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pronunciation
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is there a correct way to pronounce the word "kilometer"?
kilogram,kilowatt,kilolitre,kilopascal,kilojoule etc. pronounce the "o" as in "go"but kilometreseems to have the "o" as in "hot". Why?
kilogram,kilowatt,kilolitre,kilopascal,kilojoule etc. pronounce the "o" as in "go"but kilometreseems to have the "o" as in "hot". Why?
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Not according to The Oxford English Dictionary! They should all be pronounced, roughly, as kill-i plus whatever the word is.
I use the letter 'i' above to refer to the sound of 'a' in the word 'another' - which is the OED's example - represented phonetically by an upside down 'e'.
So, killigram, killilitre etc.
I use the letter 'i' above to refer to the sound of 'a' in the word 'another' - which is the OED's example - represented phonetically by an upside down 'e'.
So, killigram, killilitre etc.
Really QM? My OED has the O of kilo represented by two symbols together viz. your symbol followed by the symbol for the sound of the U in 'put' .At the bottom of the page the Dictionary gives that pairing as the sound of the 'O' of 'no' . If you look at the entry for waterboatman's example, 'go' you find exactly the same pairing.
Methinks it should be as in 'go ' !
Methinks it should be as in 'go ' !
What is odd is that the OED gives the pair of symbols for kilo- " the combining form" as the editors have it, as in 'kilojoule, kilowatt, but for 'kilometre' it gives either QM's symbol (which the Dictionary has as the sound of the A in 'ago' ) or the symbol for the sound of the 'O' in 'hot'. You have a choice between those two !
Yes, Fred, but the question wasn't about kilo in itself, it was about kilometer, kilogram etc. The OED quite clearly gives only the upside-down 'e' for the o-sound there, so an 'oh' does not appear to be on offer.
Having said that, people - as the questioner indicates - will say it as they please, of course!
Having said that, people - as the questioner indicates - will say it as they please, of course!
So QM ,do you say 'iggo' for 'ago' and 'innother' for 'another' ? The symbol you refer to is the 'A' of 'ago' according to the OED . That suggests that kilogram is 'killagram' or thereabouts.'Killigram' would require the 'I' in 'sit' or the Y of 'cosy' which are represented by different symbols (which look like I and i )
fredpuli, I think the schwa, the upside-down e, is just a grunt; you can represent it as killigram, killagram, killuhgram, there's not enough strength on it to have a 'pronunciation' as such.
As for kilometer, it ought to be killuhmeter, but it isn't:somehow people have got it into their heads that it's kilommeter, so that's what it is. They're's no such things as 'correct' pronunciation in English, only 'most common' pronunciation. In France - where they were invented - they're more like keeluhmettras, in Germany it's more like killuhmayters (exaggerating a bit in both cases).
TCL, I think kilos are keelos because that comes closer to what people hear in shops on the continent, rather than what they hear on the streets and in the media in Britain.
As for kilometer, it ought to be killuhmeter, but it isn't:somehow people have got it into their heads that it's kilommeter, so that's what it is. They're's no such things as 'correct' pronunciation in English, only 'most common' pronunciation. In France - where they were invented - they're more like keeluhmettras, in Germany it's more like killuhmayters (exaggerating a bit in both cases).
TCL, I think kilos are keelos because that comes closer to what people hear in shops on the continent, rather than what they hear on the streets and in the media in Britain.
The OED sets out to show the commonly accepted pronunciation or pronunciations, which is why it gives alternative pronunciations. It's a help to foreigners and to any anglophone who comes across a word which they do not know.There is no 'correct way',in the snobbish sense,there but only the ways which are commonly accepted throughout Britain or, sometimes, North America as predominant [it notes some pronunciations as 'N. America'] .. For example, for 'schism', it gives both 'sizm' and 'skizm', with the alternative of a schwa before the 'm's, but not 'shizm' , though the word may look as though 'shizm' is the pronunciation..
Of course I don't say iggo for ago, Fred! I thought I'd made it plain what I was getting at in my original answer, when I used the word 'roughly' (qv). That word was meant to convey the point made in greater detail by Jno when he mentioned i, a or uh in his opening paragraph saying, "there's not enough strength on it." I don't say uhgo either!
I obviously do not know which Oxford dictionary you are referring to, but THE OED categorically uses the schwa in the words I indicated. (I'd temporarily forgotten its name and hence my wittering on about an upside-down e!) Also, as I mentioned earlier, the example of the schwa The Oxford English Dictionary gives is the 'a' of 'another' rather than the 'a' of 'ago'. Both of these sound the same to me, but they are far from being like the 'a' in 'cat'.
MRMKHS1, to answer your final question, I suggest you listen to some BBC announcers - Jocks, Geordies, Brummies or whatever are all perfectly acceptable nowadays...and a good thing, too! The BBC accent was not 'no accent', it was a dialect just like any other...a way of speech specific to a class and place.
I obviously do not know which Oxford dictionary you are referring to, but THE OED categorically uses the schwa in the words I indicated. (I'd temporarily forgotten its name and hence my wittering on about an upside-down e!) Also, as I mentioned earlier, the example of the schwa The Oxford English Dictionary gives is the 'a' of 'another' rather than the 'a' of 'ago'. Both of these sound the same to me, but they are far from being like the 'a' in 'cat'.
MRMKHS1, to answer your final question, I suggest you listen to some BBC announcers - Jocks, Geordies, Brummies or whatever are all perfectly acceptable nowadays...and a good thing, too! The BBC accent was not 'no accent', it was a dialect just like any other...a way of speech specific to a class and place.
MRMKHS1 you ask �If there is no such this a "correct pronunciation" in the English Language, what is the point of the "Old" English Dictionary or even the OED?�
There are many dialects and accents in this country, let alone in other countries where English is spoken. Unless you are from Aberdeenshire for example, I am sure you will not pronounce the words bath and path in the same way as ma mum for example.
I was saying those words to folk at work and said it the way ma mum would say them and then the way a �posh� person would, In both accents, a "long a" is used but they are not the same. I can hear a big difference (as would QM,no doubt) but the others could not. How would that be represented in the OED? The fact that it is not, does not make mum wrong.
There are many dialects and accents in this country, let alone in other countries where English is spoken. Unless you are from Aberdeenshire for example, I am sure you will not pronounce the words bath and path in the same way as ma mum for example.
I was saying those words to folk at work and said it the way ma mum would say them and then the way a �posh� person would, In both accents, a "long a" is used but they are not the same. I can hear a big difference (as would QM,no doubt) but the others could not. How would that be represented in the OED? The fact that it is not, does not make mum wrong.
TLC, in 'These Foolish Things' (possibly the best song ever written by an editor of the Radio Times*), kilos rhymes with pillows. I suppose it's up to the singer to decide how it will actually be pronounced.
*in fact said to have been inspired when he ended an affair with Deborah Kerr. Journalists had more interesting lives in those days.
*in fact said to have been inspired when he ended an affair with Deborah Kerr. Journalists had more interesting lives in those days.
