Monday, 6 December 2010

an astronomical anus?

credit: www.nasa.gov

A few days ago I talked to a colleague of mine about the solar system and its planets. One of these planets is Uranus. As I can't switch off the phonetic lobes of my brain, I immediately pondered on how (dangerously) close the pronunciation of this planet's name is to some words for less pleasant (?) objects or properties:
  • urinous
  • your anus
Let's see what the experts say (GB pronunciation considered only)!
  1. EPD
    1. Uranus /ˈjʊərᵊnəs, ˈjɔːrᵊnəs, jʊəˈreɪnəs, jəˈreɪnəs/
    2. urinous <not listed>
    3. your anus /jɔːr, jʊər, jər ˈeɪnəs/ (linking r assumed)
  1. LPD
    1. Uranus /ˈjʊər(ə)nəs, ˈjɔːr(ə)nəs, juəˈreɪnəs/
    2. urinous <not listed>
    3. your anus /jɔːr, jʊər ˈeɪnəs/ (linking r assumed)
  2. ODP
    1. Uranus /ˈjʊərənəs, ˈjʊərn̩əs, ˈjɔːrənəs, ˈjɔːrn̩əs, jʊ̵ˈreɪnəs/
    2. urinous /ˈjʊərɪ̵nəs, ˈjɔːrɪ̵nəs/
    3. your anus /jʊər, jɔːr, jər ˈeɪnəs/ (linking r assumed)
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2 comments:

  1. Martin J Ball8 December 2010 at 02:28

    This reminds me of the bumper sticker on the space Winnebago in the hilarious Mel Brooks spoof movie 'Space Balls'.
    It read: I ♥ Uranus

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kraut8 December 2010 at 09:38

    @Martin: The MPAA would rate the combination of Uranus and (space) balls X or NC-17.

    ReplyDelete

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