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ForumsThis post is about a very serious issue and I have to call upon all computer technicians to help us out with it. Its is big question that has been plaguing computer technicians all across the globe…
…Is it bus route (pronounced root) and internet router (rooter)?
…or is it bus route (row-t) and internet router (row-ter)?
It seems people from different countries say it either one way or the other; with some countries even using both. Leave us a comment on this post and let us know your location and pronunciation.
Example:
Location: London, United Kingdom
Bus: Root
Internet: Rooter
I’m really curious to see the results. Be sure to leave your city in the location as there may even be differences within a single country. If you are from a country other than the UK or the US, I especially want to hear from you.
Ill kick it off.
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Bus: Root
Internet: Row-ter
Location: Akron, Ohio USA
Most around here pronounce it as row-t and internet Rowter.
Here it is “rowt” and “router”
I guess you could say “rowtah” here… hehe
Brandon
Boston, MA
Location: Essex, UK
Bus: Root
Internet: rooter
A ‘rowter’ is what carves grooves in wood. I know what ‘rooter’ means in Australia
we have a plumbing co call roto rooter, but i would go nutz to here it called a rooter
chambersburg,pa
It’s pronounced “rowt-er”.
Altanta, GA. Originally from NJ. I also worked for CDW tech support and supported “rowt-ers” for people all over the country and never heard it pronounced “rooter” from anyone but my mother and maybe Canadians (what’s that all aboot?).
Location: Columbus, Ohio, USA
Bus: rowt
Internet: rowter
Also, around here “route” can be pronounced “root” when you are referring to a specific road like Route 23 (aka “root 23″).
In the US one pronounces Nokia as “No kia” in Europe they say “Nok ia”
or…
You say eether and I say eyether,
You say neether and I say nyther;
Eether, eyether, neether, nyther,
Let’s call the whole thing off!
You like potato and I like potahto,
You like tomato and I like tomahto;
Potato, potahto, tomato, tomahto!
Let’s call the whole thing off!
But oh! If we call the whole thing off,
Then we must part.
And oh! If we ever part,
Then that might break my heart!
So, if you like pajamas and I like pajahmas,
I’ll wear pajamas and give up pajahmas.
For we know we need each other,
So we better call the calling off off.
Let’s call the whole thing off!
You say laughter and I say lawfter,
You say after and I say awfter;
Laughter, lawfter, after, awfter,
Let’s call the whole thing off!
You like vanilla and I like vanella,
You, sa’s’parilla and I sa’s’parella;
Vanilla, vanella, Choc’late, strawb’ry!
Let’s call the whole thing off!
But oh! If we call the whole thing off,
Then we must part.
And oh! If we ever part,
Then that might break my heart!
So, if you go for oysters and I go for ersters
I’ll order oysters and cancel the ersters.
For we know we need each other,
So we better call the calling off off!
Let’s call the whole thing off!
Location: Orlando, FL. US
Bus: Row-t
Internet: Row-ter
Location: Hamilton, Georgia, USA
Bus: Row-t
Internet: Row-ter
springdale,arkansas
bus: rah oo te
internet: rah oo ter
Location: Kelowna, BC (Canada)
Bus: Rowt
Internet: Rowter
Full disclosure: I am an American living in Canada. You shouldn’t look to me as an authority on pronunciation here. I am still thrashing with “Shed-yule,” “Bat-tree,” and “Paaaa-sta.”
row-ter
Location: London UK
I thinks its only rooter in the UK but what really matters is you get it working and tidy the the mess your client has made of the install
Born and raised in the Detroit area. It’s “bus rowt,” and “rowt-er.”
Location: Georgetown, Guyana
Bus: Root
Internet: Row-ter
Location: NW, South Africa
Bus: Root
Internet: rooter
Location: Phoenix, Arizona USA
Bus: I hear both regularly and both seem correct to me although I use rowt
Internet: Rowt, it’s how I have always pronounced it and have never heard it said any other way
Kamiah, Idaho, US
Bus: Row-t
Internet: Row-ter
Location: Tucson, Arizona USA
Bus: Rowt
Internet: Rowt-er
Vancouver, Canada
Bus: Row-t
Internet: Row-ter
Location: Redding, California, USA
Bus: Row-t
Internet: Rowt-er
Location: Brighton, United Kingdom
Bus: Root
Internet: Rooter
Wood cutter: Rowt-er
Well, this is interesting…In my house we say it two different ways…as I am from Mississippi and my wife, a Brit from Crawley England. It’s a constant “battle” of wits over who’s right LOL.
Meridian Mississippi
Bus: Rowt (another dialect – Rai-yowt)
Internet: Row-t (another dialect – Rai-yowtah)
Crawley, England
Bus: Root
Internet: Rootah
Georgetown, Texas (but from all over the U.S.)
Here’s the thing in the U.S. There’s a very famous road here Route 66. One CAN NOT say Rowt 66. It would be sacrilege. It is and always be Root 66. Ergo it is a bus Root.
And I would not recognize the topic if someone brought up a rooter in a networking discussion.
Unless they were Canadian, of course.
I’ve lived all over the US, now live in Arizona and have never heard anything except “Rowt and Rowter.” Occasionally you do hear a highway like Route 66 referred to as Root 66.
San Francisco Bay Area
I’ve never heard it called anything but “rowt” and “rowter”. That’s how I was taught in my network class in college anyway.
Location: Niagara region, Canada
Bus: Rowt
Internet: Row-ter
Highway: Root 66
I may not be indicative to the region as I’ve travel led abroad for a few years.
Fot Wuth, Texas, y’all
Rowt and Rowter except for ‘get your kicks on root 66′
Since a router (route+r) routes traffic, it’s pronounced router.
In New York
we pronounce Route as \ˈrüt\ like root from the ground though this is such a melting pot I often hear \ˈraut\.
but a router, whether the woodworking tool or the network device is \ˈrau-tər\.
Tel Aviv
Israel
No one gives a damn about what u call it
Just make sure it works
Location: Newcastle, United Kingdom
Bus: Roooot
Internet: Rooooter
being a geordie (Someone from Newcastle, United Kingdom) we tend to enphasise the ooo sound…
This is great! LOL!!!
Kiwi Down Under (New Zealand)
router (row-ter)
n. person or thing that routes; hardware device which directs messages across a network to their correct destination (Computers); any of several power tools used to hollow out or furrow into a material
Router
A router is a device that extracts the destination of a packet it receives, selects the best path to that destination, and forwards data packets to the next device along this path. They connect networks together; a LAN to a WAN for example, to access the Internet.
rooter (roo-ter)
n. person or thing that roots; one who applauds, one who cheers
rooter (m)
n. heavy plough, trenching plough
Rooter
(n.)
One who, or that which, roots; one that tears up by the roots.
BC Canada
Bus: I hear both root and rowt
Internet: Definitely rowter, even when I say rooter it makes me laugh. Around here, a pig is a rooter.
Edmonton, Alberta, CANADA
Route: Both Root and Row-t used
Router: Always Row-ter
Brunei Darussalam
Route: Root
Router: Row-ter
Harsewinkel Germany
I am English liviing and working here in Germany.
Being English I pronounce both as “Root” and “Rooter”. A “Rowter” as someone correctly said is a woodworking implement. But thats Queens English and not “Amerienglish”;-))
The Germans and most of Europe pronounce it as “Rooter” too.
Great thread!
Sacramento, CA
Bus: Root
Internet: Row-ter
That’s what most of us say here.
NH-USA
Bus: Root
Internet: Rowter
rowt and rowter from california
Quebec, Canada
Bus: Root
Internet: Rooter
But I’m a french speaker so this may not be right altough I found this site telling me I am right
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/router
Location: NSW, Australia
Bus: Root
Internet: Row-ter
“Rowt” and “Rowter” in Illinois (No noise in “Illinoy”)
greenville, ms
rowt
row-ter
I’m in New Jersey, USA
Bus Ra-out
Internet Ra-out-er
USA – California
Bus: Root
Internet: Ra-out-er
or as some of my clients say, that blinky light thing with the wires coming out of it.
Canada
Bus – Root, eh.
Internet _ Rowter, eh.
as my bro from tel aviv said who cares what its called get it to work
that said i’m confused i was born in london, england moved to manchester, england and then to new york, usa all i can say in my best hackney accent ( i was born in hackney i’m a gunner) they ain’t know nothing how to talk in bloody new york.
abe
Sweden:
Most of us say “rowt” and “rowt-er”.
Location: Adelaide, Australia
Bus: Rowt
Internet: Row-ter
Wood: Row-ter
Tree: Root
Cornwall, Canada.
Bus: Root
Internet: Row-ter
Location: Salem, NJ. US
Bus: Row-t
Internet: Row-ter
Location: Nashville, TN
Route: “rowt”
Router: “rowter”
I believe the technically correct way is root it just doesn’t sound right. I would say that it has become commonly accepted mispronunciation.
Location: Brenham, Texas
Bus: rowt
Internet: rowder
Los Angeles, California
Bus: Root
Internet: Rowter
Starkville, Mississippi, USA
Bus: root (we never use this, though)
Internet: rowder
Bus: Root
Internet: Rooter
A Row-ter is what you shape wood with.
Location: Canada; Born & Bred in Winnipeg, Manitoba (Home of Winnie The Pooh), moved to Northwestern Ontario (Dryden) a year or so ago.
Bus: Both Root & Rowt are used (eg. bus root, paper rowt, Root 66, etc).
Internet: Rowter, unless you mean the internet news reuter then it’s rooter.
“A ‘rowter’ by any other name,
Would still ‘rowt’ as sweet,
………..As long as it knows how to ‘root’.”
Location: St. Louis, MO (USA)
Route: Both Root and Row-t used
Router: Always Row-ter
Location: All over South Carolina and all over the world before that.
Route: Root 66, just like the song
Router: Row-ter, just like the woodworking tool.
Worcester, UK
Route: Root
Router: Root-er
How ive always been tuaght, and Rowt just sounds odd to me
Here in UK the majority of people I would say pronounce both words “root”. I do notice that posh plummy-voiced types sometimes call a rooter a row-ter.
I always thought the “row” way of pronouncing things was just the American way of doing it.
Stop saying its pronounced Row-ter. NO ONE pronounces it that way, you’re trying to phonetically spell it all wrong.
Anyone that doesn’t know what the issue here is will have no idea what your trying to say. They will assume that your trying to say that you pronounce router like “row your boat” row-ter.
Most of you (I assume) are trying to say that its pronounced:
“Rau-ter” (You keep writing Row-ter)
(Legitimate phonetics: /’rautər/ )
And for you UK’s “Ru-ter” (You keep writing Root-er)
(Legitimate phonetics: /’ru:tər/ )
If you don’t know how to spell something phonetically PLEASE don’t make up the spelling!
People generally can understand your meaning behind misspelled words but misspelled phonetics ARE NOT THE SAME. They MUST be formatted correctly or the entire thing is completely pointless.
Shame on the article author for making me write this.
@ English
This is my VERY first time seeing someone correct another netizen’s PHONETIC spelling. It’s bad enough putting up with the pedants who insist on correcting people’s everyday spelling. You’re certain to win the “Uber-Pedant of the Year Award”. I’ll definitely vote for you. You must be chuffed.
By the way, if one doesn’t know the phonetic spelling of a word how is one to convey their meaning in text WITHOUT resorting to making it up?
As for Bryce’s shameful behaviour in posting a phonetically incorrect spelling of /’ru:tər/; let the number of replies to his post speak for the enjoyment he has given visitors to his site and not one of them cares about phonetic mis-spelling. Well, except you, of course.
Belgium
Bus: Root 100%
Internet: Rooter 85% and Rowter 15%
Because the pronunciation of dutch is almost as similar as Root and Rooter. We don’t even use the dutch alternative words. They are adopted in our dictionary as English words.
Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
Bus: Both
Internet: Rowter without exception. I’d probably fall over laughing if I heard someone say rooter, but that’s just because I’ve never heard that it was an option.
South Midlands, Ireland.
Root
Rooter
Location: Cochin, India
Bus: Root
Internet: Rooter / Row-ter
Location – Mumbai (Bombay) India
Bus: Root
Internet: Row-ter
Working as a tech support catering to North America for phone diagnosis I have so far heard
only row-ter.
Great Topic!
Location: Athens,AL USA
Being of middle age and having spent six years in the U.S. Navy in my younger days and having lived and traveled “a little” at home and abroad, I believe I can fairly say that I have had the great pleasure to be exposed and listen to a wide variety of the English language being spoken and used.e.g. The pleasure to play a few cahds with my mate from Boston while chukin down a grinder in New London,CT. The pleasure to listen to a fair maiden drawl out a yassam to the teacher in class in Greenwood,Miss.and shagged by one from Wales on the beach in Honolulu.
All of that drivel aside, I tip my hat to the sewer[not,soo-er] of this thread for it brings to mind a small twang by Sir Walter Scott, “Oh what tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive.” For you English, perhaps you should “BONE” up on your Pope.”To err is human;to forgive divine.” For the rest of us simpletons perhaps it comes down to the one about “What we have here is failure to communicate.”
As far as the router,the rooter, the tooter or the pooter,I have never heard of a router[row-ter] reffered to as a rooter but if my English counterparts["not",coont-er-parts]want to use rooter than they will get no scowl["not"school]from me.As far as the bus route[row-t] or bus[root]it depends on ones own preference and taste. as we used to say in the US Submarine Force, “What ever floats your boat.”