Monday Morning Quiz
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.