# SUV:How do you pronounce it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 30, 2000, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suv-how-do-you-pronounce-it/9496 "2000-03-30T04:16:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AzRaek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/azraek/32/16739_2.png) [@AzRaek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AzRaek)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2000, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suv-how-do-you-pronounce-it/9496/1 "2000-03-30T04:16:00Z")
I was reading the Wall Street Journal the other day (over the shoulder of the pax in front of me on a cramped Frontier flight). There was an article about “An SUV”. I thought about the An…I’ve been pronouncing it “Sooo-Veee” since they came out, never “Es-You-Vee”. We had an annoying commercial about how someone “loves his SUV” pronounced suv. I just want a tally on how it’s said elsewhere. * * * I mis-wasted my youth. ---
**Author:** ![Steve-o](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecc23a/32.png) [@Steve-o](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve-o)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2000, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suv-how-do-you-pronounce-it/9496/2 "2000-03-30T04:25:00Z")
S.U.V. * * * Things are random only insofar as we don’t understand them. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2000, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suv-how-do-you-pronounce-it/9496/3 "2000-03-30T04:35:00Z")
I’ve never heard it any way other than S-U-V. * * * –It was recently discovered that research causes cancer in rats. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2000, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suv-how-do-you-pronounce-it/9496/4 "2000-03-30T04:39:00Z")
Es-You-Vee ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2000, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suv-how-do-you-pronounce-it/9496/5 "2000-03-30T04:40:00Z")
(a k a: obscene, irresponsible, totally unjustified, yupmobile behemoth) ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2000, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suv-how-do-you-pronounce-it/9496/6 "2000-03-30T04:55:00Z")
[flashback to the “How do you pronounce MPSIMS” threads] Ess-You-Vee [/flashback] ---
**Author:** ![Rectangle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c4cdca/32.png) [@Rectangle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rectangle)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2000, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suv-how-do-you-pronounce-it/9496/7 "2000-03-30T06:12:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by tomndebb: > **(a k a: obscene, irresponsible, totally unjustified, yupmobile behemoth)** or as, ‘run over your eco mobile and I’ll survie the crash and you won’t.’ * * * I pity the fool that brings a knife to a gun fight. ---
**Author:** ![hightechburrito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f6c823/32.png) [@hightechburrito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hightechburrito)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2000, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suv-how-do-you-pronounce-it/9496/8 "2000-03-30T06:25:00Z")
GeeIwishIhadasmallercarnowthatIpaytwodollarsagallonforgasmobile. ---
**Author:** ![crackwise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/22d042/32.png) [@crackwise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crackwise)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2000, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suv-how-do-you-pronounce-it/9496/9 "2000-03-30T06:29:00Z")
Glorified Stationwagons. (well, that depends on the user. most users I see never take them off-road) Es-You-Vee. * * * ~200 posts. Time to change my username. ---
**Author:** ![Danielinthewolvesden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Danielinthewolvesden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danielinthewolvesden)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2000, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suv-how-do-you-pronounce-it/9496/10 "2000-03-30T09:40:00Z")
For “sport-ut” (ie SUV), I like “SPUTE”. (Mostly when people vocalize “SUV”, they say “sport-ute”, at least around here.) ---
**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 30, 2000, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suv-how-do-you-pronounce-it/9496/11 "2000-03-30T13:25:00Z")
Sport- **futility** vehicle. At least mine has some honest mud on it. Unlike every other one I see in L.A. I’m still waiting to see a Mercedes Sport-Fute out in the bush. * * * “I must leave this planet, if only for an hour.” – Antoine de St. Exupéry Are you a turtle? ---
**Author:** ![KSO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@KSO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KSO)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2000, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suv-how-do-you-pronounce-it/9496/12 "2000-03-30T17:22:00Z")
I particularly liked the woman in a Lexus SUV in front of me the other day. It took her an eternity to make a left hand turn because there was a pothole in the road and she had to be verrrrrrry careful in getting past that obstacle. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suv-how-do-you-pronounce-it/9496/13 "2000-03-31T06:31:00Z")
My vote goes for “Es-you-vee”. I’ve never heard it pronounced “suhv”, either. I’ve heard “sport-ute” a couple of times, but I can’t help thinking that it sounds like verbal shorthand for a syndrome or a disease. ---
**Author:** ![Absynthetic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/97f17d/32.png) [@Absynthetic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absynthetic)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2000, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suv-how-do-you-pronounce-it/9496/14 "2000-03-30T19:33:00Z")
From the SF Chronicle: ## Maureen O’Rorke suggests a new moving violation for drivers who run red lights while talking on their cell phones or drive gas-guzzling SUVs: ``Driving under the affluence.’’ Applying computer technology is simply finding the right wrench to pound in the correct screw. ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Joe\_x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_x)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2000, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suv-how-do-you-pronounce-it/9496/15 "2000-03-30T20:16:00Z")
How about: SUV=Soccermom’s Use Vehicle? My mother has one, but she owns a farm and would hall baby sheep in it more than my brother’s and I (of course we all drove at 14 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2000, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suv-how-do-you-pronounce-it/9496/16 "2000-03-30T22:46:00Z")
Daniel - > [@](#): > > For “sport-ut” (ie SUV), I like “SPUTE”. (Mostly when people vocalize “SUV”, they say “sport-ute”, at least around here.) HEY! I thought _I_ was the one who invented that! I just like the way it sounds…SPEWT. (In these here parts, most folks call 'em S-U-Vs; I only recently heard the “sport-ute” form, which I changed to SPUTE almost immediately.) My favorite was watching the SPUTE not only slow to 5mph to cross the (fairly level) RR tracks, but then almost run over another car as they changed lanes to avoid the TENNIS SHOE laying in the road! (OK, I just managed to refrain from joining the recent SPUTE-bashing thread, because I’m currently forced to drive a Jeep Cherokee and couldn’t reconcile the two actions. But the temptation was too strong to resist again. I miss my Metro!) ---
**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 31, 2000, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suv-how-do-you-pronounce-it/9496/17 "2000-03-31T03:09:00Z")
> [@](#): > > I’m currently forced to drive a Jeep Cherokee and couldn’t reconcile the two actions. But the temptation was too strong to resist again. I miss my Metro! Actually, I like my Cherokee. You ever try to get four people in a Porsche? Now I can carry four friends with me, and it’s great for carrying my camping gear, film gear, etc. Two things I hate about it: It only gets about 19mpg in L.A. traffic, and I didn’t get it with a manual transmission. ## I liked my Chevy Sprint and Chevy Sprint Metro. Fifty mpg, and surprisingly quick and agile… as long as there wasn’t a long grade. I could swear they had more room on the inside than on the outside. I was even able to haul my A-7E ejection seat in one with the hatch closed. “I must leave this planet, if only for an hour.” – Antoine de St. Exupéry Are you a turtle? ---
**Author:** ![malden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@malden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malden)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suv-how-do-you-pronounce-it/9496/18 "2000-03-31T17:42:00Z")
I call 'em **minivans.** As in: Get that road-hogging, soccer-player-toting, never-left-the-pavement, won’t-drive-in-the-snow, eight-mile-per-gallon **minivan** out of my way! 🙂 I figure that many people invent a “need” for SUV’s as family vehicles so they don’t have to buy a Dodge Caravan or a Toyota Previa, so calling them minivans has a delicious accuracy. But to answer the OP: **Ess Yoo Vee** , never heard it any other way 'til I read this thread. ---
**Author:** ![InutilisVisEst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/d2c977/32.png) [@InutilisVisEst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InutilisVisEst)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2000, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suv-how-do-you-pronounce-it/9496/19 "2000-04-01T06:11:00Z")
Even though Ess-yoo-vee still seems more popular than Sport-Ute, the latter has the novelty of letting you call the smaller ones (like our dear Subaru Forester, or the RAV-4) Sport-Cutes. * * * I lead a boring life of relative unimportance. Really. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2000, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suv-how-do-you-pronounce-it/9496/20 "2000-04-01T06:15:00Z")
[url=http://boards.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/000995.html]Here’s what we all had to say about these monsters a while back. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suv-how-do-you-pronounce-it/9496.md?page=2)