People Who Pronounce “Coincidence”, “Ko-ink-eee-dink”
September 27th, 2004
The reason behind it is as shrouded in mystery as the Great Pyramid of Gisa and the Bermuda Triangle.
There are people out there, and no one knows why, but they feel the strange need to pronounce the word “coincidence” — ko-ink-ee-dink.
Usually, when someone says that word, just the way in which they pronounce it communicates to me that they want you to think that they’re (a) cute, (b) clever, (c) on some kind of mood altering prescribed psychological enhancer, (d) currently the mother or father to a 6 month old baby, (e) from Utah, (f) funny, (g) an etymologist who never really studied much…or (h) annoying.
The same, of course, could be said about people who want to “axe you a question”, but really — aren’t they just too easy to skewer?
I think so.
The important difference between the “ko-ink-eee-dink” people and the “axe you a question” people is that the former are pronouncing their word that way on purpose for some reason and the latter usually don’t know any better.
Comment by Jane — September 27, 2004 @ 9:36 am
OK, how about the people who pronounce coupon incorrectly?
It’s coo-pon. Not q-pon.
Comment by Hilary — September 27, 2004 @ 11:48 am
“Ko-ink-eee-dink” is only acceptable if you are channelling Ned Flanders. Likewise “I’m in a real dilly of a pickle!” Otherwise, please, just don’t.
Comment by Bakerina — September 27, 2004 @ 11:50 am
In response to Hilary, Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary (www.m-w.com) lists *either* as an acceptable pronunciation:
Pronunciation: ‘kü-”pän, ‘kyü-
And you can even click on two different icons to hear it audibly pronounced both ways.
On another note, the two distinct pronunciations for “shit” on there really crack me up! And no, I did not look up “coincidence” to see if it included two pronunciations as well.
Comment by Joel — September 27, 2004 @ 3:05 pm
Joel, nooooooo it’s still wrong. And drives me nuts.
Comment by Hilary — September 27, 2004 @ 3:16 pm
Oh Joel - I think you’d at least look up “coincidence” while you were at it.
Tsk, tsk, tsk.
Comment by Pauly D — September 27, 2004 @ 4:05 pm
How about people who say “expresso” instead of “espresso”?
Oooh, there are so many coffee shop pronounciation nightmares. You’d have a field day with those Pauly
Comment by Erin — September 27, 2004 @ 10:37 pm
Oh man, Erin — you are SO RIGHT.
Comment by Pauly D — September 27, 2004 @ 10:42 pm
I’ve got a whole list of them if you’re interested
Comment by Erin — September 28, 2004 @ 1:50 am
I bet Erin makes WFYE this week!
Comment by Andrea — September 28, 2004 @ 4:44 pm
Comment by Erin — September 29, 2004 @ 1:42 am
Gilmore Girls? Nope. What happened?
Comment by Pauly D — September 29, 2004 @ 8:22 am
Rory totally said “What a Ko-ink-eee-dink”. It was priceless! Pauly, it is not I who has Nostradamus tendencies, it’s so you!
Comment by Erin — September 30, 2004 @ 1:57 am