Route Pronunciation

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Oh, hello. This is John Day. I’m calling from Delray Beach, Florida.

Hi, John. Welcome. Delray.

Down there by Boynton.

It’s beautiful. It really is beautiful.

Yeah, yeah. Well, what would you like to talk with us about?

My father and I were watching the Super Bowl together and, you know, having a beer, and the announcer said something to the extent of, well, he took a chance with that route, and it really paid off.

And my father shakes his head and says, yes, improper English.

And I said, really? What do you mean?

He said, well, they should be saying root, not route.

And I said, now where did you come up with that being proper?

And he said, well, when I was a kid, I went to Catholic grade school, and they would go through those words and explain the definitions and what was proper, proper pronunciation, and that.

So that’s his explanation of why root is correct and not route.

So, John, was he saying that by root, did he mean a path or did he mean a big win?

No, a path.

And we discussed that also.

And if you route the enemy, it’s a both military term and also applies to the NFL as well.

Wow. Well, this is a great field report, Grant, because this is what sticklers taught for years and years and years, that the pronunciation was root like the French.

Right. And there’s no evidence for that except for personal preference being perpetrated by small-minded pedants, so to speak.

And I’m going to say that, just boldly say that, because there is no historical reason that that word could not be either or both of those pronunciations.

Root or route, both are acceptable in modern American English, whether it’s in the UK or the US, and have been for a very long time.

And I think particularly in the military and in the fields of transportation, you know, we’re going to route you a different way more than root you a different way, I think.

Right, right. Yeah, the verb is almost always route anyway. The noun can go either way.

Yeah, I think it would have been un-American if it was definitely root.

Yeah, so I’m going to route this package to the right recipient.

Right.

Right, but you might also say I have the longest postal route or the longest postal route.

Either one of those works.

Yeah.

Well, I’m just glad that my father and I are both correct.

Yeah, absolutely.

And, you know, it’s hard to shake those early lessons where you have a powerful figure in the classroom who you come to trust, and most of their advice is rock solid.

And every once in a while, their personal preferences are passed off as absolutes.

And it’s hard to distinguish what is just them talking about their own ideas and what is actually universal.

It’s hard for a kid to know.

So the NFL announcers are entirely correct then.

They’re totally fine.

They’re 100% fine.

In this case.

Yeah, in this case.

They have myriad other sins, but this is fine.

Thanks, John.

Much appreciated.

Outstanding.

Take care.

Bye-bye.

Bye.

That’s a hard one to swallow to find that something that you learned a long time ago could have gone the other way.

Oh, tell me about it.

Could have gone a whole other route.

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