Settle the Score
My husband seems to think that "crayon," as in "Crayola Crayon" is pronounced "cray on," as if it were two words, like "go put the cray on the table."
And we all know that it's not two words.
The correct pronunciation of "crayon" is "crown," as in "gimme the brown crown."
Now that we all agree, I'm going to sleep.
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Heather talks about public tantrums (from kids) on today's Momversation.
- RIP Louis Mortimer Armstrong: http://bit.ly/1R4tv6
- Hugs and kisses to you, too! RT: @Monkey_Tree: @dooce he probably committed suicide because he was tired of LISTENING TO YOU WHINE.
- Our fish just died. And I'm sitting here crying. And it wasn't even my fault!
1. Toby said:
How, then, does one pronounce 'rayon?'
2. April said:
And may you dream in Crayola color.
3. dooce said:
"rayon" is pronounced "rown," of course.
4. Richard Barkins said:
How about we forget the whole crayon thing and dream of me?
5. Summer said:
Cray. On. Definately Cray-on.
6. Kayt said:
In the Midwest (where I spent the first 17 years of my life), crayon is pronounced "cran"-- no long A sound, no O. Pretty scary, huh? And don't even get me started on how to pronouce "coupon" and "milk"!
7. Agatha said:
Cray-ola cray-ons are cray-zy!
8. the mighty jimbo said:
dooce, take out the needle, and go get help.
(ya know, she is still the motherfucking greatest even when she is completely fucking wrong. )
9. Katie said:
I so agree with your husband.
10. megchem said:
djblur is in the right...sorry? Next thing you know...roooof is ruf and Flooorida is Flarda....wtf?
11. megchem said:
Oh yeah I almost forgot...doooorothy would be darthy.... huh...
12. JoeBillionaire said:
Damn... there are surveys done on everything.
http://hcs.harvard.edu/~golder/
dialect/staticmaps/q_9.html
13. Grace said:
I'm with Kayt and Cran, like Cran-Berry. I've never heard anything funny with the word milk but if people can warp "forty" into "farty" then I guess anything's possible.
14. Janice said:
no no, crayon is most definetly not pronounced "crown" there was a girl in my grade two class that always said it that way and it made me mad. I don't know why, but it did. crayon should be pronounced crayon, no silly spaces inbetween or shortening.. craayooon. whew. sorry, i have word issues i think
15. Grace said:
Maybe it's more like Cray-In. Yeah, that's more like it.
16. shem said:
For what it's worth, I'm British and I say definitely "crown".
17. Dyanna said:
I, too, agree with Hubby.
18. Kate said:
Crown. Definitely. Anything else is wrong.
19. superstar said:
It is totally a Crown!!!!
20. wino said:
Somebody gots some "Crown"?
21. e said:
I vote cray-on. And for christ's sake - gif, not jif. sheesh...
22. ryan said:
Crayola make cray-ons, not crowns ;)
23. Ismat said:
Dooce, I love you and all, but really, it's not "crown." Or "cran," for my fellow midwesterners.
It is CRAY-ON.
24. Paul Gutman said:
I'm with Blurb on this one. For agreement's sake, I just say "pass me the turquoise one, asshole."
25. presley said:
my aunts favorite crayon color is carmel pecan mayonnaise
26. MovieGirl said:
In the midwest Crayon is pronounced "Cran", but Rayon is "Ray-on."
27. pinky said:
OK, I am from the midwest, so I know its cray-ahn, cou-pahn, and mulk. Also, Alan Thicke's TV show is called "Groin Pains."
28. antisocial diva said:
i am one of the "cray on" folks.
29. aubs said:
Cran. As in Cranberry juice. Cranberry colored Crans are good too...
30. Keri said:
Damn... Now you've got me sitting at my computer saying to myself, "Crayon...? Craaaaan. Cra-ahn..." over and over like a mental patient.
31. Sarah B. said:
I hate to do this to you again, especially after the clog incident last year, but I'm with Jon on this one.
32. Lisa said:
Me too, Keri.
33. Bj¯rnsky said:
Cray on, dude!
34. Tim said:
I think Aubs and Keri are the closest. Cran, with a slight extension on the "a". Definitely. No argument.
35. Benjy said:
I'm siding with Kayt and Grace on this one -- CRAN!
36. galt said:
my sunday school teacher used to pronounce the name of the wax coloring utensil 'crane'. then i renounced catholicism.
i agree with all y'all that be puttin a hyphen all up in there...it's cray-on. not cray. on.
whirred.
37. PJ said:
I don't see no stinking 'w' in that word. Nor have I ever heard anyone ever say it like that. That is just wrong.
About as wrong as my husband saying 'cats-up' instead of the obviously correct 'ketch-up.'
38. Ric said:
Cray-on... But then again, I'm a Canuck, and still haven't figured out the whole "house" as "hoose" controversy.
39. Beerzie Boy said:
He doesn't say liberry, does he? I hate that.
40. April said:
Whirred?
41. the mighty jimbo said:
I understand that by being from the midwest, this might be difficult for many of you to follow. But concentrate, and you can get it too. This is quite elemantary (that means easy) and should be much easier for you to accept than say, oh, the theory of evolution or the Democratic party.
One word. Two syllables. Crayon. It's right there in the dictionary. Go check. Cray-on (kra'on).
Color inside the lines kids. Inside the lines. I'll stop being a patronizing, self-righteous little motherfucker and will go back to work now.
42. the mighty jimbo said:
ya know, my arguments would be way cooler if i could only learn how to spell.
yep. i suck.
43. Brenda said:
Cray-on, emphasis on the cray. I've never heard it pronounced as one syllable and assume that this is some freaky American defiling of the word.
44. slackjaw said:
It's not "cray-on"
it's not "Crown"
it's not "cran"
It's "Craen"
45. nessa said:
never heard 'crown' in reference to a coloring device before. depending on how fast i'm talking, i go between 'cran' and 'cray-on'. no space. i'm also from the midwest, but i've never had the 'accent'.
46. Los Feliz freak said:
Dooce- you've never been so wrong. Check out www.yourdictionary.com. Look up "crayon." You can listen to someone pronouncing the word correctly, although your husband already is.
47. Naaman said:
I would've agreed with Jon were I there in the heat of the debate, as I've always pronounced it cray-on. But, I figured I'd check before blabbing too much.
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/
audio.pl?crayon01.wav=crayon
I rest my case.
48. Sam said:
cray-on, definitely.
49. Paul Gutman said:
I think that the people who actually broke out the dictionary took a lot of fun out of the argument.
Also, I think that there's always room for changing pronunciation...it's just that I'm right.
Hyphens, baby, hyphens.
50. Vera said:
I think it's pronounced "cry in" as in "I like to cry in the shower."
51. Staci said:
I don't know, we pronounce "colonel"
kur'nel . . . . . now what kind of sence does that make
52. galt said:
april--whirred. instead of 'word'. like, 'word up, yo, that was a great post.'
were'd
53. Maurice said:
Stupid me, I thought it was two words, but I was quickly correct a long while back. So that's my two cents. ;)
54. Malisa said:
It's cray-on. And soda. Must be a remnant of that mormon accent.
55. Tim said:
Oh, that did it. Staci said "colonel", and now I have to bring up the "Colonel Angus" skit on SNL last Saturday.
56. April said:
Galt, that's what I thought; it just made me do a double-take.
And speaking of colonel, who here actually pronounces Wednesday wed-nes-day or vegetable ve-je-ta-bull? I'm not trying to say anything with that, as I pronounce crayon properly, as the dictionary dictates it should be pronounced.
57. Chris said:
cray-yawn. Don't destroy my childhood.