# When did Uranus Get Pronounced YOUR uh nuss? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 17, 2001, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-uranus-get-pronounced-your-uh-nuss/87987 "2001-10-17T14:48:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![don\_willard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@don\_willard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_willard)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2001, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-uranus-get-pronounced-your-uh-nuss/87987/1 "2001-10-17T14:48:20Z")
When did the planet Uranus, which we always as children in school pronounced your ANE-us (and we never thought of an anus) start being pronounced YOUR uh nuss? And why do people think pronouncing the word URINE in the course of this is any improvement over pronouncing your ANUS in the old pronunciation? Why don’t people say ooRANos, for instance, which is closer to the original Greek? My theory is that as people became more crude and vulgar and parents stopped washing out their children’s mouths with soap (or stopped threatening to), children would laugh in school when the teacher taught about Uranus. Thank goodness that Jupiter isn’t pronounced Ju PEETER, or we would have evern more laughs. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2001, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-uranus-get-pronounced-your-uh-nuss/87987/2 "2001-10-17T16:42:48Z")
My 1980 MW gives the first pronunciation as “YOOR-uh-nus,” or thereabouts. My 1920ish OED gives the pronunciation as “Yoo-ran-us.” (short “a” as in. . . “as”) ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2001, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-uranus-get-pronounced-your-uh-nuss/87987/3 "2001-10-17T17:09:33Z")
I guess it’s also when Halley went from “hail-lee” to “Hal-Lee”. I guess “ass-teroid” will soon become “ace-toroid”? - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![altor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@altor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/altor)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2001, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-uranus-get-pronounced-your-uh-nuss/87987/4 "2001-10-17T17:10:24Z")
FWIW the stress was on the first syllable in Latin: OO-ra-noos (the first u was long, the a was short). ---
**Author:** ![Spritle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Spritle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spritle)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2001, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-uranus-get-pronounced-your-uh-nuss/87987/5 "2001-10-17T18:02:51Z")
IIRC, the scientist Edmund Halley’s name was pronounced as is currently is. He never pronounced is name “Hail-ee”. Of course, we’ve gone 70 plus years calling the comet “Hail-ee’s Comet”. Though incorrect, I’m not sure if changing the pronounciation of the comet to match that of the scientist is necessary - especially after 70+ years. Uranus was changed to “URINE-us” in 1986(? - maybe '85) when one of the space probes was preparing to do it’s fly-by. Newscasters around the country realized that three weeks of “your-anus” would never work, especially when also tossing in the reference to a “deep space probe”. The pronounciation change was justified with the Latin pronounciation information. I blame Tom Brokaw. ---
**Author:** ![don\_willard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@don\_willard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_willard)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2001, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-uranus-get-pronounced-your-uh-nuss/87987/6 "2001-10-17T21:39:06Z")
But Uranus is a Greek word, isn’t it, and should be pronounced as it is sometimes spelled in true Greek as OURANOS, ie., oo RAN ohs. ---
**Author:** ![StephenG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@StephenG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StephenG)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2001, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-uranus-get-pronounced-your-uh-nuss/87987/7 "2001-10-17T22:44:51Z")
I’m not a nuss, YOUR uh nuss! Or even, it’s not my nuss, it’s YOUR uh nuss… ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2001, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-uranus-get-pronounced-your-uh-nuss/87987/8 "2001-10-17T23:26:13Z")
According to _Futurama_, the planet’s name will be changed in the 31st century to prevent all those stupid jokes. The new name is Urectum. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![theretsof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e8c25b/32.png) [@theretsof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theretsof)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2001, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-uranus-get-pronounced-your-uh-nuss/87987/9 "2001-10-17T23:39:57Z")
…that “harassment” was pronounced - HARE us ment actually i’ve never heard Uranus pronounced that way ---
**Author:** ![Philosophocles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Philosophocles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philosophocles)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-uranus-get-pronounced-your-uh-nuss/87987/10 "2001-10-18T07:58:46Z")
Is urine less offensive than anus? urine-us yer-anus ---
**Author:** ![Niobium\_Knight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc8723/32.png) [@Niobium\_Knight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Niobium_Knight)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-uranus-get-pronounced-your-uh-nuss/87987/11 "2001-10-18T08:03:22Z")
your-anus is the wrong pronounciation. The work is Greek and is pronounced your-an-us ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-uranus-get-pronounced-your-uh-nuss/87987/12 "2001-10-18T11:56:09Z")
Well in British English it’s still “Yuh-RAY-nus” and remains the butt(!) of a wealth of excellent jokes. ---
**Author:** ![altor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@altor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/altor)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-uranus-get-pronounced-your-uh-nuss/87987/13 "2001-10-18T14:58:45Z")
don, Ouranos is indeed a Greek god, but “Uranus” is the form the Romans used to refer to that god. The names of the planets (except ours) are Anglicized forms of the Latin names of gods. I should add that I don’t believe that Latin words adopted into English necessarily have to keep the accent where it was. ---
**Author:** ![labradorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3ec8ea/32.png) [@labradorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/labradorian)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-uranus-get-pronounced-your-uh-nuss/87987/14 "2001-10-18T19:36:05Z")
Wouldn’t the stress on the original Greek word be on the antepenult? ---
**Author:** ![Phobos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Phobos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phobos)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-uranus-get-pronounced-your-uh-nuss/87987/15 "2001-10-18T19:52:24Z")
Perhaps we should have kept the name [George’s Star](http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/solarsystem/uranus/index.shtml) or [Georgium Sidus or Herschel](http://www.seds.org/billa/tnp/uranus.html). ---
**Author:** ![deltopia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@deltopia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltopia)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-uranus-get-pronounced-your-uh-nuss/87987/16 "2001-10-18T23:55:30Z")
I’m tempted to believe that C.A. would have us just call the planet “Duckbreath”. It’s simple, it’s easy to pronounce, and there’s nothing really ambiguous about any obscene implications. Urine-us is just unpleasant. I’d much rather deal with an anus than urine. Especially in a public planetarium. Those believing that this post added nothing of substance to the debate will find little argument. ---
**Author:** ![Cargogal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/48db29/32.png) [@Cargogal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cargogal)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2001, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-uranus-get-pronounced-your-uh-nuss/87987/17 "2001-10-19T00:00:44Z")
I always cringed when I heard newscasters say “We have new photographs of Uranus!” ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2001, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-uranus-get-pronounced-your-uh-nuss/87987/18 "2001-10-19T00:35:16Z")
Pivture this headline: **Space Probes Have Reached Uranus.** :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Hombre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecb155/32.png) [@Hombre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hombre)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2001, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-uranus-get-pronounced-your-uh-nuss/87987/19 "2001-10-19T00:48:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Spritle \* > **I blame Tom Brokaw.** I’m thinking the blame should go to the folks who blessed this name. I mean, really, shouldn’t they have seen this …um, coming? ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2001, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-uranus-get-pronounced-your-uh-nuss/87987/20 "2001-10-19T02:28:51Z")
**Spritle** and **Jinx** , I don’t have a cite for this, but I recall a TV debate involving the respected (but weird) British astronomer Patrick Moore in which he said that Halley pronounced his surname Hawl-ey, so neither the ‘old’ or ‘new’ pronunciations of the comet’s name are _truly_ accurate. I always thought the old pronunciation started with Rock ‘n’ Roller Bill Haley? FWIW, Moore pronounces the planet’s name YOOR-uh-nuss. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-uranus-get-pronounced-your-uh-nuss/87987.md?page=2)