How many syllables in "Aspirin"?

Good question! My dictionary says 3, but I say it with 2. I am sure there are many words like that.

How many syllables in "consciencious"?

Is it con-see-en-see-us (5)
or is it con-see-en-shus (4)
0r is it con-shen-shus (3).

Yep, there are lots of words like that.

Has anyone been following the debate on snopes about the American tendency (especially George Dubya's tendency) to pronounce "nuclear" (2 syllables in standard English:-"new-clear") as "nuke-you-lar" ?

si hoc legere scis nimium eruditiones habes

Read all about my travels around the world here.

[This message was edited by BobHale on Tue Sep 17th, 2002 at 10:26.]

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(2 syllables in standard English:-"new-clear")

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I pronounce it as three syllables: "new-clee-ar".

Yes, I've been reading that thread on snopes, but the name-calling got a little tiresome so I have only skimmed it. Is it my imagination, or are rather more threads than usual over there degenerating into petty bickering?

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Is it con-see-en-see-us (5)
or is it con-see-en-shus (4)
0r is it con-shen-shus (3).

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None of the above!

I say con-she-en-shus. Is that wrong?

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I say con-she-en-shus. Is that wrong?

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If it is wrong, you are not alone. That's the way I say it, too.

Now I don't feel so bad, arnie! If I'm in your company, I'm in very good company indeed!

Me three, making a crowd here.

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I say con-she-en-shus. Is that wrong?

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I say it similarily... con-che-en-shus ... with a bit of a harder sound than "she"

I could be wrong but I think that my point was that all of the various diferent pronunciations are correct - including the one that several have you have posted here. It just depends on who you are and where you live. I have dictionaries that give varying answers.

Ditto for for new-clear and new-cle-ar but not, at least as far as I'm concerned, nuke-you-lar. As I said at snopes I'd feel happier if the man who has at his command the world's largest nuclear arsenal could pronounce the word.

And arnie, you are right, too many of the snopes threads lately seem to degenerate into name calling and overly pedantic picking apart of previous posts sentence by sentence and line by line. It all gets a bit tedious.

si hoc legere scis nimium eruditiones habes

Read all about my travels around the world here.

How many syllables in "Aspirin"?
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Seven! Acetyl salycilate.

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Originally posted by BobHale:
How many syllables in "consciencious"?


...to pronounce "nuclear" (2 syllables in standard English:-"new-clear") as "nuke-you-lar" ?

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I pronounce "conscientious" as it is in the AHD, with four syllables: "con-she-en-tious" or "con-she-en-shus". I think I usually pronounce the "t", but I'm not really sure.

I pronounce "nuclear" with three syllables: "nyoo-cle-ar", sometimes "noo-cle-ar". Again, that's the way it's pronounced in the AHD. The Usage Note in the AHD says that the "-kle-ar" combination is uncommon in English, while the "-kya-lar" combination is common in words such as "particular", "circular", "spectacular", "molecular", "ocular", and "vascular". They suggest this accounts for the common mispronunciation of "nuclear".

I pronounce "protein" as a two-syllable word: "pro-teen". An older pronunciation that I learned a long time ago is "pro-tee-in", three syllables. The AHD gives both pronunciations, with "pro-teen" first.

I've already talked about "verbiage". "Foliage" is in the same category. I pronounce it "fo-lee-ij", but many people say "fo-lij". The AHD lists both, "fo-lee-ij" first.

There are a lot of words like "family" that are pronounced as two syllables (without the "i" sound) or as three (with the "i" sound).

I guess the pronunciation of words change over time. If we happen to learn one pronunciation, and it subsequently changes, we swear that "everyone else" is mispronouncing it. If we happen to come in after the change in pronunciation, we say the "old folks" are pronouncing it wrong, that they should "get with the times".

One pronunciation that really bugs me (one of a million or so) is "pome" for "poem" (po-em).

All I know is that I'm right and anyone who doesn't agree with me is wrong!

Tinman

One pronunciation that really bugs me (one of a million or so) is "pome" for "poem"
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I've heard nationally known poets saying "pome!" But whadda THEY know!

"Pome" is a word. It's a type of fruit. Apples and pears are pomes.

"Zoo-ol-o-gy" for "zo-ol-o-gy". I've even heard zoologists pronounce it that way!

Tinman

Apples and pears are pomes.
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And pomegranates. And, in French, "pomme" is "apple," and "pomme de terre" is "potato."

Now, did Joyce Kilmer say, "I think that I shall never see/A pome lovely as a pomegranate?

An etemological thought, by Ogden Nash:

The hardest fruit upon this planet
Is easily the ripe pomegranate.
I'm half-way through the puzzle-game
Of guessing how it got its name.
The "pome" part turns my cowlick hoary,
But the "granite" is self-explanatory.

Is there anything Ogden Nash didn't have something to say about?

Wasn't Ogden Nash an old car dealership in Utah?