Page 1 of 1

Pronunciation

Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 12:34 pm
by Perry Lassiter
Proper pronunciation can disturb, distress, and discombobulate (good word?) me. I suspect all of us have been surprised by hearing for the first time a word we have read for years, mentally pronouncing it quite differently. I find this especially true in medical terms, which even the pros pronounce differently, especially with accents.
Since most med terms are Latin, I tend to think Spanish pronunciation, but it doesn't always hold true. Is it angina, with accented long "i" or angina, with accented first short "a." Then there are medicines: metropolol, which I first thought accented the "po" with long "o," but later head the second syllable stressed with long "o." Etc.

Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 12:48 pm
by Stargzer
I've found it doesn't matter how it's pronounced as long as the pharmacist gets the right pill in the right bottle!

:lol:

Our pharmacy (Safeway) includes the pronunciation on the patient explanation of the drug.


Oh, yeah; two examples I remember from my academic past:

-- a nun back in grade school correcting someone by saying, "You have the em-FAH-sys on the wrong si-LAH-ble."

-- Mr. Cullen, our Latin I teacher in high school, telling us (complete with his Irish brogue), "It's pronounced a-GRI-co-la, not a-gri-CO-la; it's not some kind of a soft drink.!"

[Note for the Latin-challenged: agricola is the word for farmer, whence comes our English word agriculture.]

Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 5:34 pm
by Slava
-- a nun back in grade school correcting someone by saying, "You have the em-FAH-sys on the wrong si-LAH-ble."
Then the Nun should have sent you to find a good dic-SHON-ary.