Pronunciation

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What is the deal with some dr's/nurses pronouncing

"centimeters" like "sontimeters"???? I've heard this a few times and it puzzles me. Are these people from Boston or something???

Specializes in NICU.

I'm in NYC, and a lot of people say SONtimeter, not just in OB. I say CENTimeter, but I'm from CA. The people I'm seen say SONtimeter are...not the pretentious type.

And I've always heard NCLEX pronounce enklecks. When I first got to nurschool, I had NO idea how to say it, so I just called it "the licensing exam" until I heard enough people say it! I would have said ennseelex.

Steph, I heard the Man in Charge say "nuclear" instead of "nucular" the other day. I'm tempted to say it's a "just folks" affectation.

In re "aluminum" from Wikipedia (and this is fair use according to their policy, so I'm not breaking copyright laws!)

In 1808, Humphry Davy originally proposed the name alumium while trying to isolate the new metal electrolytically from the mineral alumina. In 1812, he changed the name to aluminum to match its Latin root. The same year, an anonymous contributor to the Quarterly Review, a British political-literary journal, objected to aluminum and proposed the name aluminium.

Aluminium, for so we shall take the liberty of writing the word, in preference to aluminum, which has a less classical sound. (Q. Review VIII. 72, 1812)

This had the advantage of conforming to the -ium suffix precedent set by other newly discovered elements of the period: potassium, sodium, magnesium, calcium, and strontium (all of which Davy had isolated himself). Nevertheless, -um spellings for elements were not unknown at the time: platinum, which had been known to Europeans since the 16th century, molybdenum, which was discovered in 1778, and tantalum, which was discovered in 1802, all have spellings ending in -um.

The United States adopted the -ium for most of the 19th century with aluminium appearing in Webster's Dictionary of 1828. However, in 1892 Charles Martin Hall used the -um spelling in an advertising handbill for his new efficient electrolytic method for the production of aluminium, despite using the -ium spelling in all of his patents filed between 1886 and 1903. It has consequently been suggested that the spelling on the flyer was a simple spelling mistake rather than a deliberate choice to use the -um spelling. Hall's domination of production of the metal ensured that the spelling aluminum became the standard in North America, even though the Webster Unabridged Dictionary of 1913 continued to use the -ium version.

In 1926, the American Chemical Society officially decided to use aluminum in its publications, and American dictionaries typically label the spelling aluminium as a British variant.

Pronunciations and spellings that kill me (Warning, I'm a grammar nerd)

*Your/you're, their/there/they're, its/it's. It is NOT. THAT. COMPLICATED.

*Orientate

*Dilitate

*Lose/Loose

*Breath/Breathe

*THeeYAYter. I know. Regional. Still drives me nuts.

*PHUH instead of PHO. I know Phuh is the correct pronunciation in Vietnamese, but NOBODY whose first language is English says it that way except the pretentious. Remember that Saturday Night Live skit with Jimmy Smits where everyone is saying things with an exaggerated Spanish accent, and he's actually Hispanic, and they pretend not to understand him? Comedy gold.

*I'm from Northern California, and we have a town called Vallejo. We say it Vuhlayho. Pity the native Spanish speaker who needs directions to Bayeho.

*I know someone whose last name is Desjardins. Now, I would pronounce it Dayjardehn, like the French would. However, she says it Desjardins, so whatever.

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Big pet peeves--

1. Why do people in New York insist on pronouncing words in new ways? Just so they know who's not from around there?

e.g. Chili = CHYE-lye

Charlotte = shah-LOTE

WHAT?!

This made me crack up. Here in Rochester (Rochistr) we have a town called Chili (Chye-lye) and I often go to Charlotte (Shar-lot) beach. you must have visited here lol.

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Our spelling of the word seems to be different too. In canada, we spell it centimetre not centimeter.

In french it is spelled centimètre. Pretty much said the way it reads except the è has an a or au sound to it.

Our spelling for neighbour, colour and several more are just a wee bit different.

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Specializes in Policy, Emergency OR, Peds OR, CVOR.
This made me crack up. Here in Rochester (Rochistr) we have a town called Chili (Chye-lye) and I often go to Charlotte (Shar-lot) beach. you must have visited here lol.

Yeah I posted that right after I returned from visiting my in laws in Webster! God I love Wegman's... I wish we had them here...:bluecry1:

I grew up in Charlotte (like the Queen) and eat chillee on my burger....

I actually thought my dh was pulling my leg when he told me how to pronounce Chili and Charlotte, I refused to say them out loud until I heard them pronounced on the news :D

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Yeah I posted that right after I returned from visiting my in laws in Webster! God I love Wegman's... I wish we had them here...:bluecry1:

I grew up in Charlotte (like the Queen) and eat chillee on my burger....

I actually thought my dh was pulling my leg when he told me how to pronounce Chili and Charlotte, I refused to say them out loud until I heard them pronounced on the news :D

lol. Webster is one town over from me.

Wegman's rocks. Did you get to the super wegmans in Pittsford? Its amazing.

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Specializes in Nursing assistant.

"Webster"? as in dictionary? They should know!

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"Webster"? as in dictionary? They should know!

ROTFL!! :rotfl:

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Specializes in Neuro ICU, Neuro/Trauma stepdown.

i thought nurses that said sontameters where just old school. ( and i know there are old school nurses on here, so where are they?) i was also under the impression that orientate started as a joke and people ran with it like it was a real word.

yeah, i shouldn't get bent, but a lot of things irritate me. it's not how people pronounce things different r/t their origin/culture/dialect, what gets me is the than/then, sit/sat and all of that. it's bad grammer and it shows that these people really do not know the difference. (their, they're, there, you get my drift.)

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Specializes in Policy, Emergency OR, Peds OR, CVOR.
lol. Webster is one town over from me.

Wegman's rocks. Did you get to the super wegmans in Pittsford? Its amazing.

We did go out to Pittsford but I think my dh knew a SUPER Wegman's would give me an MI so he never mentioned it.....:rotfl:

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I had a friend from Scotland who pronounced aluminum the way you do. I loved it. Made her say it over and over. :lol2:

its the old interanational english verus american english thing

(rest of world) usa and old spheres of influnce

also affects spelling

colour , color etc

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I think it is a regional thing. I'm from the south (GA) I say CENTimeters. In FL all the nurses I work with are Northerners and they say SONTimeters. I had never heard it pronounced that way untill I started working in FL.

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Specializes in PACU, ED.

I am an engineer transitioning to nursing school. I can tell you that in engineering it's called centimeters and that was with both US and UK instructors.

It is funny how we pronounce things the same/differently as they are spelled. My favorite is to pronounce baseline with the same vowel sounds as vaseline. Try it, vaseline, baseline, vaseline, baseline. :lol2:

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