski-or-schee/33730/7 "2000-09-19T17:46:44Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Gary Kumquat \*
> [ \*\*
They don’t. \*\*
[/QUOTE]
I’d be happier with your reply if it was, “We don’t.”
---
### Author:  [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2000, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ski-or-schee/33730/8 "2000-09-19T18:08:15Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Coldfire \*
> \*\*The German word is spelled “Schi”, with the verb being “schifahren”. No k’s involved. \*\*
I thought the verb was schilaufen, not -fahren. Of course, it’s been years since I took German.
---
### Author:  [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2000, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ski-or-schee/33730/9 "2000-09-19T18:19:25Z")
The Norwegian word is spelled “ski”, and **pronounced** “shee” (or “schee” if you insist). My English etymological dictionary says the word is a 19th century borrowing from Norwegian into English, which means the English word was likely pronounced “shee” to begin with as well.
---
### Author:  [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2000, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ski-or-schee/33730/10 "2000-09-19T19:25:09Z")
Well, at least some people who speak German write it as skilaufen, see [here.](http://la.ginabelle.ch/skilaufen/)
Coldfire, maybe down in your area they use Schi, but I’ve never seen it written that way. Perhaps they even do say ‘fahren’, but that seems it’d apply more to cross-country rather than alpine/downhill skiing. (seems like there’d be less downhill in that area too, right?)
Or maybe schneefahren is the word they’re using.
---
### Author:  [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2000, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ski-or-schee/33730/11 "2000-09-20T04:55:35Z")
There was an Old English word _scid_ (meaning “plank” or “snowshoe,” I think) and it was pronounced “shid” and it is related to _ski_. But _ski_ is not directly from _scid_, it is a relatively recent borrowing from Norwegian.
---
### Author:  [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2000, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ski-or-schee/33730/12 "2000-09-20T10:19:39Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by bibliophage \*
> \*\*There was an Old English word _scid_ (meaning “plank” or “snowshoe,” I think) and it was pronounced “shid” and it is related to _ski_. But _ski_ is not directly from _scid_, it is a relatively recent borrowing from Norwegian. \*\*
In general Norwegian and Swedish words beginning with “sk-” were originally pronounced hard. However, during the centuries the pronounciation shifted so we now have a soft “sh-”. When the English language borrowed them the pronounciation at the time stuck giving us word pairs like _skipper/ship_ (not to mention _equipment_, which passed through French en route to English) and _skirt/shirt_.
---
### Author:  [@RussellM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RussellM)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2000, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ski-or-schee/33730/13 "2000-09-20T12:25:12Z")
> [@](#):
>
> **barbitu8**
> Originally posted by Gary Kumquat
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > They don’t.
>
> I’d be happier with your reply if it was, “We don’t.”
OK then. We don’t.
Russell
---
### Author:  [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2000, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ski-or-schee/33730/14 "2000-09-20T16:16:26Z")
Anyone who pronounces it “scheeing” is full of skit.
(The above joke is stolen from an episode of MST3K, when, during the short film before the main feature, the announcer pronounced the name of this new sport that was taking America by storm as “scheeing”.)
---
### Author:  [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2000, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ski-or-schee/33730/15 "2000-09-20T21:19:51Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Max Torque \*
> Anyone who pronounces it “scheeing” is full of skit.
>
> (The above joke is stolen from an episode of MST3K, when, during the short film before the main feature, the announcer pronounced the name of this new sport that was taking America by storm as “scheeing”.)
Reminds me of a Dorothy Parker anecdote. She was speaking with an actor who had just finished a long tour in England and had picked up a few of their pronunciations. The actor repeated “shedule” a few times and she said, “You know, I think you’re full of skit.”