# You better pronounce "greasy" correctly. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 10, 2003, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-better-pronounce-greasy-correctly/147653 "2003-01-10T02:05:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-better-pronounce-greasy-correctly/147653/21 "2003-01-10T13:25:44Z")
Oh, don’t get me started. Would you like to hear about the pop/soda/coke/tonic division? Or the Canadian Raising influence? Or the “Please?” for “Pardon me?” island? Or the extent of “fixin’ to”? Or the incidence of copula dropping in basilectal English dialects of the world? Or the similarities between northern and southern British and American English? I took Dialectology last semester; you can’t scare me, eh. ---
**Author:** ![blanx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f04885/32.png) [@blanx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blanx)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-better-pronounce-greasy-correctly/147653/22 "2003-01-10T13:40:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kricket \* > \*\*Joke right? > Anyways Dave, what have we discussed about picking on us hillbillies? 'Member I’m from the original Hatfield clan.😃 > \*\* Kricket’s family??? howdy! ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-better-pronounce-greasy-correctly/147653/23 "2003-01-10T13:57:58Z")
I dated the stupidest man ever born. He was from Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. Nowhere near any hills. He said ‘greezy’. And ‘gaz’ for ‘gas’. I can’t hear those words pronounced like that without thinking of him, and he’s really not something that brings smiles to my face. So, please, for my sake, say ‘greece’ and ‘gas’. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-better-pronounce-greasy-correctly/147653/24 "2003-01-10T14:04:35Z")
I’m born ‘n’ bred Chicago, and for some reason, this morning I said, “I gotta get me a Band-aid.” What? My husband uses the word “greasy” to describe road conditions. Eeeeewwwww! This is a word that generally makes me want to puke. Just don’t use it. Ever. ---
**Author:** ![smoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@smoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smoke)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-better-pronounce-greasy-correctly/147653/25 "2003-01-10T14:27:18Z")
How’s about a nice, GREEE- ZY pork sandwich, served in a dirty ashtray? Anyone? -j ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-better-pronounce-greasy-correctly/147653/26 "2003-01-10T14:33:24Z")
Goodness, if it’s such a terribly disfavored pronunciation, someone ought to have told Boris Karloff - “scion of a family of British diplomats,” according to Leonard Maltin. I grew up with a number of recordings of Karloff reading children’s literature, including Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories. I will never forget his reading of The Elephant’s Child, with its “great grey-green, _ **greazy** _ Limpopo river, all set about with fever-trees…” ---
**Author:** ![Kricket](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f14d63/32.png) [@Kricket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kricket)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-better-pronounce-greasy-correctly/147653/27 "2003-01-10T14:38:17Z")
blanx, another Hatfield on the boards? WooHoo! Or are you just saying that you too are a hillbilly? You’re not a McCoy are you? :mad: 😉 ---
**Author:** ![mogiaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mogiaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mogiaw)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-better-pronounce-greasy-correctly/147653/28 "2003-01-10T14:47:29Z")
Well you’d hate my dad cos he pronounces it “Gracy” and “Grasee”. ---
**Author:** ![blanx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f04885/32.png) [@blanx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blanx)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-better-pronounce-greasy-correctly/147653/29 "2003-01-10T14:48:21Z")
Hatfield, all the way baby… (not my last name, but I’m kin). Several of my cousins by blood) are Hatfields. Besides, didn’t the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s interbreed during the truces? ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-better-pronounce-greasy-correctly/147653/30 "2003-01-10T18:50:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Thylacine \* > \*\*but z is zed, never zee \*\* I had to give my postal code to an American the other day, and tell him that zed was the last letter of the alphabet. Oh, and it’s Greece-ee. And a soft drink too, for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![White\_Lightning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@White\_Lightning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/White_Lightning)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-better-pronounce-greasy-correctly/147653/31 "2003-01-11T02:32:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by \*\*Primaflora \*\*\* > Greezee greezee greezee greezee! Easy to pronounce… how the fuck do you pronounce easy? Ee-zee like us civilised folk or weirdly like greasy? “Ease” -\> “Easy” “Grease” -\> “Greasy” ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-better-pronounce-greasy-correctly/147653/32 "2003-01-11T06:35:04Z")
bag vs sack vs poke. The greasy-greazy line was one of the first dialect differences I learned about in intro linguistics. Don’t get me started on pricey vs spendy, though. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-better-pronounce-greasy-correctly/147653/33 "2003-01-11T07:34:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by smoke \* > \*\*How’s about a nice, GREEE- ZY pork sandwich, served in a dirty ashtray? > > Anyone? > > -j \*\* Well if you’re buying’ smokey… Supersize me while you’re at it. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Trari\_de\_Reeson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Count\_Trari\_de\_Reeson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Trari_de_Reeson)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-better-pronounce-greasy-correctly/147653/34 "2003-01-11T15:51:09Z")
I don’t like my food greezy, but I don’t mind if it is a little early. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-better-pronounce-greasy-correctly/147653/35 "2003-01-11T19:00:47Z")
**kambuckta** said > [@](#): > > Oh for gawd’s sake Zoe, lighten up girl. Austrailia, huh? Is that that sweet little country just south of Germany? You are right, of course. (I’m now taking off my grumpy old teacher mask.) And I’m fixin’ to go fix dinner. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![jack\_ss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c77e96/32.png) [@jack\_ss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jack_ss)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-better-pronounce-greasy-correctly/147653/36 "2003-01-11T21:14:26Z")
> [@](#): > > copula dropping in basilectal English dialects of the world? For some reason, I just got a flash of Dennis Hopper in Apocalypse Now, talking about flying a rocket to Venus “What are you going to land on, one half, one third?” ---
**Author:** ![jack\_ss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c77e96/32.png) [@jack\_ss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jack_ss)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-better-pronounce-greasy-correctly/147653/37 "2003-01-11T21:17:19Z")
Oh, and I go either way on the Greasy/greazy. I’m from St. Louis & transplanted to Utah, so I can code switch. Don’t make no never-mind to me. It’ll always be soda or coke. Pop is the old man. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-better-pronounce-greasy-correctly/147653/38 "2003-01-12T20:01:56Z")
Pronounce it like E-Z : Gree-Zed. 😃 We definitely say “greezy” here in Vienna. ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-better-pronounce-greasy-correctly/147653/39 "2003-01-12T20:33:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TheLoadedDog \* > \*\*Pronounce it like E-Z : Gree-Zed. 😃 > > We definitely say “greezy” here in Vienna. \*\* Uh huh. This from a country that considers vegemite to be a legitimate food product. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Rasa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rasa/32/3578_2.png) [@Rasa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rasa)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-better-pronounce-greasy-correctly/147653/40 "2003-01-12T20:39:54Z")
Back when I worked for a big Microsoft outsource call center all the smoker crew had nicknames… we had one “Greasy Mike”, aka “Slim Shaggy”. Except it was “greezy” not “gree-see”… FWIW YMMV etc. We did it intentionally cuz it sounded better. (He wasn’t greasy, either, so I dunno where the name came from. Red Coat, Fuckin’ Guy, and Doug A Butt were much more self-evident.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-better-pronounce-greasy-correctly/147653.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-better-pronounce-greasy-correctly/147653.md?page=3)