How do you say "covid"?

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Bird on a Fire
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How do you say "covid"?

Post by Bird on a Fire » Sat Sep 12, 2020 12:02 am

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.
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bob sterman
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Re: How do you say "covid"?

Post by bob sterman » Sat Sep 12, 2020 6:14 am

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

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Re: How do you say "covid"?

Post by shpalman » Sat Sep 12, 2020 6:20 am

Italians seem to have adopted the anglophone pronunciation now you mention it.
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discovolante
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Re: How do you say "covid"?

Post by discovolante » Sat Sep 12, 2020 6:24 am

My dad pronounces it 'corvid', still, somehow.
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Re: How do you say "covid"?

Post by Grumble » Sat Sep 12, 2020 6:54 am

I’m too busy coughing generally
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Re: How do you say "covid"?

Post by headshot » Sat Sep 12, 2020 9:01 am

COH-vid.

My dad persists on calling if “The Covid”.

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Re: How do you say "covid"?

Post by sTeamTraen » Sat Sep 12, 2020 9:32 am

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.
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Re: How do you say "covid"?

Post by Bird on a Fire » Sat Sep 12, 2020 9:45 am

bob sterman wrote:
Sat Sep 12, 2020 6:14 am
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.
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Re: How do you say "covid"?

Post by Bird on a Fire » Sat Sep 12, 2020 9:45 am

discovolante wrote:
Sat Sep 12, 2020 6:24 am
My dad pronounces it 'corvid', still, somehow.
Legend. This is to be strongly encouraged.
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Re: How do you say "covid"?

Post by discovolante » Sat Sep 12, 2020 9:57 am

Bird on a Fire wrote:
Sat Sep 12, 2020 9:45 am
discovolante wrote:
Sat Sep 12, 2020 6:24 am
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
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Re: How do you say "covid"?

Post by Bird on a Fire » Sat Sep 12, 2020 10:07 am

Perhaps he's been watching too much Alfred Hitchcock?
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Re: How do you say "covid"?

Post by discovolante » Sat Sep 12, 2020 10:11 am

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.
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Re: How do you say "covid"?

Post by headshot » Sat Sep 12, 2020 1:08 pm

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.

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Re: How do you say "covid"?

Post by jimbob » Sat Sep 12, 2020 2:07 pm

headshot wrote:
Sat Sep 12, 2020 1:08 pm
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.
Have you considered stupidity as an explanation

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Re: How do you say "covid"?

Post by border_reiver » Sun Sep 13, 2020 5:25 pm

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

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Re: How do you say "covid"?

Post by FlammableFlower » Mon Sep 14, 2020 6:31 am

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

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Re: How do you say "covid"?

Post by FredM » Mon Sep 14, 2020 7:42 am

headshot wrote:
Sat Sep 12, 2020 1:08 pm
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.

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Re: How do you say "covid"?

Post by Aitch » Mon Sep 14, 2020 8:42 am

FlammableFlower wrote:
Mon Sep 14, 2020 6:31 am
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?
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Re: How do you say "covid"?

Post by Bird on a Fire » Mon Sep 14, 2020 11:58 am

Aitch wrote:
Mon Sep 14, 2020 8:42 am
FlammableFlower wrote:
Mon Sep 14, 2020 6:31 am
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.
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Re: How do you say "covid"?

Post by nekomatic » Tue Sep 22, 2020 9:30 am

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’.
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Re: How do you say "covid"?

Post by Sciolus » Tue Sep 22, 2020 11:01 am

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.

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Re: How do you say "covid"?

Post by Bird on a Fire » Tue Sep 22, 2020 11:03 am

nekomatic wrote:
Tue Sep 22, 2020 9:30 am
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.
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