For tau I say "tow" as in "towel." What's confusing is saying that I'm a member of Alpha Xi Delta, and then they say, oh, Alpha Zeta Delta? And I'm like, no, ZEEEE, spelled X-I. And they're still confused. And I'm like, Theta Xi but pronounced ZEE and they're like, oh! okay! And then I have to go into the whole vowel explanation thing. It's very frustrating!

What I want to know - is it UP-silon or OOPS-ilon? I say OOPS-ilon.

In modern Greek, the letter is pronounced more like "tauf." It is a definitely "t" sound, and the "au" combination in Greek is the "auf" or "auv" sound...depends on the word.

(I am an ethnic Greek.)


but, back to the episode...though murder of a hazer is far-fetched, I think it brought to light the emotional consequences that hazing can cause. Drive someone to murder? Maybe, maybe not. But it's true...as the said (too quickly) on the show, if the raped was female, and she killed her rapist, how differently would they act?

Thanks for the clarification, kdonline. FWIW, I had run across "daf" as the Greek Cypriot pronunciation -- perhaps it is limited to there. (Or perhaps my info was not accurate -- always a possibility ;)) In any event, "daf" does seem like a plausible regional variation of "tauf."

The "vowel thing" is a Greek urban legend. "Zeye" for X is an American-anglicized pronunciation. "Zee" (or "See") is closer to the Greek pronunciation -- the actual Greek pronunciation is "KSee," but we English speakers aren't used to beginning a word with a "KS" sound. (Which is why we say "Zylophone" instead of "KSylophone"). I think, but am not sure, that the British typically also say "Zee" or "See."

As for U, either "UP-silon" or "OOPS-ilon" are considered proper American-anglicized pronunciations. In Greek, the first vowel is an umlaut, so you would hold your tongue to say "ee" but your mouth in the shape for "oo" and say "ee/oo-psee-lon."

(Did I get all that right, kddonline? ;) )

For some reason, Iowa State also pronounce Tau as "TOW" (towel) instead of Taw (as paw).

err ... and never heard about the Taw (paw) before reading this thread ... makes me wonder http://www.fmforums.fsworld.co.uk/smilies/watchout.gif

You definitely get an 'A' for your explanation! ;) I am even impressed with the insertion of the Greek letters! :D

However, U is actually simply pronounced "eep-see-lon."

(The Greek alphabet has 3 letters that make the "ee" sound: eta, iota and upsilon.)

Thanks, Annie!

I think it's our wacky Mississippi nearness. There are no Taus at Marquette, so I can't comment on what the FIBs do. :D

Darn Wisconsin! ;)

Sorry, I have to be the one to add to your pet peeve. I usually prounounce Tau as you stated above. That's only because in Greek it is prounounced Tav like "off" with at T in front. I usually say all the letters in Greek pronunciation...or atleast how I learned it in class. Like someone said earlier, the way we pronounce it is the "Anglicanized" way. For example, Xi (we say it like Xylophone) is Ksee. Psi (we say it like sigh) is supposed to also include the P. Uhm, Oh! Iota is supposed to be like EE-ota, so on so forth.

Sorry if I sound like a miss-know-it-all, but, I stay on the brink of argument about this...I study this stuff

No, you don't sound like a Miss Know-it-all. I just like the "taw" pronounciation because it's what I'm used to. If you want to say "tow", that's cool. :)

yeah. I don't day "tow" it annoys me lol