How do y'all pronounce quixotic

How do you pronounce "quixotic?"


  • Total voters
    25
Many years ago, ordering food at a Spanish place with Mexican girlfriend.

Sign says: pollo con'hongo.

Me: Poe-Low Khan-Han (as in Solo)-Go.

Her: *bursts into a fit of laughter*
 
Oh, I'm usually here (which sounds way creepier than I meant it). In fact, I'm a serial lurker hailing back from the old Image boards, if you can believe it! I just post rather infrequently.
I remembered you, recognized your name immediately, even before you mentioned delurking - at which point I said to myself "ah! That's where he's been." :thumbsup:

And I see by the poll results that @Grytpipe-Thynne still lurking around, too :waves:

I also see by the poll results (and your OED entry) that I've been pronouncing quixotic wrong. :(

. . . although I gotta say I'm not sure I've ever used it in conversation. The only time I ever use it when singing the song "Whore" by Dalbello, and since she pronounces it wrong I will continue doing so. :whistling:[DOUBLEPOST=1492967566,1492967260][/DOUBLEPOST]
 
Many years ago, ordering food at a Spanish place with Mexican girlfriend.
Sign says: pollo con'hongo.
Me: Poe-Low Khan-Han (as in Solo)-Go.
Her: *bursts into a fit of laughter*
At least you didn't order the fajitas!

I remembered you, recognized your name immediately, even before you mentioned delurking - at which point I said to myself "ah! That's where he*'s been." :thumbsup:
...
The only time I ever use it when singing the song "Whore" by Dalbello, and since she pronounces it wrong I will continue doing so. :whistling:
*She, actually. Apparently I am fulfilling my yearly quota of posts in this one thread!

And, catchy tune! I can't get too hung up on mispronunciations or grammar errors in music lyrics, or I'd have an aneurysm (given their relative ubiquity). Though, when feeling aggressively pedantic, I will substitute in the correct usage when I'm singing along to a song :D
 
Hey, you're the one hung up on "correct pronunciation," you tell me! :p

Bonus fun fact: quixote is taken from the French word cuisse, or cuish. So you could go either kweesotic or kweeshotic and stay true to the original French. But then that's taken from the old French word cuissot, so maybe it should be kweesoic. But then that is taken from the Latin root coxa. Cocksatic? :eek:
Not to nitpick, but it seems unlikely to me that it comes from french: coxa in latin is much more similar (in pronounciation) to 'quixote' (in Spanish) than cuisse. Also, most etymology sources in Spanish say it comes from catalan 'cuixot'.

Anyway, anglizice it however you want, obviously, but I must say the first few times I heard it said by the video Dave posted were like NAILS ON A CHALKBOARD
 
That's never occurred to me... I've always said the name "Key-ho-tay" but the adjective "quick-sotic."
My high school honors english teacher pronounced it "quicksotic", and "Don Quixote" as "Don Quick-sotee".
My high school honors biology teacher pronounced "larynx" as "the lair-nicks"
My high school honors chemistry teacher failed to comprehend that rinsing a beaker with tap water that had previously only contained distilled water meant that it was conceivably dirtier than when she started.

Texas high schools suck ;)
 
My high school honors english teacher pronounced it "quicksotic", and "Don Quixote" as "Don Quick-sotee".
My high school honors biology teacher pronounced "larynx" as "the lair-nicks"

Texas high schools suck ;)
Did you physics teacher pronounce it "noo-cyew-lur?"

--Patrick
 
My high school honors english teacher pronounced it "quicksotic", and "Don Quixote" as "Don Quick-sotee".
My high school honors biology teacher pronounced "larynx" as "the lair-nicks"
My high school honors chemistry teacher failed to comprehend that rinsing a beaker with tap water that had previously only contained distilled water meant that it was conceivably dirtier than when she started.

Texas high schools suck ;)
My grade 13 English teacher didn't know the difference between compliment and complement. Sigh.
 
A principle I worked for started doing "Word of the Day" announcements.

"Today's word is procrastinate. The weatherman procrastinates the weather."

I damn near fell over in front of my class laughing.
 
the one that really gets me is the word "forte," as in "strength or special skill." Most people pronounce it "for-tay," as one would for the dynamic notation in music (which is Italian!), but in fact, the proper American pronunciation is just "fort" (like what you'd build with Lincoln Logs, no second syllable accent). Since SO many people have continued to use the "for-tay" form, this pronunciation is beginning to be included as a variant in most dictionaries. Granted, "figuratively" has been added as a variant definition for "literally" in some dictionaries in recent years, so I don't even know if I can trust dictionaries any longer! (Also, if you want to be a SUPER NERD about etymology (and who doesn't?), "forte" comes from the feminine form of the French adjective of the same spelling and nearly identical meaning. In French, the masculine form (fort) is pronounced roughly "forr," while the feminine form (forte) is pronounced with no accent, as above (like the building). So even though French is all about the accents, this is one case where the common American pronunciation adds in a spoken accent that wasn't originally there! It would be written "forté" if it were supposed to have the "-ay" accent on the end!) Thus, while I will happily write the word "forte," I no longer use it in spoken conversation (except in discussing this very pronunciation issue!), lest I be drawn into the bottomless quagmire of pronouncing the word technically correctly and being thought of as an uneducated clod, or using the common pronunciation and betraying my nerdy, word-loving brain.


--Patrick
 
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