How do you pronounce:
– Root Beer? Is the accent on “root” or “beer?”
– Hong Kong? Is the accent on “Hong” or “Kong?”
– Coupon? Is it “que-pon” on “coo-pon?”
– Crayon? Is it “cran” or “cray-on?”
BONUS: That thing you put on your pillow to keep it from getting dirty. . .is it a pillowcase or a pillow sheet?
EXTRA DOUBLE BONUS: That kitchen/cooking supply store, is it Williams-Sonoma or Williams and Sonoma?
ooh, I like these kind of quizzes. My answers are as follows:
ROOT beer
HONG Kong
coo-pon
Cray-on
pillowcase
and
Williams-Sonoma
I am curious to know your answers as well.
For me: ROOT beer, Hong KONG (but the two syllables are pretty much equal), coo-pon, cray-on, pillowcase, and Williams-Sonoma.
What is the debate about the last one?
Also, what is with people calling a drawer (it rhymes with “door,” to me) a “draw”?
Root
Hong
Que-pon
Cray-on
pillowcase (I’ve never even heard of pillow sheet. What the?!?)
Never heard of Williams or Sonoma.
Drawer rhymers with door.
Mesa kid answers:
ROOT beer
hong KONG
coo-pon
cray-on
pillowcase
Williams-Sonoma
ROOT beer
HONG Kong
coo-pon
cray-on (but M says crayn)
pillowcase
Willams-Sonoma (random fact: I worked there for a little while)
This reminds me of when RA mentioned “ahnts” vs “ants” and I asked her about “pajahmas” vs “pajammas”
ROOT beer
HONG kong (but they’re pretty much equal)
coo-pon
cran
pillowcase
Ikea
ROOT beer
Hong KONG
“que-pon” on “coo-pon”–I honestly alternate between the two and don’t know which I prefer
CRAY-on
Pillowcase. (And, I’m sorry, but pillowsheet is not a word.)
Williams-Sonoma
And do you call it “BYU”, or “The BYU”?
ROOT beer
HONG Kong
coo-pon
cran
pillowcase (never heard of a pillow sheet?)
Williams-Sonoma
I wish I didn’t say it cran because I know it’s wrong but I can’t help it!
ROOT Beer
HONG KONG (I really think I accent both)
que-pon
Cray-on
pillowcase
Williams-Sonoma
BONUS FOR YOU: I say milk not “melk”
question that has been of debate recently with those of my aquaintance: is pee-Onies or peo-nies? (both sides argue that one is correct and the other not, but they don’t agree to which!)
Root Beer I think I change depending on it’s place in the sentence.
According to my Chinese teacher, Hong Kong is ALWAYS pronounced HONG Kong.
Coo-pon
Cray-on (my next door neighbor growing up called them Crowns and I just never understood how that worked out)
pillowcase
and Williams-Sonoma.
xox
My boss is probably wondering why I’m mutterint to myself, but here ya go…
ROOT beer
HONG Kong
cooo-pon
Cray-on
pillowcase
Williams-Sonoma
Also, hi! I’m delurking:)
@Carly: It’s PEE-uh-neez.
Sincerely,
The resident expert on word emphases.
I am definitely a cran girl. At least it is better than saying “cren” ewww. Also, who says pillow sheet? Weird.
I say ROOT beer, Hong Kong (neither syllable emphasized more than the other), queue-pon, cray-on, pillowcase and Williams-Sonoma. Here are two more: app-ricot or ape-ricot? Nordstrom or Nordstroms? And my answers: app-ricot and Nordstrom (it’s always singular unless you’re talking about more than one of the stores, people! Maybe it’s a Seattle thing since they started here…)
ROOT beer
Hong KONG
Que-pon
Cran (I know this is wrong, but I grew up saying it this way. I’ve also heard people say crown, and it bugs the heck out of me.)
Pillowcase (never heard pillow sheet before)
Williams-Sonoma
ROOT beer
Hong Kong gets equal emphasis on each syllable.
coo-pon, though I have been known to say que-pon on occasion.
cran, but I have also heard it “crown,” not sure how that works out.
pillowcase, unless you’re my grandma, then it’s pyellowcase.
ROOT Beer
Hong KONG
Coo-pon
Crown
Pillowcase
Williams-Sonoma
I have a little of the South Balmer (Baltimore) accent-made famous in Hairspray-most of which was teased out of me (no pun intended)in elementary school.
Root
Kong–but this is very slight. I think it just sounds like an accent on Kong because the K is more percussive.
Que-pon
Cray-on but that is because I used to say Crayn/crown and no one could understand what I was saying.
Pillowcase–pillow sheet is lame because I have never heard of it.
Williams-Sonoma
ROOT beer
HONG Kong although almost equal
Q pon
CRAY on
Pillowcase, but my grandmothers and older generations called them pillow slips. They were always embroidered with crocheted edges.
Williams-Sonoma
DROR – long o, almost 2 sylables
And my personal pet peeves:
Boise – BOY see not BOIZ ee
(USDA) Forest Service not Forestry Service.
Nevada – short a’s not ahs (Janssen, if I am wrong, you may correct me on this.)
Wash – wahsh not warsh
Spokane – Spo can’ not Spo cane
Oregon – Or’ e gun not Or e gone’ (I used to live there.)
Yakima – Yack’ i mah not Yah keem’ ma
My pronunciations are with Noelle.
But you should NEVER say “The BYU” or “WalMarts” or “KMarts” or “Nordstroms” or “Ensuhn” (Ensign–it even has a pronunciation guide inside the cover). My grandmother says warsh for wash and bateet for petite.
In Australia I picked up a-GAIN pronounced phonetically, not as A-gin. And it is Bris-bin, not Brisbane and Melbun not MelBORN
This is fun. I think I’ve offended half the people in Northern Utah–which is probably the world’s most shocking accent except for some places in the deep south.
Depends, and I’m not really sure why.
Hong KONG
que-pon
cray-on
pillowcase
Williams-Sonoma (well, actually, WilliamSonoma)
oh man I HATE COO PON. uuugh.
ROOT beer
Hong Kong – equal emphasis
que-pon
cray-on – people call it a cran?
pillowcase
“That kitchen/cooking supply store, is it Williams-Sonoma or Williams and Sonoma?”
NO IDEA. It doesn’t exist in Canada 😉
Root
Hong
Cue-pon
Crayon (and I find cren and cran MUCH more detestable than crown)
pillowcase- Who the heck says pillow sheet? That’s absurd.
Williams-Sonoma
I generally hate discussion like these. Why am I participating?
ROOT beer
HONG Kong
que-pon
cray-on
pillow case
williams-sonoma
Sorry, that was my deleted comment. I posted a correction to my original comment – only to add a couple more errors. (Blame it on a lousy summer cold.)
Nevada – Neh vad (rhymes with cad, short a) duh
root
hong
que-pon
cray-on
Williams-Sonoma
pillowcase
I have never heard of a pillow sheet!
ha..Philip and I walked past a Williams-Sonoma in Phoenix on Friday and I said, “Man, it bugs me when people call it Williams and Sonoma.”
I may as well give everyone the right answers, since I’m here:
ROOT beer,
HONG Kong
Coo-pon
Cray-on
Pillowcase
Williams AND Sonoma.
I’m suprised how many people got it wrong.
Soda, that of which I can not have
HONG Kong
coo-pon
Cran
pillowcase (what’s a pillow sheet?_
And, Williams-Sonoma. Also called the place where my paycheck goes to live.
Just discovered your blog. Fantastic.
ROOT beer
Hong KONG
COO-pon
CRAY-on
pillowcase
William (no S) Sonoma
Take my answers with a pich of salt though – I’m South African and my pronunciation is much closer to British English than Americanese
Well, I’m from Texas, so most of my answers were not given as options.
Ahem.
Ruit beer.
Hawng Kawng.
cue-pawn.
pilla-case.
and last, but not least,
cray-an.
Ok, so it’s Tuesday afternoon.
ROOT beer
HONG Kong
que-pon
Cray-on
pillowcase (but also Lizzy’s pilla case)
and
Williams-Sonoma