Ken Blake wrote:
>
>>Actually, isn't the new pronunciation of Uranus "YOURŽuh nus"?
>>At least that's what I've been hearing in the media lately -
>>probably so as to avoid all the obvious bad jokes and
>>snickering. <snort>.
>
>
>
> You do hear it that way a lot, and for that reason. But that
> doesn't make it correct. I still prefer the traditional way,
> snickers notwithstanding.
>
Actually, Ken, if you trace the pronunciation of the name, you find that
it was "URINE-us" until the early 20th Century when schoolteachers and
parents decided that it was too titillating to youngsters and pressed a
change to "your-ANUS," only to see exactly the same reasoning used to
undo that change at the end of the 20th Century. The pendulum swings
once more...
Mark Lipton
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