Sprinkles Pronounced “Sprankles”

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

My name is Violet Strong, and I’m calling from Scienceville, Indiana.

Welcome to A Way with Words.

Hi, Violet.

What can we help you with?

I was born in Kentucky, and I say sprinkles, and everybody else says sprinkles.

Can you tell me more ways it’s pronounced?

All right, so let’s get this clear.

You’re from Kentucky, and you say, what do you say?

Sprinkles.

Can you spell that for me?

S-P-R-A-K-L-E-S.

So S-P-R-A-N-K-L-E-S.

Like the things that you put on top of a cupcake, right?

Yes.

Okay, great.

Okay.

But everyone else, they’re not from Kentucky, and what do they say?

Sprinkles.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

So, Violet, where did you grow up in Kentucky?

Lexington, Kentucky.

Okay.

Right there in the middle of the bluegrass.

And so how long ago did you move to Zionsville, Indiana?

Four years ago.

Four years ago.

Yeah, and you’ll find that sometimes when you move from one town to another, people speak a little bit differently.

And it sounds like you learned this word about something you really like and really care about maybe from your family or your friends in Kentucky.

And they just say it differently when you’re in different parts of the country.

So, they’re like a right or wrong answer between sprinkles and sprinkles.

Well, that’s a very good question.

Well, when you’re writing it out, you want to use the letter I and not the letter A.

It’s S-P-R-I-N-K-L-E-S.

And you and your family just pronounce it differently.

Yeah.

So, when you’re talking to your family, pronounce it the family way.

If people give you a hard time, you’re going to have to decide on the spot whether or not you want to sound like everybody else or sound like yourself.

Okay.

Yeah.

What do you think you’re going to do?

Let me just say sprinkles, and if anybody asks about that, I say I’m from Kentucky, and I say sprinkles.

There we go.

Right on.

That’s it.

That’s the answer.

Good decision.

Perfectly put.

Thank you for calling us.

Bye.

Take care of yourself.

Bye, Violet.

Bye-bye.

Thank you.

Well, Violet had the experience that a lot of our adult listeners have when they move across the country, and they use a word or phrase, and they always or almost always call us and say, people looked at me like I had two heads.

Yeah, she did cross a barrier there.

If you look at the dialect maps, she moved from one dialect region to another one.

It’s a slow gradation there.

Exactly.

She didn’t just cross the Ohio River.

No, no, there was a thing that happened there.

If you’ve had an experience like Violet’s where you’ve moved across the country and used a word or phrase and people looked at you like I had two heads, we’d love to hear about it.

So call us, 877-929-9673, or send your story to us in email.

That address is words@waywordradio.org.