Thanks to everyone who helped settle a dispute in the Palmer family by voting in the syrup poll. The results speak for themselves (55 total votes):
Do you heat up the syrup before applying it to pancakes, waffles, etc.?
Yes: 16 people, or 29%.
No, although I have heard of it: 29 people, or 52%.
I've never heard of such a thing: 10 people, or 18%.
I think even Jeremy would have to admit that I am right, especially when you consider that the number of "Yes" votes was inflated by members of his immediate or extended family. I think their votes should all just count as one since they were obviously raised in the incorrect traditions of their fathers.
I like using polls to test out the waters of public opinion in our personal disagreements. Here's another one, and you need to think quickly and honestly about your answer before you're swayed by the responses of others. I'm not asking you what is right, or correct; I'm asking you what you actually say.
Is "coupon" pronounced KYOO-pon or KOO-pon?
Vote on the sidebar and comment here to defend your answer, if necessary. I'd also be interested to know where you're from to see if there is a regional effect at work here.
We just warm syrup to make it taste better, like warming a brownie, a piece of bread, or a cinnamon roll. That's not weird, it's smart.
ReplyDeleteHeather, I didn't mean to imply that it's weird. When I said I was "right," I meant that Jeremy's assertion that heating up the syrup was the normal thing to do was not necessarily correct. That's all.
ReplyDeleteI voted KOO-pon. I've always thought people who say KYOO-pon were trying to be hoitytoity, like when you say pajaumas. And, for research purposes, I was born in Utah (as were my parents) but raised in California.
ReplyDeleteI vote koo-pon, and I'm from... Mexico? The midwest? I grew up with parents from Maryland, if that helps at all.
ReplyDeleteI say KYOO-pon. Born in Utah, but spent several years in Texas. Parents from Washington and Mississippi, and now I live in DC. Every time I take one of those "Which American accent do you have?" online quizzes, I get the generic all over accent. And once I had a British guy ask if I was Irish.
ReplyDeleteSo, you know, whatever that says about the way I speak.
That's funny Amanda--I grew up in S. Cal of parents from NY/PA. I never heard KOO-pon until moving away to college in Utah & thought that sounded annoyingly hoity-toity!
ReplyDeleteWhen you think about it though, the word 'COUple' is not pronounced either KOO-ple or KYOO-ple nor is 'COUntenance' or 'COUch' [except in Portland, Oregon, where Couch street is pronounced 'Cooch'. There goes the English language again, w/ exceptions to all the rules. But what IS the rule for pronouncing COU?
OK, one last comment on the syrup. I was feeling like maybe I offended Heather and then Jeremy said I sounded like a snob, too. I think maybe he just feels bad because he is now in the proved minority, but let me explain.
ReplyDeleteIn our house, I got chided (good-naturedly?) every time I didn't heat up the syrup. It grated on me because I really thought I wasn't alone - I had a feeling that the syrup-heater-uppers - regardless of whether it's smart or more delicious or not - were actually in the minority.
So I put a poll on my blog. And the results proved me right. I'm sorry if that sounds snobby. I don't mean to be snarky about it. I am just relieved to find out that I am not alone in my cold syrup habits after all.
I hope everyone feels better now, including me.
Merriam-Webster indicates that both are acceptable. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/coupon.
ReplyDeleteAmanda - SO weird about the uppitiness of kyupon, because I thought the KOO-pon people sounded snobby. However, I'm pretty sure I grew up saying pa-JAH-mas, so maybe I'm not entirely without bias.
ReplyDeleteI now say "jammies."
I say KYOO-pon and was born and raised in Norther CA. My parents were both from Utah, so since they taught me to speak, it might be from them.
ReplyDeleteBridget, are you going to do a poll on the other words you ask people about? You know, pillow, milk, etc? :)
I say "kyoo pon" and I grew up in North Carolina. My dad's from here, but my mom spent her formative years at a boarding school in Nigeria. Not sure if that has any bearing on how I say it. :)
ReplyDeletePillow usually ends up sounding more like "pilla," and milk kind of like "meyulk" (said fast) not like the uppity-sounding "melk."
Lovin' your polls although I was with the hot syrup "wrong" crowd! Hehehe.
haha! too bad Grandma Buehler isn't around, I bet she could have settled this argument. :) I say koo-pon but I have heard you say kyoo-pon before and if I teased you about it I do apologize. looking forward to seeing the regional differences!
ReplyDeleteoh and I'm from Idaho. another interesting word possibly for future use: crayons
ReplyDeleteI also find Amanda's hoity-toity comment interesting. I was raised in southern CA (like both my parents) and say KYOOpon. When I heard people say KOOpon I thought they sounded uppity, and I kinda figured I was saying it the wrong way, because afterall, it is spelled COU as Suzanne pointed out. But, I still say KYOOpon and Jeff finds endless satisfaction in laughing at me because of it (for your research, his family is from Utah).
ReplyDeleteI was raised saying KYOO-pon (though I like to write it Q-pon to match my Q-tips) but I'm trying to say KOO-pon now because I would like to be more hoity-toity. If you want to write a blog post about what using the term Hoity-toity actually says about the user I would be interested in that as well.
ReplyDeleteOn an unrelated note, I am reading Freakonomics right now and was wondering if you had read it. It seems like one you would enjoy and not only for the chapter dedicated to what weird baby names tell you about a baby's future and a baby's parents.
I have read Freakonomics, Anna, but it's been a few years (and I think it was pre-baby name snobbishness on my part) so I should give it another go.
ReplyDeleteI say KOO-pon. Originally from Oklahoma and now living in Texas, but everyone always says I sound like I'm from Minnesota (which I've never even visted).
ReplyDeleteI'm liking the polls.
ReplyDeleteI was with the Palmer family on the warm syrup thing, and had no idea I was in the minority.
And I'm with the KOO-pon crowd. I grew up in Oregon with Oregon-raised parents and moved to Ohio as a young teen, where a few people thought I pronounced "pillow", "milk", and "when" strangely: "pellow", "melk", and "win". I'd love to know how other Oregon natives are pronouncing these.
It's okay, Bridget. I'm a syrup snob. I own it. The snobbery, that is. I'm happy to defend myself any time. =)
ReplyDeleteI say Koo-pon. I think it's my New England upbringing....surrounded one three sides by the Quebecois. =) The french permeates everything.
Well, I'm Belgian, I live in Finland, and I say KOO-pon. But I doubt I really count :p
ReplyDeleteOh, and on the syrup-matter I kind of cheated! I never eat pancakes or waffles with syrup. I just melt regular chocolate in the microwave and poor it on top. MUCH better. But I figured that's the heating-up side of the debate.
ReplyDeleteOk, I suppose I'm a syrup snob too. I can't stand cold syrup (or rather - room temperature syrup). I ALWAYS heat mine up. If I am at someone elses house, I politely eat the non-warm syrup, but it does bug me. Also - I much prefer home made syrup to the store bought variety.
ReplyDeleteI say KOO-pon, but I think I might also sat KYOO-pon sometimes.
I like the word polls, too, and would also be interested in findin out about pillow, milk, and crayons.
I don't heat the syrup, but I also don't refrigerate it, so it is room temperature when I use it. KYOO-pon all the way! Another funny thing I thought of was how whenever we would go to Pennsylvania, Grandpa (and friends) would say "crick" for the word creek, even though it is spelled crEEk. Now, in eastern Idaho, I hear "crick" quite often and I confess that I use it as well sometimes...
ReplyDeleteI say koo-pon. Neither sounds hoity toity to me - just different.
ReplyDeleteYou don't say couch or countance as "koo" but you do say the first syllable of coupe and the full word coup (as in coup d'etat) as "coo" definitely not kyoo.
I say kyoo-pon. Koo-pon sounds unattractive to my ears. I also say pa-jah-mahs. I'm from North Carolina.
ReplyDeleteI don't warm up syrup. I can't stomach sweet things that are also warm. Makes me feel kind of sick.
I voted for "kyoo-pon", because that is the way I use it in the specific sense: "I have a kyoo-pon for that". This post made me aware of something odd, though; I would say, "koo-pon" in some situations. I think of the act of clipping them out of the paper as "cutting koo-pons" but would ask someone, "Do you clip kyoo-pons?" Weird, huh? I've been repeating the word so often as I considered this that now both pronunciations sound strange.
ReplyDeleteI'm a native Southern Californian, raised by an Iowan and a Washingtonian. I now live in Oregon.
Koo-pon . . . from Utah, family all from Utah.
ReplyDeleteAnd I was SHOCKED when I found out my husband and his family just got the syrup out of the fridge and poured it on stuff . . . I was all, "You're not going to heat it up!?" But then again, I prefer the bottled grocery store stuff, and my husband's syrup snobbery is that he has to make it himself fresh with sugar and maple extract or whatever (but will then use it hot or cold). So we're separate, but equal syrup snobs.
(Oh, and I linked to your blog through my SIL Liz's . . . thanks for the heads up about the Picassa deleting thing!)
Chris says "KYOO-PON" and he grew up in Riverside, California and Utah (with parents from Utah). Also, he is wrong. I think he says "crick" too. Sigh. I am so ashamed.
ReplyDeleteI always say Kyoo-pon. My dad is from Utah. My mom is from Alberta. I've spent most of my life in the West...
ReplyDeleteIn Canada we often spell pyjamas like so...and pronounce it similarly. Not that that has anything to do with coupons, but I saw you had mentioned pajamas.
Seems like the majority says kyoo-pon. I remember arguing about this with Julee as kids. I've always pronounced it koo-pon and am an Oregon native. But Britney, I make fun of people who say pellow and melk. Sorry. Don't think it's an Oregon thing.
ReplyDelete