Coupon: KOO-pon vs. KYOO-pon

The coupon pronunciation poll is about to close and I can't believe it - the results are exactly even. Thirty-four people said they pronounce it KYOO-pon. Thirty-four other people said they pronounce it KOO-pon.

Personally, I say it KYOO-pon. All through my growing-up years, I never gave a second thought to that pronunciation. I'm pretty sure that everyone around me said it that way. In fourth or fifth grade, one of my teachers told the class that the Pacific Northwest dialect was considered to be the standard accent of American English, the one studied by national newscasters if they wanted to sound generic. Who was I to question her?

But obviously there are quite a few people who say KOO-pon. I'm guessing that if there's a "right" answer to this pronunciation question, KOO-pon is it. But I don't think I'll be able to give up KYOO-pon.

One last coupon note before I put up a new poll: I found a map showing the distribution of the "KYOO/KOO-pon" pronunciation.


This survey had some 11,500 respondents. The red dots represent KOO; the blue dots are KYOO. The green dots are "other" - I can't imagine what other pronunciation there is, though.

In that survey, 2/3 of the respondents said KOO. You can see that it is dominant on the map. The interesting thing is that geographical location doesn't seem to be a huge indicator of how it's said.

OK, moving on. This is a sensitive one for me because every time I say this word, I feel like I'm saying it "wrong" (if we're being descriptive, there is no wrong answer, but you know what I mean). I'm torn between staying loyal to my upbringing and teaching Miriam a more mainstream pronunciation (in fact, to avoid having to make that decision, I often just say "colors").

CRAYON.

Do you pronounce it:
cran (like man);
cray-un;
cray-awn; or
crown.

Please feel free to mock the pronunciations that you don't use, especially "crown," which is the one I say.