Many people pronounce the word groceries as if it were spelled “grosheries.” The more common pronunciation, though, is the sibilant GROSS-er-reez. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Pronouncing Groceries”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Oh, hello, Martha.
Hi.
My name is Reed Schoonover, and I’m calling about something that my wife and I have gone round and round about for the many years we’ve been married.
Okay.
Where are you, Reed? Where are you calling from?
I’m calling from Clintonville, Wisconsin.
Okay.
So here’s the rub. My wife, Patricia, who kindly consented to come back from Montana with me, I met her while I was in graduate school out there in Missoula, has always pronounced the word groceries, which I have just pronounced correctly, as groceries. And I have pooled many people off and on over the years here in Wisconsin, and I’ve never, and my wife’s laughing at me here right now, I’ve never had anyone tell me that it’s pronounced groceries. I suspect it’s a Montana thing.
Well, you know, we’ve got some news, and I hope you pass this on to her as we’re talking about it. Her pronunciation is also widespread.
Oh, it is.
Yeah.
Well, here’s the thing about this word. We’re talking about G-R-O-C-E-R-Y. You can pronounce it with two syllables or three syllables, and you can pronounce it with an S in the middle or a sh, like an SH sound in the middle. Now, most language authorities say that the S sound is preferred. However, the linguistic surveys show that a staggering number of people say groceries or groceries. Lots of people. And there’s a little bit of a regional variation there, not much of one, where New Englanders and Easterners might be more likely to use the S sound in grocery. And people in the Great Plains, which is close to Montana, might be more likely to use the sh sound. So she probably came by that pronunciation honestly. She probably learned it from her environment, perhaps from her grocer. Who knows? Not her grocer. It is very, very common pronunciation.
Well, thank you so much for clearing that up. And I suppose I’ll eat a little crow, but not as much as I might have.
That’s a good way to put it. You know, I always have to say that one of the meta-narratives about this kind of call where a couple calls us with their language disputes is, I hope that this is the way that we get out those day-to-day frustrations with each other so that whatever else we’re really angry about just comes out in these useless debates.
That’s exactly the way it works. And I do like, on your website, I believe it’s the Ingrid Bergman quote about a kiss when words are superfluous. And, you know, when it comes to that point, it’s either grocery or grocery. Or a kiss.
Nice.
Yeah, that’s nice.
Nice.
Well, you said it had been many years. It sounds like that.
Oh, yeah, 44.
Oh, whoa. Congratulations on that.
Wow.
Yeah.
Well. Here’s to 50, all right?
Thank you so much, and thanks for answering my question. Give our best to your wife, will you?
Oh, I certainly will. Quietly, of course.
Quietly.
Take care now.
Bye now.
Bye-bye.
Bye.
You will find a lot of people peeving about the grocery pronunciation, but it’s unfounded, and I think they just need to get over it.
Yeah.
We know you fight about things in your family. We don’t want to hear about the laundry, but call us about the language stuff.
Email words@waywordradio.org.
