how do you pronounce 'tuple'?

[John Salerno]

Yes, silly question, but it keeps me up at night.

I know it comes from the suffix -tuple, which makes me think it's
pronounced as 'toople', but I've seen (at m-w.com) that the first
pronunciation option is 'tuhple', so I wasn't sure. Maybe it's both, but
which is most prevalent?

Thanks! Now time to go back to reading the chapter on tuples...

 

[Steve Holden]

Yes, silly question, but it keeps me up at night.

Silly you!

I know it comes from the suffix -tuple, which makes me think it's
pronounced as 'toople', but I've seen (at m-w.com) that the first
pronunciation option is 'tuhple', so I wasn't sure. Maybe it's both, but
which is most prevalent?

No suffix involved, tuples have a respectable mathematical history going
back centuries.

Thanks! Now time to go back to reading the chapter on tuples...

"Tyoople", "toople" or "tupple" depending on who you are, where you grew
up and who you are speaking to. As with so many Usenet questions,
there's no right answer, only 314 wrong ones

I teach on both sides of the Atlantic, and have learned to draw a mental
breath before trying to pronounce the word "router". Americans find the
British pronunciation ("rooter") hilarious, despite the fact they tell
me I drive on "Root 66" to get to DC. The Brits are politer, and only
snigger behind my back when I pronounce it as Americans do, to rhyme
with "outer".

except-that-there's-no-"t"-in-American-ly y'rs - steve

 

[Grant Edwards]

I know it comes from the suffix -tuple, which makes me think
it's pronounced as 'toople', but I've seen (at m-w.com) that
the first pronunciation option is 'tuhple', so I wasn't sure.
Maybe it's both, but which is most prevalent?

In my expereince, the latter. I don't think I've ever heard
the other pronounciation.

 

[Markus Wankus]

Yes, silly question, but it keeps me up at night.

I know it comes from the suffix -tuple, which makes me think it's
pronounced as 'toople', but I've seen (at m-w.com) that the first
pronunciation option is 'tuhple', so I wasn't sure. Maybe it's both, but
which is most prevalent?

Thanks! Now time to go back to reading the chapter on tuples...

I'm not sure, but I think it is pronounced "ménage à trois".

M.

;-)

 

[Erik Max Francis]

Yes, silly question, but it keeps me up at night.

I know it comes from the suffix -tuple, which makes me think it's
pronounced as 'toople', but I've seen (at m-w.com) that the first
pronunciation option is 'tuhple', so I wasn't sure. Maybe it's both, but
which is most prevalent?

Thanks! Now time to go back to reading the chapter on tuples...

I believe both is right. Those who come from a pure mathematics
background are more likely to pronounce it _toople_. Those who have
encountered it in the wild are more likely to pronounce it _tuhple_. I
had enough of an understanding of mathematics to recognize where it came
from when I encountered it in Python, but I pronounce it the latter way.

Even in mathematics, a tuple, or formally an n-tuple, makes more sense
to me pronounced the latter if you list out the various pronounciations
for large n, seems me the _uhs_ outweigh the _oos_. (There's quadruple
on one side, but then quintuple, sextuple, septuple, heptuple, octuple,
etc., etc., etc.)

 

[nnorwitz]

In my expereince, the latter. I don't think I've ever heard
the other pronounciation.

I used to pronounce it toople. But the people that taught me Python
found it both comical and confusing. At first they thought I meant a 2
element tuple. So they wondered if a 3 element tuple was a threeple,
etc. After much harrassing, I changed my wayward ways and pronounced
it tuhple to fit in with the cool Python guys. ;-)

Then we went to hear Guido speak about Python 2.2 at a ZPUG meeting in
Washington, DC. When he said toople I almost fell out of my chair
laughing, particularly because the people who taught me to say it the
"right" way were with me. When I looked over, they just hung their
head in shame.

I work with Guido now and I'm conflicted. I'm still conditioned to say
tuhple. Whenever he says toople, I just get a smile on my face. I
think most of the PythonLabs guys pronounce it toople.

n

 

[sjdevnull]

I know it comes from the suffix -tuple, which makes me think it's
pronounced as 'toople', but I've seen (at m-w.com) that the first
pronunciation option is 'tuhple'

I went to university in Pittsburgh and work in Washington, DC. I've
only ever heard it as toople.

If I heard someone say tuhple, I'd probably thing of Iago's words to
Desdemona's father along the lines of "that ram is tupping your ewe".
But I'm easily amused by alternate pronunciations.

 

[Dennis Lee Bieber]

I teach on both sides of the Atlantic, and have learned to draw a mental
breath before trying to pronounce the word "router". Americans find the
British pronunciation ("rooter") hilarious, despite the fact they tell
me I drive on "Root 66" to get to DC. The Brits are politer, and only
snigger behind my back when I pronounce it as Americans do, to rhyme
with "outer".

Strange... I never knew Route 66 got that far east... As I recall,
it runs (ran) from ~Los Angeles across the southwest before making an
upward turn through Missouri (where it passed just outside of Ft.
Leonard Wood) and there from meandered through St. Louis and up toward
Chicago...

Then again, from the "new world" perspective... A "route" is a fixed
path between points... A "router" is something that dynamically
determines paths -- so it may be seen as a different derivation...

{Or as I learned on my previous department: A pub's a bar, a bar's a
gate, a gate's a street}

--

 

[Steve Holden]

Strange... I never knew Route 66 got that far east... As I recall,
it runs (ran) from ~Los Angeles across the southwest before making an
upward turn through Missouri (where it passed just outside of Ft.
Leonard Wood) and there from meandered through St. Louis and up toward
Chicago...

The Route 66 that runs past Manassas and into DC appears to be a
completely different Interstate from the one made famous by the Chuck
Berry song, and I was really confused by it when I moved to the DC Metro
area.

Then again, from the "new world" perspective... A "route" is a fixed
path between points... A "router" is something that dynamically
determines paths -- so it may be seen as a different derivation...

{Or as I learned on my previous department: A pub's a bar, a bar's a
gate, a gate's a street}

regards
Steve

 

[Ben Wilson]

Yeah, I was going to say it's "I-66," not "Route 66," which has been
replaced in pertainent parts by I-40.

tuh-ple.

 

[Roy Smith]

I teach on both sides of the Atlantic, and have learned to draw a mental
breath before trying to pronounce the word "router".

It took me a while to get used to that too, but honestly, the warm beer was
much more difficult to deal with. It's supposed to be cold on the way in
and warm on the way out.

My other problem is that I'm into woodworking as well as computers. When
I'm mindlessly browsing news and see an article headline that says
something like "router bits", I often have to stop and think about in which
context I'm supposed to interpret that (a router is a woodworking tool,
into which you can fit a variety of cutting bits).

 

[John Salerno]

I'm not sure, but I think it is pronounced "ménage à trois".

LOL. You guys are hilarious. I think I made the right decision to start
learning Python!

 

[John Salerno]

Even in mathematics, a tuple, or formally an n-tuple, makes more sense
to me pronounced the latter if you list out the various pronounciations
for large n, seems me the _uhs_ outweigh the _oos_. (There's quadruple
on one side, but then quintuple, sextuple, septuple, heptuple, octuple,
etc., etc., etc.)

That's kind of the ironic thing. When I first saw the word, I thought
maybe it was a Python-specific term (even something from a Monty Python
skit, even!). My default pronunciation actually was 'toople', but then I
looked it up to be sure and saw that it comes from words like quadruple,
quintuple, etc. Well, even then, I was pronouncing those words in my
head as 'quintoople', 'sextoople', etc., so that didn't really clarify
it for me! But I think 'quintuple' is probably the more popular choice,
which makes 'tuple' sound more correct, so to speak.

I still have a warm spot for 'toople', though, since that's what I
called it first, but somehow 'tuple' seems less silly (and less like
tupping!)

 

[Grant Edwards]

LOL. You guys are hilarious. I think I made the right decision
to start learning Python!

Of course! What did you expect from devotees of a language
named after one of the greatest comedy shows in TV history?

 

[Steve Holden]

Erik Max Francis wrote:




That's kind of the ironic thing. When I first saw the word, I thought
maybe it was a Python-specific term (even something from a Monty Python
skit, even!). My default pronunciation actually was 'toople', but then I
looked it up to be sure and saw that it comes from words like quadruple,
quintuple, etc. Well, even then, I was pronouncing those words in my
head as 'quintoople', 'sextoople', etc., so that didn't really clarify
it for me! But I think 'quintuple' is probably the more popular choice,
which makes 'tuple' sound more correct, so to speak.

I still have a warm spot for 'toople', though, since that's what I
called it first, but somehow 'tuple' seems less silly (and less like
tupping!)

No, no, no. The correct pronunciation is "tyoople" (or, if you're being
lazy, "choople"). Anything else is wrong, but we English are usually
prepared to forgive foreigners their ignorance

[If I pronounced as badly as I type nobody would ever know what I was
saying].

not-that-we're-arrogant-or-anything-ly y'rs - steve

 

[John Salerno]

Of course! What did you expect from devotees of a language
named after one of the greatest comedy shows in TV history?

Well, I hope this doesn't make me lose credibility, but I've actually
never seen the show! I saw Holy Grail several years ago, though. But I'm
very curious about this whole cheese shop skit, so when I get home
tonight I'm going to download it.

 

[John Salerno]

No, no, no. The correct pronunciation is "tyoople" (or, if you're being
lazy, "choople"). Anything else is wrong, but we English are usually
prepared to forgive foreigners their ignorance

[If I pronounced as badly as I type nobody would ever know what I was
saying].

not-that-we're-arrogant-or-anything-ly y'rs - steve

::eyes the Brits suspiciously::

And I thought there were only choo ways to pronounce it...turns out
there are free.

 

[Grant Edwards]

Well, I hope this doesn't make me lose credibility, but I've
actually never seen the show! I saw Holy Grail several years
ago, though. But I'm very curious about this whole cheese shop
skit, so when I get home tonight I'm going to download it.

IMO, it's not as good as the dead-parrot skit, but it's still a
classic.

 

[John Salerno]

IMO, it's not as good as the dead-parrot skit, but it's still a
classic.

Ah, now that one I have seen, and it is great! There's an episode of SNL
where they sort of randomly show that skit, which is a little bizarre in
itself.

 

[Sergei Organov]

Yes, silly question, but it keeps me up at night.

I know it comes from the suffix -tuple, which makes me think it's
pronounced as 'toople', but I've seen (at m-w.com) that the first
pronunciation option is 'tuhple', so I wasn't sure. Maybe it's both, but
which is most prevalent?

I just checked my English dictionary, and for, say, "quintuple", it
suggests ['kwintjupl] pronunciation. I didn't check it before, but I
tend to pronounce tuple as [tjupl] indeed (in fact Russians would say it's
closer to [chjupl]).

-- Sergei.