Thursday, September 28, 2006
desultory 2: electric boogaloo
This morning on the radio I heard someone else say "desultory" - and he said it the way I say it in my head! Almost. He actually said "deZULtory." (My head prefers an "s" sound.) I think I believe the first guy, though - partly because the dictionary says so, and partly because he was a New Yorker staff writer and they just seem like they would know how to pronounce stuff.
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3 comments:
I always thought it was pronounced the way you pronounced it. And although New Yorker people are probably likely to get it right, they also insist on putting umlauts over words like "coöperate" and "reëducate" which is silly.
Yeah, I wouldn't believe him solely on the basis of him being a New Yorker guy, but the dictionary seemed like it should know. It doesn't even list deSULtory (or deZULtory) as an alternate pronunciation. We're just wrong!
I'm staring a new pronunciation - desulTOOUReye. Sophist - can you work it into your next radio interview?
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