c4countdown

Just wondering. I'm a bit scared of meeting some of you one day and pronouncing a hard P, only to be met with laughter, disdain, and fists.

I pronounce it like both the P's in Phil Pfister.

(Not really, I just wanted to say Phil Pfister)

Of course.

More pressingly, is it App-terrus or Apter-us? Or even apteeroux?

From what the OED says, it seems like it should be pronounced /'æp.tə.ɹəs/.

Isn't the P silent, as in pshrimp?

Isn't the P silent as in swimming?

Alec Rivers wrote:Isn't the P silent as in swimming?

Yes but that coloured dye still makes it embarrassing.

Miriam Nussbaum wrote:From what the OED says, it seems like it should be pronounced /'æp.tə.ɹəs/.

I really need to learn to read phonetic script.

I originally assumed that the P was silent, as in pterosaur, but I got the impression I was wrong, or at least out of step.

I give it a good hard P.

I give it a good hard P.

Marc Meakin wrote:

Alec Rivers wrote:Isn't the P silent as in swimming?

Yes but that coloured dye still makes it embarrassing.

lol

I started this thread assuming that the proper way to say it would be with a silent 'p', simply by sticking an 'a' on the front of 'pterous', which you clearly don't pronounce the p for.
My question was about the word game we play online, as I'd just assumed without question that the word itself was silent-p'd.
As, like Ian, I don't read phonetics, can someone explain whether this assumption is correct or if the 'p' becomes hard with an 'a' in front?

Since a similar word to apterous is dipterous and Chris (and Susie) both pronounced it with a hard p, I'm going with the hard p option.

Matt Morrison wrote:I started this thread assuming that the proper way to say it would be with a silent 'p', simply by sticking an 'a' on the front of 'pterous', which you clearly don't pronounce the p for.
My question was about the word game we play online, as I'd just assumed without question that the word itself was silent-p'd.
As, like Ian, I don't read phonetics, can someone explain whether this assumption is correct or if the 'p' becomes hard with an 'a' in front?

Try this http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/apterous

Marc Meakin wrote:Try this http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/apterous

That's that sorted, then. Cheers.

cf. apnoea.