Accuracy Over Tact

[beautifulduckweed]

To address one of my pet peeves: the last syllable of "redux" sounds almost exactly like "ducks." It doesn't sound like "doo," "dü," or any other Anglicized French bastardization. Why? Because it's Anglicized Latin bastardization. It's why the X isn't silent. Please take my word on this. Do not make me cut a bitch because you rhymed "redux" with "roux." If English needs to butcher the pronunciation of words from other languages, let's at least butcher the consonants properly, eh?

Comments

[darwinpolice.livejournal.com]

...the fuck? I have never heard anyone mispronounce "redux." The first time I do, there will be blood all over the god damn place.

[seasong1.livejournal.com]

There once was a word rhymed with ducks
Which helped poor bolemics' up-chucks
But don't be uncouth
And rhyme it with roux
You mouth-breathing, ignorant fucks.

(With apologies to the actual word - the brand name built the poem better.)

[theotherjay.livejournal.com]

I lol'd IRL

/seriously, who does that?

[katealaurel.livejournal.com]

I love you.

[heyokish.livejournal.com]

argh, yes.

See also "jejune" and people who try to frenchify it.

[incidentist.livejournal.com]

I've never heard anyone pronounce it frenchily, but yeah, that'd get on my nerves. X's are awesome and deserve vocalization.

[davethegreat.livejournal.com]

Dexfenfluramine hydrochloride isn't on the market anymore though, who is still talking about it enough to get on your nerves?

[davethegreat.livejournal.com]

All obscure pharmaceutical references aside, I actually did not know that was the correct pronunciation. It is used so often in written formats but so rarely in spoken situations that I don't recall having ever heard it correctly spoken aloud.

It's a pretty fair conclusion to assume it is a silent X if you have never heard it (it reads far more elegantly than it sounds, so it is written more often than spoken). It loosely means the same thing as "re-do," so assuming such a similarly spelled work with a similar meaning would have a similar sound is not much of a stretch. It is often used in French-heavy artsy-fartsy settings such as indy film posters and gallery openings, thus making the assumption that it is French is not a poor guess. Finally, even if you don't assume the similarity in pronunciation is packaged with the similarities in spelling and meaning, and know that it is derived from Latin, there is still the fact that Italic languages do make use of the silent X often enough to make the "ree-doo" pronunciation a plausible enough conclusion that there would simply not be enough doubt to make one dive for the dictionary to find out.

But now that I know, I will endeavor to work it into a conversation about mallards engaging in coitus after previously having engaged in slightly different forms of coitus.

[davethegreat.livejournal.com]

similarly spelled WORD, not "work." I R BAD TYPERIST. I should get a job writing Sarah Palin's Twitter updates.