Pundit Pronunciation

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Ray Grimble from Anderson, Indiana.

Hello, Ray.

What’s going on?

Well, we’re very excited about being on your show.

I love it, and I listen to it as much as I possibly can.

Oh, that’s fabulous.

Now, you’re in Anderson.

I’ve always wanted to get up there and see the mounds.

Right, it’s wonderful.

You’ll have to come.

They’re still there, and they’re still doing surveys and what have you.

And these are Indian mounds, right?

They are.

What do they look like?

They are round and mounded up.

They look like mounds?

That was the quickest word that I could get to there.

Oh, wow.

Wow.

Well, great.

Well, what are you calling about from mound country there?

Well, what I’m calling about is that there are some words that really bother me,

And one of them is pundit.

I can’t find that word in the dictionary.

I’d like to know the etymology of that.

Wait, pundit?

P-N-D-I-N-T, and a lot of very influential persons have used it.

In print or out loud?

Out loud, yes.

Yeah, give us an example.

Well, you know, for instance, I’ve heard one of the persons who’s running for president say that

And pundits don’t understand or what have you.

Oh, my goodness.

I’ve been fortunate to miss that, but Ray, I feel your pain there.

Do you like popsicles?

I do.

You know when you get down to the bottom of the popsicle

And you rub that wooden stick against your teeth accidentally?

Yes.

You know how awful that feels?

Yes.

That’s what pundit feels like to me.

Well, we feel the same way.

Thank you.

We need to form a support group, Ray.

Exactly.

I can’t stand that pronunciation.

And you’re right.

A lot of people do it.

And you know what freaks me out about it, too, is that I don’t think they even realize that they’re doing it.

I think they might be spelling it correctly, P-U-N-D-I-T.

But somehow that N gets stuck in there.

Exactly.

And one of the people is a person from Harvard University, of all places.

We’re narrowing it down.

Hard to it.

It happens.

Well, there’s just, I don’t understand this one because it comes from pandit, meaning a learned man in India.

I mean, there’s just no N in there anywhere.

Right, exactly.

In the second syllable anywhere.

Right.

Well, you know, it’s used so much that I wonder if it’ll be accepted as a word later on.

I sure hope not.

No, I don’t think it’s common enough for that.

Okay.

I don’t think it’s common.

Now what’s going to happen is you’re going to hear it an awful lot.

Well, I appreciate your peeving on that one because we always have a few things, each of us.

I try to keep my peeves to a minimum, but there are a couple of things that just…

This one just sets my teeth on edge.

It really does.

It does.

Absolutely, yes.

Ray, thank you so much for your call.

Thank you for calling the pundits.

It’s been fun and I enjoy the show.

Call the pundits here anytime.

I shall.

Back to the mounds.

Bye-bye.

Have a good evening.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Martha, you’re a little worked up there, red in the face, sweaty on the brow.

I can’t stand that.

And when I stop people and say, what did you just say?

They say, I said pundit, but they don’t hear it.

They don’t hear it.

Pundit in your dialect.

Yes, that is correct.

Etymologically, there’s just no reason for that.

Anyway, if you’d like to take it up with…

Oh, we don’t base pronunciations of words on etymologies.

Calm now.

You’re going to slip that in and then go straight to the outfew?

No way.

You’re not getting away with that one.

It’s not how it works.

If you want to take it up with Grant, the number is 1-877-929-9673 or email us.

The address is words@waywordradio.org.

Thank you.