Hacker News Reader

Comment by kingforaday | Hacker News Reader

This to me feels like the folks that call their router a rooter.

This is normal pronunciation outside of the US.

Over lockdown I watched a lot of films from the 40s, 50s and 60s. This was a common pronunciation in America back then. The current pronunciation becoming standard is quite a recent thing.

I've never heard anyone pronounce it as rooter in Australia.

I would hazard a guess then that perhaps (1) you are under 30 years of age; and (2) primarily hanging around with IT people who have learned US pronunciation.

While this may be emerging as a 'new norm' among younger and more IT-fluent crowd, it's historically abnormal in Australian English. For evidence, see for instance https://dictionary.cambridge.org/pronunciation/english/route... ... noting that Aussie English follows UK English in nearly all matters, and that the Macquarie Dictionary (which is the reference dictionary of Australian English) does not, unfortunately, have a free online edition.

A fellow Aussie statement on the matter concurs with my take https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/thread/3yjjxp59#r7

The little box that does the internet is sending IP packets along appropriate routes; it's routing, so it's a router. The name is pronounced the same way as "route" [1].

The tool that cuts grooves in wood, well, it seems that's from "root" meaning to dig, [2], so one would think it ought to be pronounced the same way as that, but things aren't always that simple.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbwPKIPVcPw

[2] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rout#Etymology_5

Not all North Americans pronounce "route" the same way. It's either like "rout" (as in rout an army) or "root".

> The name is pronounced the same way as "route"

There are multiple valid ways to pronounce that word across different localities :)

Here in Australia, it's commonly pronounced in a way that rhymes with "shout". Which is for the best, as "root" is local slang for sex, so calling a device a "rooter" will bring to light all sorts of connotations.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com