Pronouncing Gymnast

Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, this is Shane. Hi, Shane. Where are you calling from?

Fort Worth, Texas. All right. What’s going on, Shane? Well, my wife and I have a heated debate going on. Whenever in the course of conversation, I refer to someone who participates in gymnastics, I will refer to them as a gymnast. She’s very quick to point out, you mean gymnast. And so I think it’s an issue of she thinks I’m putting the emphasis on the wrong syllable. But I tend to think that gymnast is probably acceptable.

And are you two gymnastics enthusiasts? Not really. Or are you gymnastics enthusiasts? That’s an excellent question. I think we’re sort of enthusiasts. And we have two small daughters who we want to be participants. So, you know, we don’t want to call them the wrong thing.

Okay. So you say that you’re an enthusiast and she says that you’re an enthusiast. Well, that’s the funny thing. I think I would say enthusiast. I wouldn’t cross my mind to ever say enthusiast. And the fact that I say gymnast is, it’s completely subconscious.

Good Lord. These differences are so subtle, aren’t they? Yes. Yes. Yeah. I was afraid that when you were saying you had a question about the pronunciation of gymnast, that maybe she said gymnast. Oh, no, thank goodness. I couldn’t live under those conditions.

Yeah, yeah, those would be terms for divorce, I guess, right? Well, I ask that because it comes from the Greek word gymnos, which means naked because the ancient Greek athletes used to exercise naked. And because there are physicians who say gynecologists rather than gynecologists. Oh, are they? I didn’t know that. That shocked me.

Yeah, back when I was a medical reporter for a newspaper, I ran into all these. It’s not even started about GIF and GIF. I know. Oh, that’s right. Okay. So now that I’ve turned it into a complete mess. But let’s focus on gymnast and gymnast. Yes, let’s go back there.

So in a nutshell, they’re both right. Yeah, they’re both right. There are some people who will say that the pronunciation gymnast was a later development and that it entered dictionaries later and that gymnast is a longer history. But really, so what? I mean, they’re so close. So, Shane, she should not have a problem with your pronunciation.

As a matter of fact, if you go to merriamwebster.com and you look up this word and you click on the icon for the audio pronunciation, it is your pronunciation. Yes. However, if you look at the phonetic transcriptions of the two possible pronunciations, the other one is hers. I’m sorry. You cut out on that last part.

So I’m going to speak with the first thing you said. And it’s the same for the—if you need another source besides Martha and me and Merriam-Webster, also check the American Heritage Dictionary. It’s the same there. Yeah. Who needs another source besides you guys? Y’all are the best.

Thank you. That’s exactly right. So you’re both fine. You just come from different linguistic traditions, and that’s fine too. Perfect. Yeah, I figured that was the case. And, you know, the problem is she’s beautiful and much smarter than me in every capacity, so I just wanted a small victory for once.

That’s a problem? I’m going to take it. If I were you, I would play this for all it’s worth, because I suspect if she is as intelligent as you say she is, you don’t win very often. It’s a fact. It’s a fact. Well, she married Shane, so she’s got to have some smartness. Maybe that’s her one mistake. Who knows?

I always say, yeah, she’s very smart, but she did marry me, so it makes me a little bit smarter probably. Right. You married up, as we all try to do, right? Exactly. Exactly. Well, thank you so much for having me on. It’s an honor.

Sure thing. Take care, Shane. So either one, yeah. Bye-bye. And good luck with those girls and their sports, okay? Yeah. I appreciate it. Thank you. Bye-bye. Bye.

877-929-9673. Email words@waywordradio.org and talk to us on Twitter @wayword.