How do you pronounce it?

I know I have a definite preference, and have watched with amazement as the pronunciation of this word has rapidly shifted in recent years. But let's hear what you have to say!

I'll own up to having voted for kull-inary.

French kull-inary institute.

By the way, for those who like to base their pronunciations on etymology, "culinary" is derived from the Latin "culinarius", the first syllable of which would be pronounced (at least by a good Classical period Roman) as "Kool," not "Kull" or "Kyool." For what it is worth.

Okay, I had to think for a moment, but I went with the Q (or rather, I go with the Q when I say this word) pronunciation. Regarding this pronunciation, I believe I may be influenced by previous French language instruction -- or maybe it just feels better.

gleam wrote:I'll own up to having voted for kull-inary.

French kull-inary institute.

Hammond wrote:I went with the Q (or rather, I go with the Q when I say this word) pronunciation. Regarding this pronunciation, I believe I may be influenced by previous French language instruction

O.K, guys, which is it?!?

I'm with Q-linary, as in "nu-Q-lar". . .':wink:'

I pronounce it "coolinary".

Just like I pronounce "coopons."

Out of curiostiy, I looked it up in my 1967 Webster's Dictionary, and even back then both pronunciations were given as correct, though "kuh" was listed first. So apparently, this dicotomy has existed for a while.

As for myself, I tend to vary the pronunciation. I mostly, while growing up, heard it pronounced "qyu," so that's what I tend to say most often, but I am aware of the preference for "kuh" in certain milieus, and I tend to start pronouncing it that way when I'm with that group, simply because it doesn't stop converstations -- sort of like, when I'm in Australia, I say "tomahto," to avoid the explosive hysterics over my "cute accent" when I say "tomayto."

And since even my old Webster's doesn't give me a clear answer as to which is correct (newer dictionaries tend to reflect trends, rather than telling you what is correct, so I like going back to the older dictionary when a debate arises), I'll probably go on switching off.

A line from "My Fair Lady" comes to mind -- "The French don't care what they do, as long as they pronounce it correctly." While I'm generally a stickler for correct language usage, in this case, I don't care how you pronounce "culinary" as long as we still get to eat.

geli wrote:I pronounce it "coolinary".

I like that option, both because it's more consistent with the Latin root and because it expressly puts the "cool" in "culinary" (which we all knew was in there to begin with)!

Q-linary for me. However, for some inexplicable reason, since I was a kid I've always liked inserting "y" sounds in words like "Tuesday" and "tube" (which I don't do anymore), like the British do. That still perplexes me as I didn't have any influence from that side of the pond growing up.

My natural instinct is also to say "Q-pon" instead of "coo-pon," but that does seem to be the predominant pronuncation in my neighborhood on the Southwest Side, so that at least makes sense.

Cynthia wrote:O(newer dictionaries tend to reflect trends, rather than telling you what is correct, so I like going back to the older dictionary when a debate arises)

Well, language evolves, so without getting into a descriptivist vs. prescriptivist discussion, what's correct really is what's accepted by speakers of a language, and for a word like "culinary," there are at least two accepted pronuncations, both equally correct. Otherwise, you could say that the correct pronuncation for a word like "knight" sounds the "k" and the "gh," which today's correct pronuncation does not. Also, a dictionary is supposed to reflect how a language is used, and not necessarily dictate (although it may offer points of guidance, as dictionaries like The American Heritage do). That's what stylebooks and formal grammars are for.

Cynthia wrote:I don't care how you pronounce "culinary" as long as we still get to eat.

Mind if I steal this quote for my tattoo??

And for what it's worth, I say "COOlinary," for similar etymological reasons stated above.