Titanium

[Khandro]

Would you pronounce its first syllable as in 'titanic', or as in 'titter' ?

[dannyk13]

lol Mikey

[fiction-factory]

I've always said TIT anium- although it only occasionaly comes up in Science lessons. The first time I heard the Tie-tanium version was when the David Guetta/Sia song came out 5 or so years ago, and I assumed it was an American pronunciation. Maybe I've been saying it wrong all these years.
I've just found out I've been mispronouncing the name of a rapper- Stefflon Don. I assumed it was Stefflon to rhyme with Teflon followed by Don (as in Don Mclean). But just heard on the radio it is pronounced Steff + London.

[dannyk13]

Oh the wondrous diversity of the English language.

[mikey4444]

On a related subject, just exactly how do Americans get the pronunciation of buoy, the thing you tie a boat to as
booo-eeee ?

They say boyancy aid, and boyancy vest, but not booeeance....odd methinks !

[fiction-factory]

Now why American's say nucular I've never understood, but I bet they are puzzled by our pronounciation of Althorp (Altrup), Cholmondeley (Chumley). For years I called the place in Cornwall Fowey as it was spelt before I realised it should be said as Foi.

[mikey4444]

Edinburgh is another example !

[fiction-factory]

colonel (kernal)
Why do some pronounce Lieutenant as leftenant
I bet there quite a few words that I have pronounced incorrectly all my life

[bhg481]

Those chaps from the former colonies have a lot to answer for. Leftenant is the standard British pronunciation but those prolific TV programme makers from across the water pronounce it leftenant.

[bhg481]

sorry pronounce it lootenant.

[Khandro]

Hmmm. having difficulty giving a best answer. :o)
I think the lady in the sound-clip and jim might be right, and because of its strength, I would associate it more poetically with a Titan; "(Gk Mth.) member of a gigantic race; person of superhuman size, intellect, strength etc." - rather than a diminutive bird.

[fiction-factory]

We pronounce Title as Tie-tul but pronunce titular as TIT YOU LAR (or at least I hope we do because that's how I pronounce it),

[mikey4444]

"Titanium was discovered in Cornwall, Great Britain, by William Gregor in 1791, and was named by Martin Heinrich Klaproth for the Titans of Greek mythology"

From the Wiki entry.

[jim360]

That's cool and all Mikey, although on the face of it v-e's answer suggests that "titan" sounds far more like "tittan" (or even "tee-tan"?) than "tyetan" when read from the original Greek.

I would guess that's where the apparently "traditional English" pronunciation of titanium as in "titter" comes from, but for reasons I'm not aware of myself the "tit" combination rhymes with "tight" more often than not nowadays.

[mikey4444]

Jim....as Titanium was named after the Titans, then tie tane eum would seem to make sense. After all I can recall learning about the Titans being tittans, or the moon of Saturn being know as tittan.

[jim360]

Sigh...

What I am saying is that we also pronounce "titans" 'wrongly' -- at least in terms of what the Ancient Greeks might say. So yes, sure, titanium and titan should rhyme with each other -- but both "should" also, perhaps, rhyme with "tit" rather than "tight".

But they don't, usually.

[douglas9401]

It's all enough to burst Uranus.

[bhg481]

Trying to apply logic to English pronunciation is a thankless task. Apparent/transparent are usually pronounced Ap parrant and trans parent, to name just one example.

[jim360]

Oh, absolutely, I agree with that. I'm just saying that trying to insist that "Titanium is named after the Titans so should rhyme with Titan" is all well and good until you start to realise that the pronunciation of "titan" is also up for debate -- at least, in the sense that historically it was pronounced differently from how it is today.

[vetuste_ennemi]

Like everyone else I pronounce "titan" to rhyme with "tighten", but titanium with a short "i" and long (English) "a" as in tit-ay-nee-um.

On the other hand my queen of the fairies is Tit-ah-nee-a.

[Ellipsis]

Titter ye not.