Hacker News Reader

I used to work for a networking start-up and when we were in the US trying - without success - to sell the company we practised over and over saying "roWter" for "router" (English pronunciation like "rooter").

View on HN

As a Canadian I read that as "rOATer" for a moment, because the word row rhyming with ow is quite uncommon here -- the row I know is in a boating or a data context.

As a Brit, so did I. That said, a "rotor" would be pronounced as "rOATer" and has a completely different meaning.

isn't English fun !

You never have a row with anyone?

As a Canadian, obviously not.

(For real though we don’t use that word for argument or whatever.)

Funny, I just realised that I say "rooter" in French (because route ("roote") means way, like in English), but I say "rAWter" in English

There are two words with the same spelling but separate pronunciations in British English:

Router (rooter) the thing that routes packets in a newtwork

Router (rowter) a machine tool that cuts grooves, etc., in wood or metal.

Ah, so I pronounce the IT equipment wrong. I guess that "raw-ter" sounds really bad then.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com