correct pronunciation of "router"??

[alphasqorner]

so I went to my local hardware store intending to look at some of the routers they had.  I asked the employee, "Where are the routers???".  He laughed than pointed me the way.   Feeling  confused at the man's response , I looked at the routers and went home.  Then I asked my grandpa about routers.  
He's a carpenter and uses all kinds of electrical tools and things so I knew he had experience with a router.
But he didn't know of any "rau-ter"s ("rau" rhymes with cow), but he did know of "roo-ters".....  
Coming from a computer science/networking background, this pronuncation caught me way off guard... Well, I learned something new, yet again....  

[Trenchbroom]

Go back into that store and tell them to get stuffed:

www.m-w.com

Type in router in the dictionary--it's there.  You are correct.

[allroy1975]

lol.  No dude, there's no rooting going on.  It's pronounced the rhyming-with-cow way.  Rau-ter.  Like a Paper Route.  Like in PaperBoy.  

I think Trenchbroom read the original post wrong.  Your Grandpa didn't know anything about Rau-ters, but did know of Rooters, correct?

If you go to that web m-w.com it pronounces it for you.  It's not pronounced like Roto-Rooter.

Allroy

[Minwah]

Yeah it kindof looks like 'rooter', but is 'row-ter'...

Not sure what experience Gramps has with roo-ters, but probably best not to know  

[PedroSilva]

It's kinda curios ... here in Portugal we pronounce "roo-ters" ... but I've spoked with some guys from the US and they actually pronounce "raw-ters" ... I was stupid also when they mentioned that  

Anyway ... the talk was about internet equipments (router - package routing) and not tools for wood work ... don't know if it makes any diference since they are written the same way  

[Sasquatch!]

The British that I know pronouce it "rooter".  (This is when talking about the networking kind, but I would imagine this probably applies to the woodworking kind too.)

[Xphile]

Router (rhymes with cow-ter) up here in western Canada...<grin>

[Ren Hoek]

In Australia, if we want to go to Route 66, we pronounce it ROOT SIXTY-SIX, but we pronounce router as ROW-TER (rhymes with COW-TER).

[arkowi]

no matter how it is said, what a jerk wad this guy working in the store sounds like..."hey, i'll insult some customers today"

i say it row (rhymes with cow) ter.

[Wade]

I suppose it could be pronounced either way, just like taking a "route" home from work.  Do you pronounce it "rowt" or "root"?  It often goes either way, depending on your location and background...

That said, I have never before heard anyone pronounce a "router" as "rooter" before...  always "rowter".

Wade

[Howard_Casto]

It depends upon the usage of the word.  

route 66 is "root 66"

Which route are your going to take? is "rought" (like drought)

Router is taken from the second phrase.  I believe it's latin and is indeed pronounced "roughter".  Only foreign people and canadians pronounce it "rooter",  because a rooter is another tool used to clean the crap out of sewage pipes.  


So to finish up.....

rooter= specialized plumbing snake

router= tool to carve paths, or "routes" in wood

any american who pronounces router as "rooter"= misguided person in need of speech therapy

[Tiger-Heli]

Router is taken from the second phrase.  I believe it's latin and is indeed pronounced "roughter".

ruffter

Sorry, just picking on Howard C.

I've always heard it row(rhymes with cow)-ter.

[Minwah]

The British that I know pronouce it "rooter".  (This is when talking about the networking kind, but I would imagine this probably applies to the woodworking kind too.)

Yes and no.  The Queen says Rooter for networks, Row-ter for woodwork

[mr.Curmudgeon]

And if you are ever in the New England area (US) then it's pronounced, "Ra-tah".
(long a's as in "ah!")

So in a sentence it would be, "I pahked my cah right outside the ra-tah stah, now I'm off to the stah mahket for some chowda!"

[Brax]

Only foreign people and canadians pronounce it "rooter",  because a rooter is another tool used to clean the crap out of sewage pipes.  

any american who pronounces router as "rooter"= misguided person in need of speech therapy

Canadians in general do NOT say "rooter".
I agree with Americans needing speech therapy though. Just ask the average American to say Baton Rouge or Notre Dame.....

[Stingray]

It's spelled "router", but it's pronounced "Throatwarbler Mangrove".

-S

[Wade]

It depends upon the usage of the word.  

route 66 is "root 66"

Which route are your going to take? is "rought" (like drought)

Router is taken from the second phrase.  I believe it's latin and is indeed pronounced "roughter".  Only foreign people and canadians pronounce it "rooter",  because a rooter is another tool used to clean the crap out of sewage pipes.  


So to finish up.....

rooter= specialized plumbing snake

router= tool to carve paths, or "routes" in wood

any american who pronounces router as "rooter"= misguided person in need of speech therapy

Funny, the dictionary has both pronunciations and doesn't specify that each pronunciation depends on whether the word is used as a noun or verb...  I guess Howard knows something Webster doesn't...  

Either pronunciation is OK but again, most people in the US say "row-ter".

Wade

[Howard_Casto]

Router is taken from the second phrase.  I believe it's latin and is indeed pronounced "roughter".

ruffter

Sorry, just picking on Howard C.

I've always heard it row(rhymes with cow)-ter.

rought-er,  not rough-ter  BIG difference.  

drought - d = rought

also row as in "row your boat" isn't a better example

For the record regarding other posters comments webster's isn't necessarily a good place to find out how to pronounce things.  You have to look up the origin of the word, a dictionary is the common man's tool for quick reference.  

[KevSteele]

Canadians in general do NOT say "rooter".
I agree with Americans needing speech therapy though. Just ask the average American to say Baton Rouge or Notre Dame.....

Depends on which "Notre Dame" you're speaking of:

The US university is pronounced "No-ter DAME" (rhymes with MAME).

The Paris cathedral? "No-tre Damme" (as in Jean-Claude Van ;-)

Two different places entirely, and both pronunciations are correct - as long as they're each used to refer to the correct place ;-)

Kevin

[menace]

As an english fellow in scotland correctly pointed out to me (a canadian) in a room of travellers--there's only one person in this room speaking english--the englishman--the rest are speaking american, canadian, australian, irish, scottish, french etc.  Everybody has their own twist on words and I for one will never condemn someone for how they say a word--When I lived in chicago a shirt pocket was often pronounced shirt packet--and they made fun of me for saying pawket (long o)--too strange!

you want to call it rooter--be my guest, you want to call it rowter--all power to you  the last thing we need, is to argue aboot how words sound on a written message board eh!

[SirPoonga]

you say patato I say potato...

[Druin]

Router (rhymes with cow-ter) up here in western Canada...<grin>

Confirmed in eastern Canada, all the way to the coast.

[Druin]

So in a sentence it would be, "I pahked my cah right outside the ra-tah stah, now I'm off to the stah mahket for some chowda!"

Sounds more like South Park

[alphasqorner]

Hehe, cool.  "Router" (rhymes with cow-ter) is here to stay!!! ............

Anyway, cheers and thx for the english lesson(i'm in college so I needed it.... )

[Wienerdog]

He laughed than pointed me the way.

What a tool...

[Brax]

Depends on which "Notre Dame" you're speaking of:

The US university is pronounced "No-ter DAME" (rhymes with MAME).

Kevin

I disagree. It's just been bastardized to such an extent that it's been popularized by it.
Right? I wouldn't say so.
An accepted slang? Unfortunately, yes.

[nipsmg]

"Notre Dame" in the US is properly"Noh-tre Dahm"...

Listen to the fight song though.  It's pronounced "Note-R Daim"

We Americans love destroying the English language. :-D

Note: We speak "American English"
Just like there are MANY difference between Spanish from Spain, and Mexican Spanish.

--NipsMG