Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE says URANUS wrong

[Ediacara]

When I was growing up, we were taught that it was /jəɹ'en.ɪs/ "your anus." That was good for a laugh. Then around 1990 or so we were taught, no, that the "your anus" pronunciation is wrong, it should really be /'juɹ.ɪnəs/ "urine us." Hahaha again, another laugh at this beautiful milky blue-green planet's expense.



Enough is enough. Uranus is named for the God Uranus, which is the Latin spelling of the Greek Ouranos, which was pronounced as /'oɾənos/ or /'uɾənos/ "OH run us" or "OOOH run us."

I mean seriously, it's a U, not a Yu or a Iu or a Ju. Do people say Yumbrella? Why put a Y sound at the beginning or Uranus?

[texas1928]

1. HEE HEE

You said anus.


































:hide:

[Ediacara]

2. so did you :-)

[texas1928]

5. I am the great Cornholio...

Do you have TP?

[qnr]

3. Really, when I was in the military, /everyone/ said OOneeform

:hi:

[Ediacara]

10. that really is how you should say uni-anything

those darn British and their improper Y-insertion into syuff like Neptyune and dyuke. I realize that some improperly instered Ys are irreversible (like uniform and university), but some are not. Like Uranus.

[rug]

4. You may moderate the lounge but you may not moderate the solar system

[Ediacara]

7. Since I can't ask Uranus what it calls itself

I'll refer to the people who made the word ouranos in the first place :-)

[flamingyouth]

19. ...

:rofl:

[undeterred]

6. well, that's no fun

[Magrittes Pipe]

8. You're your anus.

:eyes:

[Blue-Jay]

9. I still call it "butthole planet".

[ZombieNixon]

11. The solution, of course, is to rename it.

Urectum

Props to Futurama. Swish. B-)

[texas1928]

12. Nah

Damn near killed'em.

[Lex]

13. "OH run us" or "OOOH run us"

I like them both, especially since those appear to be the more correct pronunciations anyway! :hi:

[Blue-Jay]

15. How do you say Jupiter?

Using the same rules of pronunciation, I mean? (I bet you still say JOO-pi-der)

[Ediacara]

17. I do say "Joo-pid-er"

Although I think it probably should be said /ju'piter/ "yoo-PEE-tare."

[rug]

22. Oh, look . . .the entire Earth can fit inside Uranus.

[Der Blaue Engel]

14. Thank you!

I've been telling people this for years.

:applause:

[qnr]

16. I wouldn't worry too much, according to Professor Hubert Farnsworth,

we won't have to worry about it forever, as it is going to be changed to Urrec ... um, nevermind

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

18. Well, I am still going to say YUR ANUS

because it cracks me up :rofl:

[Roon]

20. I remember laughing at the film strips in Jr.high about astronomy

[Whoa_Nelly]

21. ................

[rasputin1952]

23. Not to be a party pooper, but I have a great love of astronomy...

and for the serious lovers, here is a site for you:

http://heritage.stsci.edu/

In the mean time, I have no idea what the "true" pronunciation is, after all it changes w/the times...I guess since I've almost always used 'yuranus' I guess I'll stick w/it...:D

[GoddessOfGuinness]

24. I always thought it was OOR-ah-noos

the "u" being the same as the one in "ominibus"...or the "oo" in "look"

[hfojvt]

25. but the letter U is pronounced "you"

urgent - short U
urethane - long U
usable - long U
us - short U
use - long U
urn - short U
urine - long U

vowel consonant vowel requires the long sound, therefore "you-ray-nus"

[Ediacara]

26. Do you say yumbrella?

or yumbrage? yumpteenth? I mean the Greek transliteration pretty clearly says no Y sound.

[alcibiades_mystery]

27. yubiquitous...

Oh, wait a minute...

;-)

[hfojvt]

29. U beet me 2 it

but I had to peruse my dictionary B4 posting.

[hfojvt]

28. Greek, schmeek. Who is speaking Greek here?

That's for frat boys.

I do not say yurgent either. But vowel-consonant-consonant requires a short U. Urn vs. use; umbrage vs. ubiquitous; ugly vs ukelele; ultimatum vs. universe; ultimate vs. UFO.

Unexcited make leave you unconvinced, but "un" is a special case in that regard. As a stand alone prefix it is really only vowel-consonant followed by another word unlike universal or uniform.

[Ediacara]

31. Why does it require a "yoo"?

That's a bizaroism of British English, and not something that's actually required for any reason. The Greeks pronounced Ouranos as "OO-run-us." The Romans spelled it as Vranvs and pronounced it the same way as the Greeks. Then they invented the letter U and spelled it Uranus, but kept pronouncing it as "OO-run-us." Why do we need a Y-insertion? It's a foreign word, why change it to conform to a semi-rule of the language you're speaking? I mean I assume you say jalapeño with an initial H sound and not an English J right? Why not drop the Y in the front of Uranus?

[hfojvt]

34. I neither pronounce nor eat jalapenos

and do not allow little squiggly things over my "N's" any more than I use a tail in facade. :wtf: is a façade anyway?

I do like quesedillas, only if they are kwesa-dill-uhs and not KC-dee-uhs. Next thing people will tell me to say Bay-jing but those same people will never say Bayern or Schweiz even if their last names are Bayer and Schweitzer.

"Why not drop the Y in front of Uranus?"

First of all, because it ain't right, and second because of the iron-clad rule that I live by - "don't ever change". :crazy:

[qnr]

30. The thing that confuses me about all this is that you claim EVERYONE

says it wrong (which, with greater than 6 billion people, I find hard to believe, but that is beside the point). How do you say it? Either way, it reflects badly on you. Either you are saying it wrong yourself and don't have a lot of room for throwing stones, or you are saying it the way you feel to be correct, thereby invalidating your claim that "everybody" says it wrong. phffffffffffffft! :)

[Ediacara]

32. Oh you know what I meant...

:toast:

[qnr]

33. heheh yup :) n/t

[hfojvt]

35. oooh, good one

:patriot:

[qnr]

36. ;-) n/t

[leftofthedial]

37. urine anus

tee hee hee :rofl: tee hee :rofl: tee hee hee

[amitten]

38. I am sorry. n/t