How do you pronounce "centimeter" ???

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  1. by Nov 9, '12
    Not a big deal but something that bothers me. I run into a lot of nurses who pronounce the word centimeter as sontimeter.
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    by shermrn Nov 9, '12 9:31 pm
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  2. 46 Comments so far...

  3. Nov 9, '12 by
    I say "cent", but I've also heard "sont". Me, I don't care as long as I know what they meant.....tomAto, tomAHto!
    Hygiene Queen likes this.
  4. Guide
    Nov 9, '12 by
    cent-i-meter
    itsmejuli and nrsang97 like this.
  5. Nov 9, '12 by
    Cent ih meter. Son eh meter is silly unless you're French.
    nkochrn, hey_suz, owlRN01, and 3 others like this.
  6. Nov 9, '12 by
    That's funny. I say "cent." When I first became a nurse, a LOT of people said "sont." It took me a couple of times to get what they were talking about, and it bugs me still today. I thought it was a regional thing. :-)
    nkochrn, dsd00, SummitRN, and 1 other like this.
  7. Nov 9, '12 by
    I also pronounce it "cent." It annoys me slightly when I hear it pronounced as "sont"..it just sounds a bit pretentious to me.
    nrsang97 and anotherone like this.
  8. Nov 10, '12 by
    See Emms.
    SummitRN likes this.
  9. Guide
    Nov 10, '12 by
    I never heard the "sont" pronunciation until I was in nsg school. We had to ask our professor what she was talking about. It still annoys the he!1 out of me. Is it just a nursing thing??
    SummitRN, Bortaz, RN, nrsang97, and 1 other like this.
  10. Nov 10, '12 by
    Depends who I'm talking to

    If I'm talking to English staff it's cent-ti-meter, if it's the French staff it's 'son'timetre
  11. Nov 10, '12 by
    lol, proper pronunciation is definitely cent as in "sent," but it's a regional thing as someone mentioned. When I first heard it that way, it took me a second to know what they were talking about. I'm like, okay, sont...sonar, where are the dolphins? lol
    gonzo1 likes this.