Pronunciation

weetziebat · Apr 19, 2006

From NYC myself, but went to nursing school in Oregon. I've always heard it pronounced sontimeters, and actually don't know anyone who pronounces it differently. Interesting point.

Have an Irish friend who goes crazy when we call pills vite-amins. She insists if you'll just look at the spelling, anyone can easily see they are actually vit-amins.

SheriLynnRN · Apr 19, 2006

I pronounce it "CENTimeter", as do most of the people I grew up around. I got a very nasty look one day in nursing school related to this subject. We were learning about chest tubes and water suction. I raised my hand to ask if the "SONImeter" my instructor was refering to was the same unit as a "CENTimeter". Turns out it is. I was just making sure. :uhoh21:

SmilingBluEyes · Apr 19, 2006

I think the term "sonimeter" came about when sonography came to be so common.

I personally use "centimeters" myself.

fergus51 · Apr 19, 2006

SONTimeter always sounds pretensious to me.

Bumashes, MSN, APRN, NP · Apr 19, 2006

Here in MS, we say CENT at the beginning. But that could just be that we're southern and we say things how we see them. It always irks me, though, when I hear someone say the word "often," and they pronounce the "T" in it. Just a personal quirk.

tinyscrafts · Apr 19, 2006

The SONT imeter drives me nuts. I mean it's spelled cent. centimeters. It has nothing to do with sonography-maybe it was a bandwagon thing??? wierd.

elkpark · Apr 19, 2006

Has nothing to do with sonograms (??????)

"(Sahhhn)imeter" is just the French/European pronounciation of "centimeter" (which is, after all, where the metric system came from in the first place). Saying "(sahhhn)imeter" instead of "CENTimeter" is no different than pronouncing "filet" as "fi-LAY" rather than "FIL-let."

weetziebat · Apr 19, 2006

The SONT imeter drives me nuts. I mean it's spelled cent. centimeters. It has nothing to do with sonography-maybe it was a bandwagon thing??? wierd.

So.....do you pronounce vitamins, vite-amins, as is common in the U.S? or as vit-amins? the way it looks and is spelled.

Focker, CRNA · Apr 20, 2006

SONTimeter always sounds pretensious to me.

I used to think that too, but I am fairly certain I've run into at least one nurse who pronounced it "Sont"imeters who wasn't the pretentious type (I suppose that doesn't rule out that she may have just learned it from a pretentious person). I try to give the benefit of the doubt and assume it is just a regional dialect difference.

Pedi-ER-RN, RN · Apr 20, 2006

It's just the tomatoe vs tomato thing!! HA HA:lol2:

HisTreasure, BSN, RN · Apr 20, 2006

Here in NY I've heard both. I prefer centimeters...but that's just me. It's the same thing with the aunt(Ahnt)/aunt(Ant) thing. I've heard it pronounced so many different ways that I am no longer sure which one is correct!