How do you say "covid"?

[Bird on a Fire]

I was just listening to Frankie Boyle's New World Order on YouTube, and heard everyone saying "coh-vid". So far I've really only talked out loud about it with Portuguese speakers, who all say "coh-víd" with a stressed long i on the second syllable.

What other variations are available?

My sister generally says "'rona" or "the f.cking 'rona", as if she were referring to a good friend from Australia.

[bob sterman]

As a coronavirus is a sub-type of virus, when saying the full word you would put the emphasis on "corona".

So I put the emphasis on CO in COVID

[shpalman]

Italians seem to have adopted the anglophone pronunciation now you mention it.

[discovolante]

My dad pronounces it 'corvid', still, somehow.

[Grumble]

I’m too busy coughing generally

[headshot]

COH-vid.

My dad persists on calling if “The Covid”.

[sTeamTraen]

I heard "covvid" (rhyming with horrid) on a UK vox pop once.

As well, as "the rona", I've also seen "the rony" or "the ronie", rhyming with "Tony".

I found out yesterday, when someone shared a video of him being an unfunny c.nt, that Jim "unfunny c.nt" Davidson pronounces it "con-vid". Somewhat to my surprise, though, despite the "con" bit, he is not a COVID-19 denier. It's quite interesting watching the Brexity/rightwing types split over this; a (small?) majority is keeping the faith with the "It's all lefty snowflakes/NWO, dunno why Boris goes along with it" line, but given the age profile of these people, it seems that more than a few are not reflexively denying reality on this particular topic. This feels like a very small ray of hope.

[Bird on a Fire]

As a coronavirus is a sub-type of virus, when saying the full word you would put the emphasis on "corona".

So I put the emphasis on CO in COVID

I can see that at a whole-word level. OTOH in both languages the "co" syllable is unstressed, and the "vi" stressed, when saying the full word.

[Bird on a Fire]

My dad pronounces it 'corvid', still, somehow.

Legend. This is to be strongly encouraged.

[discovolante]

My dad pronounces it 'corvid', still, somehow.

Legend. This is to be strongly encouraged.

Haha. He's an intelligent, educated man*, and yet here he is six months on, with his irrational fear of crows.


*and yet we disagree about many, many things

[Bird on a Fire]

Perhaps he's been watching too much Alfred Hitchcock?

[discovolante]

Haha, could be. I do wonder if it's some kind of indication of him ageing, but he knows it's wrong and I think he's pretty much hardwired his brain to pronounce it that way now. A bit like me never knowing how to pronounce Oban. I wonder if there is anything else I can trick him into mispronouncing.

[headshot]

My dad can’t ever get Toyota or Coyote correct. Never has, so it isn’t ageing.

He always says Toyoyta and Coyoyte.

Try your dad on those.

[jimbob]

My dad can’t ever get Toyota or Coyote correct. Never has, so it isn’t ageing.

He always says Toyoyta and Coyoyte.

Try your dad on those.

I've heard several people of Irish extraction using those types of pronunciations.

[border_reiver]

My father in law always said 'reservoyer' which drove me crazy.

[FlammableFlower]

One colleague says it as Cov-id with a short o.

[FredM]

My dad can’t ever get Toyota or Coyote correct. Never has, so it isn’t ageing.

He always says Toyoyta and Coyoyte.

Try your dad on those.

My wife struggles with ‘anemone’ (it usually comes out anenomie). My granddaughter recently tried to correct her by pronouncing it ‘anomie’, which seems strangely appropriate in these troubled times.

[Aitch]

One colleague says it as Cov-id with a short o.

Makes a certain amount of sense, you don't say corona with a long first o, do you?

[Bird on a Fire]

One colleague says it as Cov-id with a short o.

Makes a certain amount of sense, you don't say corona with a long first o, do you?

That was my thinking. It sounds weird with a long o to me.

[nekomatic]

Had this discussion with mininekomatic2 recently. We concluded that if the co in COVID is from corona and the vi is from virus and the d is from disease then they should each be pronounced as they are in those words.

So it should rhyme with ‘provide’.

[Sciolus]

There seem to be two ways to abbreviate a multi-word phrase into a single word. English strongly prefers initialisms, which may form a pronounceable word in its own right (acronym) (NASA, NATO, SARS) or may be pronounced as a string of letter names (EU, STD, TLA). Some other languages prefer taking the first syllable or so of each word and gluing them together so as to form a novel pronounceable word (Gestapo, Gazprom, covid).

The relative unfamiliarity of the latter form of abbreviation may explain why many English speakers are unsure whether they should be pronounced as novel words following English spelling and pronunciation rules (which they obviously should*) or some bizarre and contrived pronunciation of their own invention.

*Portuguese speakers should naturally follow Portuguese spelling and pronunciation rules.

[Bird on a Fire]

Had this discussion with mininekomatic2 recently. We concluded that if the co in COVID is from corona and the vi is from virus and the d is from disease then they should each be pronounced as they are in those words.

So it should rhyme with ‘provide’.

Perfect.

Let's make this happen.