CRAY-on!!

I've said my peace.

www.mirriamwebster.com has a handy little audio tool that pronounces all the words for you.

I'm sorry to say that crayon has two syllables, and the Ls in walk, talk, and chalk are silent.

I would, however, love to hear how one would actually pronounce those words with a spoken L. Another audio clip, please? I love them!

crown is what sits atop a king or queen.
CRAY-on is what my kids color with.

sorry h. siding with the other half on this one.

Daaaaaang! I thought my Arkansas/Oklahoma accent was bad. =)

Hmm.

Can't go with you on this one. I have always pronounced it cray-on.

But then again, I have always listened to jazz.

I absolutely agree with Jon on this one. Up here in Canada, I've never heard it pronounced CROWN. Besides, if it was CROWN, it wouldn't sound like CRAYOLA, and why else would one name a CRAY-ON brand CRAYOLA? Yup, definitely CRAY-ON.

Crens?

...

when I saw this post I HAD to comment, (I LOVE your site by he way; my husband always knows i'm reading dooce when I laugh so hard I fall off the couch!)

We have this argument all the time in our house, but my husband is from Boston so he says Cray-ON with a boston accent while I say Crain, with my horrible New England accent.

I will say nothing is as bad as my grandmother that say Ohio as Oh-he-o

One vote for CRAY-on. At least that's how we pronouce it here in the Northeast. Love the accent, by the way.

My Yankee blood says it Cran, like gram, bam, slam, jam...crayon. I never understood how people can say, Cray-on and be ok with it. That sounds like some disease, or maybe an undiscovered fish at the bottom of the Yellow Sea.

I am neither a Yankee nor a Mormon and I have neither of the respective accents.

I say: Cray-on
I say: Tak
I say: Wok

And so on.

I'm actually curious Heather, if a dictionary didn't convince you (at least) that Tak and Wok, what on earth could convince you? I.e. what would it take for you to say: "Ok John you are right."?

Oh, wow. Until you actually spelled "cee-arrr-aee-yiiy-ohh-iiin" I never realized just how deeply the South affected your accent. No wonder you pronounce it "crown."

I'm with Jon on this one.

I hail from California, so I have no accent AT ALL.

CRAY-ON.

And, wok, tak, chok. All correct. Sorry, Heather.

I am from Seattle. I talk (with a silent L) like people on TV. It is cray-on. A crown is what you get on your teeth or you put on your head.

Ohh, the point about Cray-ola and cray-on is spot on!

I'm sure that on "Hard L Sound Island" where you come from, the indiginous peoples say "crown," but the overwhelming majority identifies it as a CRAY-on. No amount of screaming into the wind is going to change that. Just like, as a Minnesotan, I know that the correct name of the game is "Duck, Duck, Grey Duck" and that somehow the entirety of the planet Earth manages to get it wrong by calling it "Duck, Duck, Goose," but I have learned to live with it.

I'm just going to beat a dead horse and repeat what others have written: it is Cray-On not CROWN or any other variation thereof. How would you pronounce Crayola? CROLA? No, it is Cray-Ola. It is Cray-on.

I've got a word for you - Iron. Being from the north I pronounce both syllables like "I-ern". My baby daddy, who is from Alabama, says "ern". I'm guessing it's short for Earnhardt, but I'm putting it out there for you to tell me. Who's right, me or him?

Ok, I'm from Southern California (and no, I'm not in the Gen Y group that makes everything sound like a damn question). I am not from the valley; I am just an ordinary girl speaking like they do on the news.

CROWN is crazy talk. How can it possibly be "crown"? I can't even wrap my brain around that one, hon and let me tell you, I'm willing to follow many the places you go. But this, dear Heather? I cannot agree.

While I'll accept that two syllables is more than required, I am a CRAN gal. So as far as I'm concerned, you're both wrong.

That's all I'm gonna say 'bout that.

i'm just confused. i thought the audio clip would totally clear it up for me and i too would be going "crown! i get it!" except what happened was totally the opposite. i admit, i say cran, because if said "cray-on" it would sound like i was leta's age trying to sound out a word for the first time.

seriously, i don't get the crown thing, at all. like, to the point of, if i was in your house and you said "can you hand me the red crown?" i would have no idea what you meant, unless the king's royal headpiece was laying around, which is what i would hand to you.

part of the reason that i say "cran" may also be that i am from the northeast, and not only the northeast but rhode island, where we certainly have our own dialect too as i'm sure you know, the least of which is never using the letter R. thankfully, i have outgrown my hideous r.i. accent [although it still haunts me in the form of old home movies] but i guess some things just stick with you.

in conclusion, i vote you both lose :D

Jon is right. It is pronounced cray-on.

See? Two syllables. Count them. One. Two. ;D

Textbooks and audiobooks and TV courses for (even American!) English as a second language have CRAYON and nothing else. If you call it a CROWN, then what do you call a CROWN?!

I'm amazed by the many interpretations "you" people can put out, use, and discuss freely. The Romanian community at Microsoft would have dropped the language skills tests for trying something this funny. And Bill Gates would be really angry today without 300+ developers.

I find it entertaining enough to try out Russian, French, Greek, or Italian accents when I feel like scarying an American counterpart (leave aside British!). Your game sounds dangerous; I must be with the Lil League.

This makes me wonder if you (and Leta and Jon) say pillow or pellow, milk or melk?

I live in Arizona where, yes, they also drop the T in everything, but they say cray-on.

I'm from Wisconsin though, and I say bag and magazine funny, but still say cray-on.

I think Jon wins this one. Someone else already referenced Mirriam_Webster. Now a dooce dictionary might be something worth considering.

Cray-ON. Have a great one however you say it!

I also have issues with pronunciation. I told my husband just yesterday that he CANNOT teach our future children to say "woof" for "WOLF". Woof is what dogs say, "WOLF" is, in fact, a wolf. Drives me nuts, along with "battries" (batt-er-ies) and "warshing machine" (washing machine. I won't even get into my pet peeve of the infamous "libarry" and "eh-zackly" (exactly). Makes me dry heave........

Listen to any Crayola commercial and they clearly say, CRAY-ON. :-)

It's a cross between cray-on and cran. Really.

It's totally cray-on, but your accent is super hot.

My husband Ben says "pin" and "pen" like they're the same thing. He pronounces both of them "pin". So then I have to ask him why he doesn't call himself "Bin".

Funnily enough, I was having a conversation about pronunciation and how it relates to different regions with my coworkers today. I'm from Baltimore, so perhaps my input isn't the most reliable (we insert random R's in places where they just do not belong!), but... "cray-on." It's right there in the spelling! And in the Crayola commercials!

For the record, though, I do say "walk" with the L in full effect. I never even knew that it wasn't supposed to be pronouned. Weird.

wtf dude, it's obviously cray-on. i don't understand how you get 'crown' from crayon, and i'm sitting in a cafe right now, otherwise i would listen to the audio clip. crown? that's fucking crazy!

the one that always drives me crazy is when people say 'bretts' when they mean barettes. I'm always like, "hey, can i have one of those bar-ettes?" and my friends will say, "don't you mean bretts?" it's insane. look at how it is spelled! BAR-ETTES. now i just say 'hair clip' to avoid any confusion.

also one time i read in one of those like, 'mythbusting' or whatever type of books- the kind that 'debunk' things that are generally considered common knowledge, there was a whole chapter on how people THINK they can hear the difference between stuff like "walk" and "wok" because they are picturing how it is spelled when they say it, but really they don't actually HEAR the difference. unless you actually say "WALK" like, 'walllllk' which would be weird.

It's totally cran. I live near the Crayola factory, how can I be wrong?! CRAN!

Notorious ... "Elmo says" oh my goodness, well that just settles it. Reminds me of one time in college talking to a friend who said "It's true! I saw it on Sally Jessie Raffel!"

And Ashley, here in California my family says "bolth" but the "l" sound is very soft, bolth, not bowl-th.

It's definately cray-on though.

How can you hate CRAN? Do you not love gin&CRAN? or vodka&CRAN? It's practically the same thing, only less delicious.

I say cray-on, kind of like how it's spelled. ;) I'm from Canada, by the way, and I don't say aboot.

Have you considered that both pronunciations may be correct? I know that I have at different times used Crown and Cray-on and found both of them to be effective.

Oddly enough, my husband and I are both native Alabamians, so we rarely have pronunciation spats. But, I have to disagree with you, Heather--the true southern pronunciation is definitely CRAY-YON. CROWN sounds suspiciously like you've done turned into a Yankee. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, hon.

Uh, I'm a "yankee"

It is Cray-on. It is soo weird, because I hear a lot of people say we (Yankees) talk with an accent.....hahahaha!

I must agree with Jon and say CRAY-ON. I usually don't say it though and it's more like "Hand me the pink before I break your fingers please."

Just kidding.

Kind of.

Okay um... I have to admit I say "CRAN." and if you look it up on merriam webster.com..... it says the two pronunciations are Cray-on and Cran. No mention of "crown" anywhere in the definition. Cran!

Colors or (phonetically spelled: kellers) to end the debate.

CRAY-ON to keep the debate going.

I love listening to people debate accents. It's so cute how everyone always thinks they're right.

Sorry Heather, but you are utterly hopelessly embarassingly wrong. If you asked me for a crayon I would have no idea what to do, and would probably stare blankly at you. A crown? Like, from Burger King?

Otherwise youre fabulous.

I'm loving the fact that it took 55 posts for someone to ask about Jon's polygamist ancestors.

Heather, you've got a great husband, a fantastic little girl, and lovely pink shoes, but you and George! are wrong on this one. I'm a Kentucky girl, born and bred, and the word is "cray-on."

Heather, I think you're super cool, and I say this with all due respect, do you REALLY think you have room to talk about other people and their accents???

CRAY-on.

Opinion time from Canada, eh??? And, Heather.....it's CRAY-ON!! Gotta go with Jon on this one.

Let's hear Leta say it now!

As a responsible Dooce fan, I've read every daily entry (and most nubbins) from the archives since I discovered your site, but this is my first time commenting... that is how much this post has moved me!

My first-grade teacher TRAUMATIZED me by pronouncing crayon "crown." I am from the east coast, so there was no excuse for it, no excuse at all. She told us to take out our "crowns" one day and my 5-year-old OCD self thought I had Alzheimers because I could not for the life of me remember when we were told to bring crowns to class, or when we had made paper crowns, or how I could have missed a day of school without remembering I had missed a day of school. Someone sitting next to me had to explain that the teacher meant CRAY-ONS to get me to stop hyperventilating.

my entire life, until i went to college, i said "crown" not realizing everyone else thought it was wrong. my college boyfriend pointed it out the very first time he heard me say it and suddenly i spiralled into a lonely state-- me versus the world. after interviewing everyone i knew, asking how they pronounced "crayon," i finally decided i must at fault and converted to saying "cray-on," but not before practicing quietly for a few days alone in my room.

thanks to the internet, i now know that there are plenty of crown-sayers out there. though i've switched sides, i will never forget my roots and never ever make fun of someone who says "crown." you rock.

In Milwaukee, you have Crik instead of Creek. Ruff instead of ROof and, the all time favorite: MEER instead of mirror.

What d ya'll use to flatten your shirt collars: urns or irons?

I'm from the east coast, too.

It it so totally cray-on, not crown. And for the life of me I can't figure out how one would actually pronounce the L in walk, talk, etc. As someone else said, I'd love to hear some audio clips of you saying those words.

Your accent really caught me by surprise. I didn't expect you to be so twangy. ;)

Oh you, sillies.
It's CRAN.
CRAN!
CRANS!
Where are my CRANS?
craaaaaaaaaaaaan.
cran.

I'm from TN, as well. But I pronounce crayon as a two syllable word. CRAYon.
But talk and walk and chalk, all have the L obvious in it.

I have what can be considered no accent sprinkled with southern here and there. I agree that it is CRAY-YON but the l's in walk, talk and chalk are all pronounced. They are soft, but they are there. But how in the world is iron supposed to be pronounced? I still can't figure it out. I say i-ern and my husband makes fun of me for this. But he's from Philly and says wooder (water), so I can't really take him seriously.

And Jon should do an audio post for mao-in, cause I can't wrap my head around that one.

And then the alternate pronunciation via merriam-webster:

http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/crayon

I completely heart the fact that someone actually spelled Merriam-Webster and Mirriam Webster instead :) The funny thing is, it still takes you to the freaking dictionary site anyway! Which i guess makes sense, cause it is a site for peeps who can't spell :)

I've never heard Crown for Crayon but I'm from LA so maybe it's a regional thing. I've also never heard "L" pronounced when saying walk or talk. I think we might even say, dare I say it, "cran" out here?

Heather, I love you, I really do! But, PLEASE, PLEASE only record Jon speaking the word crayon. It's two syllables. It's going to take me a while to recover from that auditory hit and run.

P.S.
I grew up in Utah (Okay, peep's my closet is now open and the skeleton is coming out) and I have been able to perfect my newscaster accent so that people would not be able to detect that part of my origin - I'm hiding the rest.

Even though I share Memphis as home, and Bartlett High as well, I fear the pronunciation of "crayon," was somehow taught to me as just "crown." But I get ridiculed everywhere that I go. It's just too much effort to say cray-on.

So, I am in total "agreeance" with you, Heather.

I'm sorry, but crayon is clearly pronounced "cran."
Per St. Louis.

CRAY-YON.

When I lived in Philadelphia, my boss kept referring to the drawers full of drawings in our office as "draws." That very quickly got on my freaking nerves.

My wife has a nasty habit of leaving the L out of Volvo. I have lots of fun asking her "what kind of car is that" and hearing "Vo-vo." So there is a word where the L should NOT be silent. However, your hubby is right - Wok, Tok, Chok, etc. No L.

We have a friend from Rhode Island who constantly gets asked by my wife to pronounce the word "cheddar." Cheddah. Love it. Out here in Seattle people have no accents whatsoever, so anyone with the smallest bit of individuality, voice-wise, is that much more memorable and precious. I say, while you are indeed wrong, keep the accent - it makes you, YOU!

Heather, in my part of Louisiana we say CRAY-on.

I laughed and laughed when reading this blog entry. My Mom's first language was Spanish and my Dad is a Canadian, so I grew up hearing them debate the correct ponunciation of every imaginable word. Remarkably, the word crayon never entered the annals of correctness.

I only know this word to be Cray-on, mfg'd by Cray-ola.

Well, you're both wrong.

It's CRAY-ahn.

But I'm from St. Louis and people here say "Highway Farty-Far" instead of Highway Forty-four, and therefore if I were you, I wouldn't listen to a word I say.

However, I would say the L in talk and walk is not completely silent, and as Miracle Max would tell you MOSTLY silent is not the same as ALL silent.

I laughed and laughed when reading this blog entry. My Mom's first language was Spanish and my Dad is a Canadian, so I grew up hearing them debate the correct pronunciation of every imaginable word. Remarkably, the word crayon never entered the annals of correctness.

I only know this word to be Cray-on, mfg'd by Cray-ola.

long-time reader, first-time commenter.

lol, born and raised in los angeles. and it's totally cray-on.

On a side note, I would totally love to hear that mormon accent of that Jon of yours who's a descendent of POLYGAMISTS....

was his grandpa the great prophet? heh

The delegate from New York votes for Jon.

crae-ahn
That's how I grew up saying it, and I'm sticking to it.
And I pronounce the "l" in walk, talk, etc., but it's a soft "l".
And if you really want to get into pronunciations, howzabout how someone can stick an "r" in the middle of "wash" and "Washington"???

Heather, it looks like you're outnumbered. Was GEORGE! the only one to agree with you? All I can say is that if it was meant to be pronounced "crown" it would be spelled that way (or at least crawon).

CRAY-on.

That is all.

I've never heard crayon pronounced "crown" nor "cran" but your audio clip totally rocked. For me (and everyone I know) it's cray-on all the way. But then, I live in New York City. We don't use crayons. Just spraypaint.

Do you say orange with the "or" or the "are" in the beginning? I've had lots of arguments over this one. Same for the o in Florida. Flohrida or Flarrida?

I'm an Indiana Girl. I say CRAY-ON.

My Texas friend once said CROWN. I had No Idea what she was saying.

And once, I was in Alabama while a native friend was asking for a BOBBLE. I made her repeat it 4 times, finally spelling it out: B-I-B-L-E.

Sorry to say, I have to side with the two-syllable folks. I've always pronounced it cray-on and so has everyone else I know.

cray-on
I do pronounce the l's in walk, talk, and chalk.

Who was that person way back there who said they are from Seattle and pronounce it Cray - on? You must be one of those newcomers. I was born and raised on the Eastside and the correct pronuciation is clearly CRAN. Maybe strectched into 1.5 syllables to Cra'n.

The real question is did you play Soakum in school, or did you play Dodge-ball? If you didn't play soakum then you ain't from around here.

Also Wok Tok Chok Samon offen veeicle
and buoy is pronounced boy as in buoyant and buoyancy, and lifebuoy soap.

I could go on...

Noooo, Crown is the word that comes before Royal.

Cray-On. It's pronounced Cray-On.

I am SO sending Jon Steely Dan's Greatest Hits. I and II.

Sorry babe - Jon wins on cray-on. I live not far from the official Crayola factory and it's definitely two syllables. But I will give you "walk", "talk", etc. While the "L" is officially silent it is there to add DEPTH to the words and to distinguish them from the flat "A" sound as in "whack" and "tack". Let's use that in a sentence, shall we?

If you don't learn to TALK properly I will WALK across that floor and WHACK you on the side of the head with a sharp, pointy TACK.

When all else fails, think of how the Brits pronounce the English language -- after all, they invented it -- and then tone it down so it doesn't sound affected, like Madonna does now that she's been living in England.

Heather, I love you and think you are an absolute riot! You can have me in absolute stiches at times. BUT! I have to say that 'crayon' has two syllabuls. (or however you spell it)

two. and you don't pronoune it like "crown". that just hurts my ears and eats my soul.

I love you Heather, but I too agree with Jon on this one. I grew up in North Carolina and Virgina for some of my childhood and again-love you-but hate the way you southerners butcher words like that.

Donch'all know nuthin'?

A little further south, here in Florda, we call 'em crayawns. Make it about three syllables, 'kay?

It's a wawk and you tawk with other people...and you're not gettin' ready to do sumthin', you're FIXIN' to do it.

Would you believe I was born Yankee, and have a college education? It just sorta creeps into you.

I've lived in NJ my entire life, that may be used against me but I say cray-on.

Born and raised in So. Cal, and then married a good ol' Southern boy and moved to GA and hubby and I both weigh in with CRAN. He always gets on my case about "repeat" though- I'm a RE-peat person and he's rep-EET. He kills me with "deserd" instead of desert, and "greezy" instead of greasy. And I vote for soft Ls in walk, talk, chalk. ;-)

Accents are awesome. All of them. You just add and drop as many things from your words as feels right to you.

Try and control it... well... look what happened to Madonna.

Don't kill me but I've pronounced it "Cran" all my life up until now.

It's now "Cray-on" for me.

ROTFLOL! I'm having so much fun reading everyone's various pronunciations of all sorts of words! And the text-to-speech link! It's a riot!

Maybe someone from Canada could please post an audio clip of "aboot". I love that one. There's a design show on one of the TLC type channels with a gal from Canada and I watch it just to hear her say "aboot".

As for crayons - when I was little, we always called them "colors". But if I read the word "crayon" out loud, it would sound like "cray-on".

I don't know about those l's though.... That's just too hard for my mind to work on right now.

How do you pronounce Crayola? CROWOLA ????

Are you guys serious. I have never heard anyone pronounce Walk, Talk or Chalk with the L. Wahlk? That's just plain wrong! It's unAmerican! It must be stopped!!

;)

Pronunciation is an issue in our house too. I grew up in NC, my husband in Boston and we now live north of Boston. Our son is 7 months, and the discussions about the proper way to say things has begun.
That being said, it's CRAY-ON. I've never heard anyone say crown.
Wow.

i'm an LA girl [and we all know that the standard American accent is defined by Hollywood and the movies/television that it exports to the rest of the US], and we say CRAY-ON.

Being from the land of "Fargo," I can safely say it's pronounced "cray-on" with two syllables, doncha know.

Now "axe" me another one.

What the fuck was that? Heather, you sound like a hillbilly. Please have Jon, and Leta, say crayon, also. No wonder you write...
And, Heather, I think you are master...thanks, keep going. Hollywood will be calling you once again, offering you your own show. And, you should, but have you and the family in animation, or something- not live humans. Hey, folks- you read it here first because, I guarentee I am not the first to think of it...God, it would be fucking hilarious...and please keep giving sound bytes. Great stuff...
Thanks-
jlf

WOW.

How do you pronounce LAUNDRY?
Lawn-dree or Lon-dree?

Hmm... I've never even heard of "CROWN" until now. I imagine Cray-on is the most common, though I'm one of the pitiful few who pronounces it "CRAN" - I'm from Arizona, where we have (almost) no accent.

Girl, please--if you're from the South, and I know you are, we all heard you (and I recognize my own kind instantly) you use aw-ull the syllables you can; it's CRAY-YAWN.

you know i love your website and stuff, but really, this crown stuff, it makes me wonder what language they speak in TN. crayon. CRAY-ON. kids in cambodia get this one right.

Not too long ago, on Oprah, she had the makers of crayons on the show and it was pronounced CRAY-ON. But living in Utah you have other wordisms to fear like crick (creek)and tolit (toilet).

Crayon has 2 syllables. However, my southern Memaw always called me her Lil' yankee.

Okay, so I grew up in Mid-Michigan (fairly normal-like TV, not the UP which sounds like MN or Fargo) and have bounced around to KY, TX, and MA with return pitstops in MI in between. I've also spent some time in VT, NH, and ME and everywhere I've been, there seems to be concurrence regarding CRAY-ON. However- there have been many a discrepancy, nay, I say BATTLE over pop/soda (sod-er, or the even stranger- TONIC in the NE), pupcorn/popcorn (again, NE), IN-shurence or in-SHUR-ence, SEE-ment/suh-MENT, UM-brella/um-BRELLA, ROOf/ruhff, wash/warsh, pillow/pellow, milk/maaalk, water/wuh-ter...I could go on, and on, and on...It seems that every time you're new to some of these places the way to check out your cool kid vibe is to test out how you say these words. Then there's the whole issue of different words for the same object- drinking fountain=bubbler (pronounced bubb-lah), Chesterfield=couch=sofa, basement=cellar, bureau=dresser. I'm telling you- meet a guy who can't (cahn't) say your name right and it's probably gonna be a deal break-ah. I'm Courtney, Buddy- Court-Knee, not Kaaht-knee, Quart-knee, or some such other nonsense. I use crayons, drink milk and pop (unless it's a real Coke), eat popcorn, lay my head on a pillow on the couch while I do wash. When it rains I use an um-BRELLA; my ruhff doesn't leak but I'm covered by in-SHURence in case it does, and I've also got a solid suh-MENT floor in the basement. My pet peeve is when someone hocks a loogie in the drinking fountain at the gym and the water pressure is low so you practically get your nose in it. OK, I'm done.

I have always pronounced crayon as cray-on. I currently live in the Pacific NW, but I have lived in Guam beforehand and lived with parents who have originated from the Philippines. Crown and crayon have two distinct pronounciations in my mind. Then again, I'm one of few who are able to pronounce cot and caught differently amongst my peers. ;)

I've always pronounced it as Cray-on, but then I'm from India, so does my vote still count:-)

Also, since you opened this up for debate will you be tallying the results? Going by the flow of comments, Jon might get you to agree with him after all.

I've always pronounced it CRAY-ON. Then again, I'm from Canada, where we call winter hats "tukes".

I had never heard crayon pronounced "CROWN" until I went to BYU. I had no idea what my roommate was talking about, where on earth would I find a crown for her? What did she think she was, a princess or something!?

Oh oh.

There may be more Mormon in you than you think ;)

Sorry, I'm with Jon on this one.

The "L" really is silent in walk, talk, etc.
And I pronouce it cray-on.

You do have a heavy duty southern accent. I have never ever heard anyone say it like "crown" in my life. If you teach Leta to say it like that, you better teach her to hold her own on the playground.

1) George! is killin' me. "CROWN, BITCHES!"

2) you have gotten some people into some serious knots over this topic. it's delicious.

3) tomato, tomotto. who gives a Stephen Colbert who's right? I certainly don't. although, yes, it is going to be one of the more interesting skirmishes you're facing with your fella in the future. aren't those fun?!

4) GEORGE!

Whoa! I have never heard anyone pronounce it crown until I heard you do it here. I am with Jon on this one. I would love to hear an audio clip of you saying, "Leta here is a brown crayon to color the queen's crown".

I have discovered in the last five years or so that my mother (she is 65 years old)pronounces words differently than she ever did before. When she says wreath, it sounds like "reef" and when she says broth it sounds like "broff". What's up with that I wonder? She never used to do that. Just tonight she said the word dyslexia like "dillexia" and when I corrected her she was very offended. She told me I knew what she meant and should just accept it. I felt bad about hurting her feelings.

I say something that drives my friends here crazy. I know they are correct in their opinion but I think it must be how my northern relatives say it....if someone asks me to go somewhere with them, I might say "Oh yeah I would love to go with". They look at me oddly and say "go with what?" Then I have to correct myself for their benefit and say, "I would love to go with YOU!" Does anyone else say it like I do?

Okay... it's SO NOT CROWN! UGH! haha... Jon is right. It's Cray-On.

I guess it is merely a Californian thing, this "cran" business. Then again, I pronounce "both" as "bowlth" so consequently I sound as if I've never discovered Dayquil.

We're all at a loss!

Crayon = Cran. With an extremely awesome nasal 'an' sound.

I'm from Michigan.

Oh fuck - I'm a CRAN!

All those California guys and gals who said "cray-on? Well, you may think that's what, like, should come out of our mouths... but like, it's CRAN--totally, come on!!

Crown? CROWN? I've never heard such a pronunciation of crayon before. So what does a queen wear on top of her head? A crayon? Nope. Crayon is definitely two syllables and it's pronounced like it looks. Cray On. It'll be interesting to see how that gorgeous little girl of yours pronounces the word in 20 years, though, that's for sure.

here in california we pronounce it CRAY-ON, just like it's spelled.

Ummmm... CROWN!??!?!

WTF?!?!?!!

Love everything about Dooce and am completely addicted. Also obsessed with Chuck.

But CROWN!???!?!

er, oops. sorry for the duo-post.

Ummmm... CROWN!??!?!

WTF?!?!?!!

Love everything about Dooce and am completely addicted. Also obsessed with Chuck.

But CROWN!???!?!

I've got to go with Jon on this one, too. CRAY-ON. And wok and tok. You really pronounce the L's?

Oh, and moun'n. No t. But that's just cause I'm lazy.

I can't listen to the clip because everyone is ASLEEP! Arghh!

Anyway, you and Jon should pull an Eliza Doolittle/ West Side story and sing angry pronounciation songs at each other while snapping your fingers.

How do you get the "ow" sound out of "Cray"? It's definitely Cray-On.

Do you also Warsh your hands or do you Wash them? lol

Heather
I'm Irish and the world knows (or should know) that the Irish speak the best English in the world. Jon is correct the word is CRAY-ON.

Cindi in Illinois - I'm with you there. Also, I've picked up from somewhere replacing "though" with "but" in certain sentences.

i.e. instead of "That rose is pretty; the thorns are spiky though." it comes out as "That rose is pretty; the thorns are spiky, but."

I think that could just be a NZ/Aus thing though?

cray-on.

is that really how thick your accent is? that's fabulous.

So how do you pronounce CROWN? CRAY-ON? "The king put a CRAY-ON on his head".? ;) Sorry, but I'm siding with the Blurb too..!

I don't have an American accent because I'm English. Here in England, crayon has two syllables. So.. really.. he is right as far and how you pronounce crayon in English.

But then, you are right as far as how you pronounce crayon in your accent.. it's just not the 'official' pronounciation I guess (although I still really don't understand how you got crown out of crayon - but then you do live in a country that calls a fringe bangs.. what's that about?)

P.S. I really don't listen to jazz.

I grew up pronouncing it crown. Of course, I was raised in a family that pronounced Bower as Bar.

In Connecticut, it's CRAN. I've actually never heard anyone pronouncing it 'crown' before in my life. It's quite pleasant.

OOH OOH (and for the sake of phonetics, I'll spell the words the way I pronounce them) WHEEL-BAR-O not WHEEL-BARREL...GROSS-ER-EE not GROSH-ER-EE...hmmmm, SHER-BIT not SHER-BERT

HEY, this is fun :)

I like the brown crown.

It's definitely CRAY-ON. I say that as an actual English person, speaking English, not American :-) But pronouncing it CRAWN with a cute southern accent is just WAY funnier!!!

Cran. We color with crans!

And I completley understand where Heather is coming from on the walk/talk/chalk thing. The "L" may be silent, but it is inherent in the actual pronunciation and sounds odd when left out. This is best learned by obtaining a foreign husband, who adds and subtracts all sorts of different letters and sounds from words that are best left alone!

Now, come on. I know you Americans like to cut 2/3 of the syllables in most words (while inexplicably making the remaining syllables really, really drawn out) but this is getting a bit silly.

MY dictionary wasn't written by Yankee or any American, and it says 'crayon' is two syllables. :)

And while we're on the subject, please re-insert the I in 'aluminIum'.

Regards,

The Pedant.

Ah! It hurts!!

OH MY GAWD!
This is such a sore subject in my house. My husband and I are both native Texans, but he has MUCH more of a drawl than I do. And he says 'crown'. It makes me crazy. It's CRAY-ON. CRAY-ON.

Of course, I think I have issues with the whole mispronunciation thing. My grandmother used to pronounce Colorado as Call-uh-RAID-uh and Hawaii and HUH-WHY-YUH. ACK. When we visited her, you could often find me huddled in the corner of the back room, fingers in my ears, rocking back and forth to comfort myself.

Sorry Dooce, love the site, but how in the name of all that is good and holy does cray-on become crown??!! It's just wrong, people. CRAY-ON.

'kay?!!

It's cray-on. And I'm as southern as they come (Tennessee). I've never heard it pronounced *crown*!!! LOL Nor can I imagine walk, talk, chalk without the *L*.

My first time commenting here - love your site and love the pictures of that cutie patootie - Leta.

tina

As an English type person I say CRAY-ON

Hey Heather...
We say cran in our family...but I say go for it. Start a revolution. Crowns Bitches!
And I am with cassie_paige...gimme the purple one and stopping eating the blue one. and color outside the lines!

I will never read a post again without hearing your accent. Don't worry, it just increases your snark factor. There is nothing more snarky than a smart ass woman with a southern accent. Nothing. In college, since there were folks from places like NJ, Minnesota, and South Carolina together in one place, there were many entertaining conversations regarding the pronounciation of various words. I used to get slack for the way I pronounce antenna, but have never gotten anyone to explain exactly what was so gd funny.

I am from Pittsburgh. We say Cray-on. But of course I also call pepsi and coke pop and not soda.

CRAY-on.

I grew up in Salt Lake City and lived there 30 of my 35 years.

People that said "crown" were definitely from somewhere else. :)

If you really want to start a firestorm - debate the pronunciation of BAYOU.

A solid vote for the Midwestern CRAN. I think in the years that I've lived in Tennessee, it's degenerated into CRAY-un, but just about every word in Tennessee has one more syllable than it did in Illinois. Except for "fire," which has been shrunk to FAHR, instead of FY-yer.

In seven years of living in Tennessee, I've never heard anybody say "crown." What backward, pestilent, sibling-marrying part of the state are you from?

BTW, it's fascinating to me that you say Mormons drop the "T" in "Mountain." I've never lived in Utah, but I noticed people doing that when I lived in New York: they didn't pronounce the t in "bottle"--there'd be this little stop in the middle of the word: "bo--ul." Are you sure they're Mormons and not old Jewish people from Brooklyn?

I'm from Baltimore and say CROWN with pride.

I'm with you Heather and GEORGE! Screw everyone else.

I say CRAY-ON (say what you see)

so how do you say Crown then H??

Arkansan here and there are people who pronounce "water" or "Washington" with an "R". WaRter or WaRshington!!!

Go ahead and color with a CROWN! I'll be using MARKERS! hehehe!

Having spent time in Easton, PA, home of Crayola, it's two syllables - cray-on. Sorry Heather!

I love all the accents in this country! I've rotated through the Jersey, Boston, Texas and NYC accents - maybe I'll move to Utah and try the Morman one next!

Hate to say it, Heather, but I'm with Jon in the great crayon debate. I battle with my family in south Louisiana over the correct pronunciation of mayonnaise. These people think MY-nez is the way to go, but it really doesn't sound like anything I'd want near my sandwich.

CRAY-ON!! But thanks to my Bostonian mother, I was propbably 20 before I realized that everyone around me pronounced "loafers" as "Loaf-errrrrs" instead of the far more civilized "loaf-ahs." Barbarians.

In our household both my husband and I pronouce it Cray-on, but our oldest child says Crown. Now you choose the smarter grouping, child or adult.

oh lord heather you dont really talk like that. honestly. i can tell youre one of those people who spent their entire young adult life training the hick right out of yourself with foreign films and too much booze. which was counterproductive, by the way.

This Canadian pronounces it Cray-on eh!

I'm with Jon - cray-on. But I have to say your version fascinates me....

I'm sitting at my desk saying these words out loud! People have got to think I'm nuts!

Sorry H. but I have to go with Jon here too...Cray-on. BUT...I think my Minnesoooota accent also gets in the way and I hear CRAY-ON in my head, but say CRAN.