A New York Times article about that trendy accessory, the brooch, prompts a question: How do you pronounce brooch? Does it rhyme with pooch or coach? It’s more commonly pronounced to rhyme with coach, although some dictionaries do countenance the other pronunciation as well. Broach goes back to a Latin word that means “long needle,” and arrived in an Old French word for “needle,” broche. The name refers to the way the jewelry fastens to a garment. That’s also where we get the notion of broaching a subject, from the idea of piercing or penetrating something with a sharp instrument. Is there a word you have to keep looking up again and again because you can’t remember how it’s pronounced? How about the word askance? This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “How Do You Pronounce “Brooch”?”
You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it.
I’m Grant Barrett.
And I’m Martha Barnette.
You know, Grant, I suppose we all have words that we have to look up again and again because we just can’t remember how they’re pronounced.
Do you have any of those?
How they’re pronounced.
Oh, that’s a good one.
I tell you, I have one.
It’s spelled B-R-O-O-C-H.
How do you say that word?
B-R-O-O-C-H.
I just say brooch.
You say brooch.
But it’s brooch.
Well.
But there’s brooch the subject, but that’s OA, right?
Brooch that you put on a, it’s like a pin that holds a, maybe holds a scarf to a blouse, right?
Yeah.
And you’ve said it both ways now, brooch and brooch.
Yeah, I know.
Yeah.
You can’t think about these things.
You just have to say them spontaneously.
You do.
Because once you’re conscious of it, then you ruin it.
Ugh.
Well, this is terrible.
I know.
You ruined that word for me.
Yeah, I think somebody ruined it for me because I think growing up I said brooch and then somebody said, no, no, no, it’s brooch.
It’s brooch.
And so, you know, duly chastised, I started saying brooch.
But then the other day I was reading a story in the New York Times called The Brooch is Back, Baby.
And it’s about how these things, these pins that you put on your lapel or to pin a scarf, how they’re becoming much more fashionable again.
And in fact, it’s men who are making them cool again, according to this article.
But anyway, I was reading it and I was thinking, wait a minute, how do you pronounce B-R-O-O-C-H?
Now I’m completely confused.
It turns out that most dictionaries will tell you it’s pronounced brooch, although some do countenance the pronunciation brooch.
But I had this moment where, of course, I went to the etymology and had some fun with that because the word brooch comes from a Latin root that means long needle.
And via Old French, we got the word B-R-O-O-C-H.
And it means something that has a long needle.
But also you mentioned brooch, like brooch the subject.
And that, again, has to do with piercing.
It’s the same idea of a long needle.
Right.
That makes perfect sense.
I think the word that I would say that I need to look up, and I think you’ve even corrected me on this, maybe even on the show, is A-S-K-A-N-C-E.
For some reason, somewhere along the way, I got the impression that it was a sconce.
But it’s a scance, right?
Well, now that you say that, I’m not sure.
Honestly, now that you say that, I’m not sure.
Here we are spoiling the language right and left.
If only I had bookshelf after bookshelf filled with dictionaries and pronunciation guides to look this stuff up in.
All right.
Hold on a second.
Give us a call, 877-929-9673, and I’ll go look this up.
What are the words that you always have a problem saying, even though you’ve looked it up, even though somebody helped you, even though you’ve heard it said by people who know how to say it?
