how do you pronounce 'tuple'?

[Paddy]

Its tupple surely.

The following shows that we are not the first to ponder this:

http://www.jot.fm/issues/issue_2003_03/column9

Stick tuple into the Windosw XP speech properties preview box and hit
preview-voice,
it says tupple not toople.

- Paddy.

 

[John Salerno]

So what's a 1-element tuple, anyway? A "mople"? "monople"?
It does seem like this lopsided pythonic creature (1,) ought
to have a name to reflect its ugly, newbie-unfriendly
nature.

Are we having fun yet? ;-)

I kind of like 'moople'.

 

[Terry Hancock]

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.)

I doubt that helps much: I pronounce all of those words
(when I use them, which is not too often) as "-toopel". The
only tuple I pronounce with the "-uh-" is "couple", and I
usually call that a "two-tuple" when dealing with Python.

I suspect that even those who would pronounce 'quintuple'
"kwintuhpel" would say 'quintuplicate' as "kwinTOOPlikuht".
(that's the noun, not the verb, which is "kwintoopliKATE").

So what's a 1-element tuple, anyway? A "mople"? "monople"?
It does seem like this lopsided pythonic creature (1,) ought
to have a name to reflect its ugly, newbie-unfriendly
nature.

Are we having fun yet? ;-)

Cheers,
Terry

 

[Dave Hansen]

John Salerno wrote: [...]

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?

[...]
"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

FWIW, I've often heard the latter two, but never the first one.
"Tuple" by itself tends to be "toople," but as a suffix tends to be
"tupple."

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

Probably a cultural reference to "Roto-Rooter," a nationwide plumbing
company specializing in cleaning (ostensibly tree and other plant
roots, though often more, uh, prozaic materials), from sewer drains.
"Call Roto-Rooter, that's the name, and away go troubles down the
drain."

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".

I've seen "route" pronounced "rout" or "root" depending on the
background and mood of the speaker, though in this part of the country
("midwest", though "middle" might be more accurate) the former
pronunciation is far more common. Through the sugestive power of
television, however, I suspect nearly every American would speak of
"root 66" even though the next sentence might reference "rout 12."

On NPR ([American] National Public Radio), there's a weekly music
program called "American Routes" pronounced such to conjure the
alternate "American Roots."

Regards,
-=Dave

 

[Peter Maas]

I kind of like 'moople'.

tuples are of latin origin, so one can derive the tuple words
systematically:

Latin n-tuple
---------------------------
.... ...
triplex triple
duplex duple
simplex simple

I wouldn't mind calling (1,) a simple but I'm not a native English
speaker so I have no idea wether it sounds ridiculous to English
ears. If simple is too simple for you just call it simplum or simplon
or simplex.



Peter Maas, Aachen

 

[Jack Diederich]

I kind of like 'moople'.

I cry unquel.

 

[John Salerno]

I've seen "route" pronounced "rout" or "root" depending on the
background and mood of the speaker

I actually came up with a method that I use: "rout" for a verb, "root"
for a noun. So Route 66 is Root 66, and routing an army is rOUTing an
army.

 

[John Salerno]

I wouldn't mind calling (1,) a simple but I'm not a native English
speaker so I have no idea wether it sounds ridiculous to English
ears. If simple is too simple for you just call it simplum or simplon
or simplex.

Heh heh, simple is weird.

How about this: one-uple, which can be condensed to woople.

 

[Steve Holden]

John Salerno wrote:
[...]

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?

[...]

"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

FWIW, I've often heard the latter two, but never the first one.
"Tuple" by itself tends to be "toople," but as a suffix tends to be
"tupple."

No, but then you probably listen to the noos, not the nyoos, on the TV
or radio. That's a particularly British pronunciation.

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

Probably a cultural reference to "Roto-Rooter," a nationwide plumbing
company specializing in cleaning (ostensibly tree and other plant
roots, though often more, uh, prozaic materials), from sewer drains.
"Call Roto-Rooter, that's the name, and away go troubles down the
drain."

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".

I've seen "route" pronounced "rout" or "root" depending on the
background and mood of the speaker, though in this part of the country
("midwest", though "middle" might be more accurate) the former
pronunciation is far more common. Through the sugestive power of
television, however, I suspect nearly every American would speak of
"root 66" even though the next sentence might reference "rout 12."

On NPR ([American] National Public Radio), there's a weekly music
program called "American Routes" pronounced such to conjure the
alternate "American Roots."

Never caught that. Must go get some batteries for my radio.

regards
Steve

 

[Dave Hansen]

tuples are of latin origin, so one can derive the tuple words
systematically:

Latin n-tuple
---------------------------
... ...
triplex triple
duplex duple
simplex simple

When I was in 4th grade, I was taught to count to ten in latin: unos,
duos, trace, quatro, quinque, sex, septem, octem, novem, decem
(assuming the intervening 35 years haven't dimmed my memory too
much...). This would suggest "untuple" (or one of several
contractions such as "unuple" or "uple").

Though I suspect "single" is correct. Consider coronary bypass
operations -- single, double, triple, quadruple...

Regards,
-=Dave

 

[Donn Cave]

I've seen "route" pronounced "rout" or "root" depending on the
background and mood of the speaker, though in this part of the country
("midwest", though "middle" might be more accurate) the former
pronunciation is far more common. Through the sugestive power of
television, however, I suspect nearly every American would speak of
"root 66" even though the next sentence might reference "rout 12."

On NPR ([American] National Public Radio), there's a weekly music
program called "American Routes" pronounced such to conjure the
alternate "American Roots."

Those of us for whom 'root' rhymes with 'foot', can pronounce
'route' either way without ambiguity. Or we could, anyway, if
everyone else would get with it. If you're going to adopt this
sensible program, other short vowel words are roof, hoof, creek.
My grandfather pronounced hoop short, but I never heard anyone
else do likewise. Tuple rhymes with couple.

Donn Cave, (e-mail address removed)

 

[Roy Smith]

Latin n-tuple
---------------------------
... ...
triplex triple
duplex duple
simplex simple

Would a 9-tuple be a nipple?

 

[Dave Hansen]

No, but then you probably listen to the noos, not the nyoos, on the TV
or radio. That's a particularly British pronunciation.

I have heard that pronunciation of "news," and not just from the
British. Back in the mid-1980's I listened to a radio station with a
DJ who, in an attempt at humor, would prefix his news segments with a
nasal "And now, the nYoos!" with the first part of the Y heavily
stressed and about an octave higher in pitch than either end of the
word. He wasn't trying to sound British, just mock-enthusiastic.

[...]

On NPR ([American] National Public Radio), there's a weekly music
program called "American Routes" pronounced such to conjure the
alternate "American Roots."

Never caught that. Must go get some batteries for my radio.

If you're interested, see http://www.americanroutes.org/

Their station list includes some who broadcast over the web.

Regards,
-=Dave

 

[Peter Maas]

When I was in 4th grade, I was taught to count to ten in latin: unos,
duos, trace, quatro, quinque, sex, septem, octem, novem, decem

unus duo tres quattuor ... octo ...

But tuples mean threefold, twofold etc. and the Latin equivalents
are triplex duplex simples. That simple sounds weird may be due
to the fact that English speakeers perceive it as a native word
rather than a Latin import.

Though I suspect "single" is correct. Consider coronary bypass
operations -- single, double, triple, quadruple...

That's OK but single stems from singularis (one-of-a-kind) rather
than from simplex (onefold) and doesn't fit as nicely to the other
tuples.

Peter Maas, Aachen

 

[Peter Maas]

But tuples mean threefold, twofold etc. and the Latin equivalents
> are triplex duplex simples.

triplex duplex simplex

Peter Maas, Aachen

 

[Steve Horsley]

Its tupple surely.

The following shows that we are not the first to ponder this:

http://www.jot.fm/issues/issue_2003_03/column9

Stick tuple into the Windosw XP speech properties preview box and hit
preview-voice, it says tupple not toople.

Which only goes to prove that it really should be two-pull.

 

[Peter Hansen]

Would a 9-tuple be a nipple?

Perhaps, but if you're a dairy farmer, four nipples would definitely be
a "two-pull" again...

 

[Erik Max Francis]

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

Seriously? Endless references to it until it gets painfully old :-(.

The Python language, at least, has seemed to have gotten past that point
in its history when every post had to be accompanied by a Monty Python
gag ...

 

[Erik Max Francis]

I doubt that helps much: I pronounce all of those words
(when I use them, which is not too often) as "-toopel". The
only tuple I pronounce with the "-uh-" is "couple", and I
usually call that a "two-tuple" when dealing with Python.

I prefer the name _pair_ .

I suspect that even those who would pronounce 'quintuple'
"kwintuhpel" would say 'quintuplicate' as "kwinTOOPlikuht".
(that's the noun, not the verb, which is "kwintoopliKATE").

Yeah. The short form is that both are right and which one is more
common is probably regional more than anything. I've heard people say
_toople_ vs. _tuhple_, but I've never heard anyone say _quintoople_ vs.
_quintuhple_ (granted, not that the situation arises all that often).

But come to think of it, it kind of does. I've heard _quintuhplet_ and
_sextuhplet_ and the like plenty of times, and I've never heard it
pronounced the other way (in General American). m-w.com shows something
interesting here -- the first listed pronunciation for _quintuple_ is oo
with uh being an alternate, but the first listed pronunciation for
_quintuplet_ is uh with oo being an alternate. Which probably goes to
emphasize that that it's just whatever you're used to and there's no
rhyme or reason to any of it.

So what's a 1-element tuple, anyway? A "mople"? "monople"?
It does seem like this lopsided pythonic creature (1,) ought
to have a name to reflect its ugly, newbie-unfriendly
nature.

In mathematics there's really no such entity such tuples involve
elements of cartesian products of sets, and so if there are no cartesian
products involved you're just talking about an element of a set, which
is just a thing.

Of course that's still a completely valid construct in Python so the
question stands. If a 4-tuple is a quadruple, a 3-tuple is a triple, a
2-tuple is an pair, then I guess a 1-tuple would be a single. Granted
that's not nearly as gruesome enough a name to go with the special
lopsided Pythonic creature mentioned above. I suggest we name it a
hurgledink.

 

[Erik Max Francis]

tuples are of latin origin, so one can derive the tuple words
systematically:

Latin n-tuple
---------------------------
... ...
triplex triple
duplex duple
simplex simple

Yeah but there's already plenty of existing English usage such that
3-tuple : triple :: 2-tuple : pair. (A 2-tuple is an "ordered pair" in
mathematics.) If a 2-tuple is a pair, then it would seem to follow that
a 1-tuple is a single.