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pronounciation survey

Hello,
I want to know how everybody out there pronounces ROUTER - the thing for your LAN, not the thing that cuts grooves in wood. Is like ROOT - ER, or is like R "OUT" - ER? All votes will be counted. :p

carolraydon
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57 posts since Mar 2006
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Hello, I want to know how everybody out there pronounces ROUTER - the thing for your LAN, not the thing that cuts grooves in wood. Is like ROOT - ER, or is like R "OUT" - ER? All votes will be counted. :p


I have always pronounced it r-out-er, for two reasons:
1. It has the same spelling as the woodworking router (not ironclad though, considering this is English we are talking about).
2. Its function. It is a router, ie a thing which routes some other thing.

DavidRyan
Posting Whiz in Training
229 posts since Jul 2006
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Americans tend to pronounce is as "r - out - er", the same way as they pronounce route "r - out" Brits and a few other nationalities tend to pronounce is as "rooter" as we pronounce "route" as root.

Simple, eh?

gazaa
Newbie Poster
14 posts since Oct 2004
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There is nothing to debate.

A router (r-out-er) routs but a router (r-oo-ter) routes

For goodness sake it's simple.

hollystyles
Veteran Poster
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OK, and how do you pronounce a rowboat :)

jwenting
duckman
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The answer to all these is: it depends.

There's this thing in language called context, and what you do is pronounce or read words - that are spelt the same but have different meaning - according to the context.

Simple, like I said.

A lot of humour depends on these words and the interesting ways they can be used 'out of context' although to my mind, a pun is just another legitimate context.

hollystyles
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One day I was on route to root out a new router when I was rerouted due to a router malfunction at the traffic signal in front of the router factory. So I borrowed a router to route out a piece of root to make a rowboat to get home by an alternate route. Have I gotten to the root of the matter?

For goodness sake it's simple. :rolleyes:

carolraydon
Junior Poster in Training
57 posts since Mar 2006
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One day I was on route to root out a new router

root is not a verb it is a noun, rout is a verb (to rout around in my bag, to rout the enemy)So I borrowed a router to route out a piece of root

This is also wrong it should be:
"So I borrowed a router torout out a piece of root ..."

Have I gotten to the root of the matter?

At last corrct use of root, hurrah !


An amusing paragraph I enjoyed that, thanks Carolrayden.

hollystyles
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root is not a verb it is a noun, rout is a verb (to rout around in my bag, to rout the enemy)

My pigs root, do your pigs rout?

And while were on the subject:
Is Amish pronounced AH-mish or AIM-ish?

carolraydon
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well pigs are illiterate I guess, so we can't hold it against them. My pigs squeek more than they rout, specially at breakfast time!

But ok I concede (I don't like it but) root and rout are both allowed, and root is probably the more common usage.

But the context still tells you how to pronounce the word and what meaning it has, which is the argument here.

Is Amish pronounced AH-mish or AIM-ish?

Well Amish is a name, and it's owner will tell you how it should be pronounced. Either is plausible, but I would argue Amish as it's spelt (short sounding A), is the correct pronounciation.

hollystyles
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Hello, I want to know how everybody out there pronounces ROUTER - the thing for your LAN, not the thing that cuts grooves in wood. Is like ROOT - ER, or is like R "OUT" - ER? All votes will be counted. :p



I think the word "rout" as in a complete victory, should be pronounced to rhyme with "out."

The word route, meaning a highway etc should be pronounced with the "oo" sound. The "e" at the end of the word softens the o sound.

A router should also be pronounced as "rooter" for the same reason.

Think of bout and boutique. Think of gout and goutee. Think of tout and toute (suite).

Or not. I think "r-ow-t" for the highway sounds uneducated.

dhjinfo
Newbie Poster
1 post since Mar 2007
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I, and everyone I know IRL, pronounces router (the device) as 'r-owt-er'. This includes the staff at the local computer store (note: this is not a chain, these people actually do know what they're doing, so I would presume they know what they're talking about as well). I have, I'll admit, heard route (noun - a course, way, or road for passage or travel) pronounced as 'root', but only rarely, and the verb form, as in 'to shift to another path', I have always heard pronounced as 'rowt'. If I heard someone say 're-r-oo-t', I'd assume they were talking about gardening or something similar.

And root itself can be a verb, meaning alternately to establish deeply, or to tear out. (Note: The second meaning requires an object, the first apparently does not. Check dictionary.com for further evidence.)

EnderX
Posting Shark
999 posts since Aug 2006
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the local dialect here tends towards rowt-r, for apparent lack of IPA support in [tex] tags...

Infarction
Posting Virtuoso
1,580 posts since May 2006
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there's a teacher at my school that pronounces it r-oo-ter..


haha i get a kick out of it every time. :D

Duki
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its r-oooo-ter for the british
its r-owww-ter for americans

if you said it the american way in engalnd ppl would be like wtf

jbennet
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Americans tend to pronounce is as "r - out - er", the same way as they pronounce route "r - out" Brits and a few other nationalities tend to pronounce is as "rooter" as we pronounce "route" as root.

Simple, eh?

Brits speak funny anyway. Especially humerous is the way they pronounceschool and schedule. Both words start with sch but they pronounce them differently. Maybe its a carry-over from Shakespeare days.

root is not a verb it is a noun,.

root is both a noun and a verb. See dictionary entry .

Ancient Dragon
Retired & Loving It
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americanisms and american pronounciations get on my nerves

we invented the darn language anyways... :)

like WTF is up with color - it should be colour - theres a U in it!

jbennet
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americanisms and american pronounciations get on my nerves we invented the darn language anyways...

I believe that there would be a lot of variations of the English language depending on where one is in the UK-- England, Wales, Scotland--Cockney, etc. It is not as if everyone in the UK speaks exactly the same form of English, what we refer to here as "High English" (I prefer High English,proper English and I sure do wish everyone spoke this way, properly.) I am American and it gets on my nerves also, "Americanisms", but this is the evolution of the language which is totally natural and cannot be prevented. ;)

"Router" is pronounced R-ow-ter as in "wow" .:)

Regards,
Matty

mattyd
Posting Maven
2,607 posts since Oct 2006
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americanisms and american pronounciations get on my nerves we invented the darn language anyways... :)


But you keep changing it! From Canterbury Tales:But if I telle tales two or thre
Of freres, er I come to Sidyngborne
My tale is doon
we been almoost at towne
Sires, now in the morwe-tyde
Out of youre hostelrie I saugh yow ryde.doon? ryde? saugh? Talk about WTF! At least we don't keep changing things... We just improve it and it stays! :mrgreen:

like WTF is up with color - it should be colour - theres a U in it!

So you stole the word from the French. At least we made it ours! :)

WaltP
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lol i love the english language its so random :)

jbennet
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This article has been dead for over three months

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