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How do you pronounce "kilometer"?
KILL o meter (accent on the 1st syllable) 4 (36.4%)
Kill O meter (accent on the 2nd syllable) - and if so, how do you pronounce kilogram? 7 (63.6%)
Total Votes: 11
How is "kilometer" pronounced?
Topic Started: Mar 14 2010, 05:09 PM (453 Views)
George K
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Finally
Saw someone pronounce this word on TV a while ago....
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- Mik, 6/14/08


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jon-nyc
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Cheers
Kil-AH-meter. KEE-logram.


Such are my pronunciations, but either choice is valid.
In my defense, I was left unsupervised.
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jodi
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Fulla-Carp
KILL a gram

:)
:) Jodi
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jon-nyc
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Cheers
Some notes from Wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilometre#Pronunciation
In my defense, I was left unsupervised.
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Aqua Letifer
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ZOOOOOM!
"kill-AHM-eter"

"KI-LO-gram"

Yeah I know I'm weird.
I cite irreconcilable differences.
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Riley
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HOLY CARP!!!
Aqua Letifer
Mar 14 2010, 05:17 PM
"kill-AHM-eter"
Yup.
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George K
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Finally
Thanks, Jon. Interesting link. However, I found the analogy offered by wiki as to the rationale for accenting the 2nd syllable to be inaccurate:
Quote:
 
The latter pronunciation, which follows the stress pattern used for the names of measuring instruments (such as micrometer, barometer, thermometer, tachometer and speedometer), is in common usage as well.

Those items (with the accent on the 2nd syllable) are different from units of measure (kilogram, centimeter, etc) which all have the accent on the 1st syllable. They are legitimate prefixes which define the measure, whereas the others are adjectives which define the object, whatever it might be. And I don't care what the erstwhile prime minister of Australia said. He's Australian, you know (cue Henry Higgins).

There's a common pronunciation of centimeter in medical usage which is "SANTimeter." I never understood that either.
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
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sue
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HOLY CARP!!!
George K
Mar 14 2010, 05:22 PM
There's a common pronunciation of centimeter in medical usage which is "SANTimeter." I never understood that either.
That's like so French, eh.
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LWpianistin
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HOLY CARP!!!
jon-nyc
Mar 14 2010, 05:12 PM
Kil-AH-meter. KEE-logram.


Such are my pronunciations, but either choice is valid.
Same here, depending on which side of the pond I'm on at the time.
And how are you today?
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ivorythumper
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
klik.
The dogma lives loudly within me.
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NAK
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*Points* About 10 minutes that way.
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musicasacra
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HOLY CARP!!!
jon-nyc
Mar 14 2010, 05:12 PM
Kil-AH-meter. KEE-logram.


Such are my pronunciations, but either choice is valid.
That's how I pronounce them too. I probably picked up KEE-logram from the abbreviation kilo (KEE-lo).
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Klaus
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HOLY CARP!!!
I am glad that this discussion came up. Metric system FTW!!
Trifonov Fleisher Klaus Sokolov Zimmerman
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Horace
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HOLY CARP!!!
Klaus
Mar 14 2010, 10:35 PM
I am glad that this discussion came up. Metric system FTW!!
I don't even know what a kilogram is, but if I wanted to measure something, and I was a communist, then I'm sure that's what I would use.
As a good person, I implore you to do as I, a good person, do. Be good. Do NOT be bad. If you see bad, end bad. End it in yourself, and end it in others. By any means necessary, the good must conquer the bad. Good people know this. Do you know this? Are you good?
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Klaus
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HOLY CARP!!!
On the other hand, your insistence on the English unit system can easily cost $125M.

I mean, who wants to calculate with these awkward relationships between, say, inches, feet, yard, and miles? We have the decimal system, after all. If you really want to use these awkward units, you should use a different number system, too, where conversion between these units is simpler. So, by using the decimal system you have already adopted the core of the metric system, whether you want it or not :tongue:
Trifonov Fleisher Klaus Sokolov Zimmerman
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Horace
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HOLY CARP!!!
Ah, but the beauty of our system is that no mere number system can pigeon hole us. Want to know how to convert between one unit and another? Think you can, just by counting our fingers? THINK AGAIN, ALIEN SPECIES WHO WOULD DESTROY US IF THEY HAD THAT ALL-IMPORTANT KNOWLEDGE. We're mysterious, and therefore we're dangerous.
As a good person, I implore you to do as I, a good person, do. Be good. Do NOT be bad. If you see bad, end bad. End it in yourself, and end it in others. By any means necessary, the good must conquer the bad. Good people know this. Do you know this? Are you good?
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brenda
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..............
Horace
Mar 14 2010, 11:26 PM
Ah, but the beauty of our system is that no mere number system can pigeon hole us. Want to know how to convert between one unit and another? Think you can, just by counting our fingers? THINK AGAIN, ALIEN SPECIES WHO WOULD DESTROY US IF THEY HAD THAT ALL-IMPORTANT KNOWLEDGE. We're mysterious, and therefore we're dangerous.
Yep, it keeps the riff-raff out. ;)
“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.”
~A.A. Milne
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Radu
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George K
Mar 14 2010, 05:09 PM
Saw someone pronounce this word on TV a while ago....
I'm curious... what does this word mean and why they used it in your TV ?
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sue
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HOLY CARP!!!
I use both pronunciations. kil-AHM-eter, as in "I was going 40 kilometers per hour and the stupid cop pulled me over and gave me a warning" (although we usually just say "clicks"), but if discussing it with centimeters or millimeters, I switch to KIL-ah-meter to be consistent.

I suspect it's because using the accent on the second syllable makes the word easier to say; it flows better in a sentence.

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ivorythumper
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
Klaus
Mar 14 2010, 11:08 PM
On the other hand, your insistence on the English unit system can easily cost $125M.

I mean, who wants to calculate with these awkward relationships between, say, inches, feet, yard, and miles? We have the decimal system, after all. If you really want to use these awkward units, you should use a different number system, too, where conversion between these units is simpler. So, by using the decimal system you have already adopted the core of the metric system, whether you want it or not :tongue:
$125M is a pfiffle. The adoption of a decimal system in Europe, and the abandoning of complex systems, during the Enlightenment has hurt you more than helped you.

The mind is naturally capable of much more complicated rational thought than the metric system allows, and so in some regard the rest of the world has mentally atrophied. The technological and economic advancement and dominance of the US in the past 200 years has not been hampered by retaining the English system, but has actually been facilitated by it.

You Europeans can think mostly in just denary systems. I would guess that if the Enlightenment thinkers had been successful in implementing a 10 month year, a 10 week month, a 10 day week, a 10 hour day, a 10 minute hour, and a 10 second minute -- you would all have the collective IQ of a hamster.

Be thankful that you can still operate in more complex systems relevant to time. :nerd:
The dogma lives loudly within me.
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OperaTenor
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Pisa-Carp
It's pronounced, "mile."

:leaving:



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kenny
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It is pronounced more than one way.

Besides, pronunciations are just made up and agreed with.

Are you asking which pronunciation has the largest agreement?
If so, where?
Pronunciation agreements vary with location.
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Luke's Dad
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Emperor Pengin
Aqua Letifer
Mar 14 2010, 05:17 PM
"kill-AHM-eter"

"KI-LO-gram"

Yeah I know I'm weird.
Mine too.
The problem with having an open mind is that people keep trying to put things in it.
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Klaus
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HOLY CARP!!!
Horace
Mar 14 2010, 11:26 PM
Ah, but the beauty of our system is that no mere number system can pigeon hole us. Want to know how to convert between one unit and another? Think you can, just by counting our fingers? THINK AGAIN, ALIEN SPECIES WHO WOULD DESTROY US IF THEY HAD THAT ALL-IMPORTANT KNOWLEDGE. We're mysterious, and therefore we're dangerous.
OK, I am convinced :lol2:
Trifonov Fleisher Klaus Sokolov Zimmerman
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Big John
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In western canada they say KILO meter, CIGArette, caPILLary, and CEment.

Oh wait, they say CEment in Texas.






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