Pronouncing Eco in Eco-Friendly: EE-koe or EK-koe?

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Helen from San Diego.

Hello, Helen, this is Grant.

Hiya, Helen.

Pleasure to speak with you.

Great to have you on the show.

What’s going on with you?

Well, I have a question, and I also have an 18-year-old that knows everything. He’s a student at Cal Poly, and I supply green building materials. And they are all environmentally correct and eco-friendly. And he always corrects me and tells me that I’m pronouncing it wrong. In that I say ecological, and he says I should say ecological. So I’m calling to you, the brilliant ones, to inform me, enlighten me. I want to know how to correctly pronounce a word that I use so frequently in the business that I’m in.

Oh, my gosh. That loud, twisting sound you hear is our caller opening a giant can of grammatical worms. Dogs and cats within the sound of our voices are racing to their bowls, thinking they’re going to get something to eat because of that can-opening sound. Oh, Helen, do we really want to go down that road?

Absolutely. I have a teenager I’ve got to correct, or I’m either going to have to bow down to him. Did you ever think about just saying environmentally friendly?

Well, I do that too, but I also have echo products. So he says I should be saying eco products. Eco products. And I say no, it’s echo.

Okay. And that’s just the E-C-O.

Yeah. Did you know that in English, ecology was first spelled with an O on the front of it?

No. Like enophile, ecology.

I’ve never even seen it that way.

Yeah. So how is that, if you can spell that for me?

O-E-C-O-L-O-G-Y. Like, you know, an enophile is a wine lover. So, you know, I’m kind of inclined to say eco, and I know that that’s sort of a Britishism.

I think you’ll find that’s permitted, and all of those are permitted in all of the American dictionaries. I think you’re fine with eco or echo for any of those words. Helen, in your industry, what do you hear most people say?

I hear both. And I’m talking from, you know, educators and professors all the way down to the layman that, you know, install solar panels. So it’s across the board, and I just, you know.

So what are you going to tell your son?

I’m going to tell him that we’re both right.

But you’re mostly right.

Of course.

Yeah. Wisdom, age, beauty, all those things that you have over him, right?

That’s right.

Yes. But I’m sure that he’ll start listening a lot more.

To our show?

Well, he does, actually.

Okay. Does he?

All three of my teenagers do. If we get an angry anonymous email with dirt tracks on it, we know who it’s from.

Well, it’d probably be from the entire Cal Poly staff then.

Oh, boy. We’re waiting.

I’ll take them on.

Bring it on, bucko.

That’s right. I’m not afraid of them. We appreciate your calling.

All right.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Thank you, Helen.

Bye-bye.

And keep up with the program.

We love it.

Right on.

Bye-bye.

Thank you.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

You know, Grant, I don’t know how helpful we were there. It’s just, it’s such a hair-splitting discussion at this point in the evolution.

The world ain’t black and white.

No, it isn’t. It’s not black and white. Sometimes stuff has two answers.

Yeah, yeah. And this word is undergoing, the words in this family, I think, are undergoing an evolution.

Or would it be an evolution? -oh. Would it be a revolution or a revolution?

You can tell us what you think. 24-7, 365. And that’s the correct order, by the way.

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