SC, like you said. :) "Fail" doesn't feel good in my mouth, so to speak.

Being educated by my candid DH to men's legendary "every 7 seconds" malady, I've wondered if the Al pronunciation would sound too much like a certain part of the male body. (Does that commercial run in N CA?) But then, there were only men in orchids for a loooong time, and in dogs, also exclusively a male domain at first, "b-tch" is the proper name for a female dog, and men haven't been reticent about using sexual-type terms for certain parts of the orchid body or describing the act of pollination, but maybe they get all shy when it comes to their own personal anatomies.

Well, that was a nice bit of free association. End result - I have no clue. Around here, the only people who use Al are brand new to orchids. I was one of those before hearing orchid folks pronounce the word. Al comes naturally.

Here, tick. Here, ticky ticky.

Whitecat8

Sweetcicely. I agree, but the volume "what orchid is that" has the suggested pronunciation as fail-eh-Nop-sis.

Seeing i have little learning, fail -eh-Nop-sis might be right. Who knows!

Then we have Cattle layers and Cat leahs while the above mentioned volume suggests KAT-lee-ya. I just think of the surname Cattley and add an a on the end.

If you want to get into mangle country just listen to the attempts at Howeara and similar names relating to man made Genera. Howeara is (i think) Howe- ara.

"Phalaenopsis" is a contraction of the Greek words "phalaina" and "opsis," so maybe the most correct pronunciation of "Phal" would be "fahl" with an "aw" sound as in "father."

Or for English speakers, maybe not. We tend to anglicize everything regardless of linguistic origin. Orchid growers and other plant people corrupt the pronunciations of Latin words all the time when they say botanical terms out loud.

"Violaceus," for example, or the feminine form as in "Phalaenopsis violacea." IÂve heard some really strange and varied pronunciations of that word that were nothing like Latin, which would be "veeohlaCHEYa."

Welcome, brave souls.

WC8, methinks your free association hath merit! I can think of several reasons why it should have, but it never occurred to me. Consider it added to the mix.

(If you say "Here, ticky ticky.." they'll come running.)

True, Arthur, officialdom has decreed, as I acknowledged, that "fail" is correct for the first syllable. By the way, though I was a bit over-focussed on pronunciation of the first syllable, I didn't mean to imply that emphasis fell only on the first; it is rightfully on the first and third--the third syllable, as you demonstrate, receiving the major emphasis.

Howeara is one I've only seen on the forum &/or google image (something about lava fire?), but I'm guessing that the name derives from somebody named Howe. Your phonetic interpretation "sounds" right to me...but, then, where orchids are concerned you are not a person of "little learning."

: )) I'm one of those Cattle Leahs converted to CATT-lee-uh or CATT-ley-uh, depending upon the barometric pressure or some other elusive factor I've not yet discovered. The rest of the names I wrestle with in turn, but none, except Phalaenopsis, instills in me the certainty that I can pronounce it no other way.

Sc

No offense taken ever. It is always good to know one more detail, and heaven knows I stumble my share and the pronunciation (or is it pronounciation)of names.

i pronounce it fallen-opsis

Thank you, Richard; I figured you would understand that no offense was intended.

Oh, Good, Anglo--You are conversant with Greek and Latin--at least botanically (though probably more). I was busy editing and didn't see your post until after my first response.

I can live with "Fahl"-aenopsis and, apparently, Taylor can, too.

It seems to me that there should be no anglicizing of words in the standard binomial or two name system we use. The words are italicized because they are not English. What seem to be lacking are enough people who (like Anglo) can help with pronunciation. For Phalaenopsis violacea I would have guessed P. vee oh LAY cee uh--and would have been wrong.

Though I don't think anyone should be mean or pedantic about pronouncing these words, I do think it is good to learn what is right. It seems a little silly to insist on what is customary or traditional, if it isn't correct.

Sc

Since Phalaenopsis is a combination of 2 GREEK words, I thought I'd jump in here.

There is ONLY one way to pronounce 'a' in Greek and it's exactly the same as 'alpha', there is NO long 'a'. Therefore, fail-en-op-sis is INCORRECT, it's Fal-en-op-sis.

Chryss
p.s. I'm 1/2 Greek!

I pretty much am happy if someone makes an honest attempt at using Latin plant names. And it's not just orchids either. PEE-onies or pee-OH-nies? CLEM-a-tis or clem-A-tis? I give up.

I sing a lot of Latin choir pieces, and there is disagreement there on how to pronounce words too. I've been told there is "Italian Latin", "Church Latin", and maybe even "German Latin."

I have real trouble saying FAIL-uh-nop-sis, even though I think I'm supposed to. I think subliminally I just don't want to say FAIL when discussing orchids!!

It was quite some years ago when I saw my first phalaenopsis in Michigan. I was told that it was pronounced with a long A with emphasis as written above: on the "first and third syllables--the third syllable, as you demonstrate, receiving the major emphasis."

SC: "In simple terms the flat A is like the "A"s in Al, cat, fat, splat, max, van, etc."

Why oh why did I re-read this post today??? Just *had* to go confirm stuff. Now there's cognitive dissonance all over the place.

Four of four Greek pronunciation sites give the pronunciation as the "a" in "father." Nothing about the "a" as in "cat" or "apple."

Going by these, Taylor, your "fallen-opsis" is correct.

Easier in the mouth than "fail;" less easy than "apple," but I may not go the purist's route and just stick with apple.

Anybody have info that refutes, expands, modifies, etc.?

Here is a link that might be useful: Audio: Pronunciation of Greek letter

Stumbling upon this thread, I'm just glad someone else out there has noticed it really MUST be pronounced "CATT-lee-uh." William Cattley, I am quite certain, was not announced to the Queen as "Sir William Cattuh-lay." Yet I have been "corrected" by much more serious growers than myself on this one. This is not an issue of pronouncing Greek, either... I'm on quite certain ground with English.