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February 8, 2014 12:45 am
I have noticed lately that the terms "Whooping Cough" and "Whooping Crane" are being pronounced like "Whoopie Goldberg" (the "W" being emphasized). I have always pronounced them "Hooping Cough" and "Hooping Crane". I understand they are related; the sound of the crane resembles the sound of the cough. A couple websites seemed to agree with me. What are your thoughts?
3 Replies
February 8, 2014 10:33 pm
Most dictionaries document three versions of the initial sound for whoop: h, w, hw. All three sound fine to me.
February 9, 2014 12:45 am
I suspect /hup/ is unavoidable if you're going to aspirate the initial consonant. In other contexts (what, why, wheel) /hw/ is distinct, but /hwu/ is nearly impossible to say or hear distinctly. It's bound to drop back to /hu/ no matter how hard you try to make it clear.
(Edit: I really shouldn't say aspirate here; it's not the same thing. But you probably know what I mean.)
February 9, 2014 6:49 am
According to M-W there are at least six pronunciations of whoop, with three consonant sounds, each with two vowel sounds: wh pronounced as w, h, or hw, and oo pronounced as the u in true or the u in put. At least that's the way I read it.
Peter