However You Pronounce ‘Omicron,’ You’re Probably Saying It Wrong

[Razors Edge ★]

Oh My Krone? Omni-Kron? It’s All Wrong. How would Plato pronounce it? No one knows.

Listening to news of the latest Covid variant, Odysseas Papadimitriou couldn’t understand what a television news anchor was saying. “It sounded like, ‘Oh my krone,’” he said, “and I was like, what’s that?”

It took a few minutes before Mr. Papadimitriou, who runs the credit-card comparison website WalletHub, realized it was the letter O of his native Greek language. “Oh my God…she’s saying Omicron,” he said. “It was a horrible sound.” He pronounced the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet as “AWE-mee-kron,” as spoken in modern Greek.

The World Health Organization’s decision this year to use letters of the Greek alphabet to name Covid variants is a source of both honor and consternation for Greeks and Greek-Americans.

“We always take a secret pride in Greek being used for scientific purposes—even if it is to describe a variant that creates a new level of panic in all of us,” said Sylvia Papapostolou-Kienzl, a host of a Sunday morning Greek-language radio program in New York.

That was true for earlier variants such as Alpha or Delta, which didn’t trip up most non-Greek speakers. Omicron, though, showed that such prominence can come at a cost: a mangled parlance that amplifies academic rifts over ancient and modern pronunciations.

Even before the pandemic, linguists couldn’t agree on what ancient Greek sounded like, other than that it often didn’t sound like modern Greek. Among scholars, there’s no consensus on how Omicron was pronounced in millennia past. Even in those days, people in different regions spoke their own dialects.

“There isn’t one way of saying Omicron,” said Armand D’Angour, professor of classical languages and literature at the University of Oxford. “First of all, you know, we’re not there, we haven’t recorded it.”

Egbert Bakker, professor of ancient Greek at Yale University, says the letter is pronounced “AWE-mee-kron” in both modern and ancient Greek. But he is open to other forms: “Some people would say ‘oh-MIKE-ron,’ that is the Americanized way. I wouldn’t do it but I don’t think it’s completely unacceptable.”

That said, scholars do agree that some pronunciations are definitely wrong, no matter the time period. President Biden has made the common mistake of referring to the variant as “OM-nee-kron,” adding an “n” after the “m.”

“No, that of course is nonsense that can be discarded right out of hand,” Prof. Bakker said.

Fights about Greek pronunciation are more than a “to-MAY-to vs. to-MAH-to” argument. They reflect Mount Olympus-sized worries among Greeks who fret their country, the birthplace of democracy, commands a diminished role on the world stage versus ancient times.

[Randomguy]

• I don't care if you've had your vaccine!
• Pureblood
• Bill Gates
• Fauci
• Nanochips
• I am not your experiment!
• Control
• Submission

The memes will never end, no matter the variant.  Thanks Obama!

Btw, I am sure it is wrong, but I say Ohm-ih-krahn with an Ohio accent.

[Longjohn ★]

I can’t even figure out how to pronounce Couch’s dog’s name.

[MoseySusan]

@MickinMD gave us a tutorial earlier on when the variant first hit the news. He’s got us covered. 

[Longjohn ★]

I pronounce names any way I want. I had a lifeguard working for me whose name was Dawn Doherty. But it was spelled something like Docherty. She got mad whenever someone pronounced it Dock Er tee. Of course the male life guards loved to tease so that is what they called her. She was a sweet girl and a 10 in looks. Blue eyed blonde. 

[Randomguy]

11 minutes ago, Longjohn said:

I can’t even figure out how to pronounce Couch’s dog’s name.

His second choice was a symbol, like Prince changed his to.  It is kind of a messed up name for a dog unless you don't want anyone calling out your dog's name, which would make if fine if that was the case.

Why did Couch leave us, btw?

[Razors Edge ★]

11 minutes ago, MoseySusan said:

@MickinMD gave us a tutorial earlier on when the variant first hit the news. He’s got us covered. 

Hey, use his WRONG (or misleading) advice!  He's directly contradicted by my post!

Being a Chemist, I've had to know and use Greek letters in chemical names and in calculus formulas, but I couldn't remember how you pronounced "Omicron."

I've heard people use a long-O as well as a short-O.  I looked it up and it's the short-O that's correct:

Ah-muh-krahn

You can bet you'll hear both "Oh..." and "Ah..." on the news, just like the actors/directors on sci-fi shows don't pay attention and you end up with Data from Stat Trek, the geniuses on Scorpion, etc. mispronouncing scientific terms, Greek letters, etc.  Sometimes that almost breaks, for me, the "suspension of disbelief" needed to enjoy fictional shows.  For example, Doc on Back to the Future should NEVER have said, as he did, "jig-a-watt" when every scientist knows it's "gig-a-watt" with hard g's.

[MoseySusan]

4 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

He's directly contradicted by my post!

Your source (copied below) leaves pronunciation open to differences, though. There’s some wisdom there as regional differences in accented syllables and vowel pronunciation show up in familiar words like trash, regret. Not to mention we’re all speaking English here, but it doesn’t sound like ancient English. 

44 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

Egbert Bakker, professor of ancient Greek at Yale University, says the letter is pronounced “AWE-mee-kron” in both modern and ancient Greek. But he is open to other forms:

[Razors Edge ★]

16 minutes ago, MoseySusan said:

Your source (copied below) leaves pronunciation open to differences, though. There’s some wisdom there as regional differences in accented syllables and vowel pronunciation show up in familiar words like trash, regret. Not to mention we’re all speaking English here, but it doesn’t sound like ancient English. 

Exactly, Captain Curmudgeon is pushing for flexibility and NOT declaring a "winner".  I'm encouraging folks to roll with what works for them.  Enlightened non-judginess from me

[bikeman564™]

https://www.rapidtables.com/math/symbols/greek_alphabet.html

upsilon reminds me of @smudge, because it may be pronounced "yoop si lon"

[maddmaxx ★]

Are we supposed to pronounce it in ancient Greek, Modern Greek, English, German, Japanese?

 

Let's not let pretention get the upper hand here.

[donkpow]

I'll pronounce it any damn way I want to. That's just how I am.

[Kzoo]

1 hour ago, Randomguy said:

Why did Couch leave us, btw?

He got tired of n00bs being n00bs.

 

[Razors Edge ★]

Just now, Kzoo said:

He got tired of n00bs being n00bs.

Even the beautiful n00bs with exciting car problems (and silky voices)???

[Kzoo]

5 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

Even the beautiful n00bs with exciting car problems (and silky voices)???

no

[Kzoo]

Just now, Kzoo said:

no

Couch liked all things Ohio.  It is his one downfall.

 

[Prophet Zacharia]

I tend to think the pronunciation of it’s name is the least concerning thing about Omicron. Unless it turns out to be the common cold version of Covid that we’d all like to finally end this era. 

[Razors Edge ★]

19 minutes ago, Kzoo said:

Couch liked all things Ohio.  It is his one downfall.

 

So what happens with a n00b from Ohio???

[Longjohn ★]

1 hour ago, Randomguy said:

His second choice was a symbol, like Prince changed his to.  It is kind of a messed up name for a dog unless you don't want anyone calling out your dog's name, which would make if fine if that was the case.

Why did Couch leave us, btw?

He didn’t say this time. Last time it was he didn’t like dredges or something.

[Tizeye]

They say that losing the ability to pronounce words is one of the first symptoms. Better get tested!

[Rattlecan ★]

If we can just call it the South African variant, we don't need to worry about pronuncimication.

[Kzoo]

9 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

So what happens with a n00b from Ohio???

No one really cares.