Re: [HM] Wither the Parallelepipedon
Barry Cipra (cipra@microassist.com)
Thu, 17 Jun 1999 18:45:30 -0500 (CDT)
What does John mean by "rhyme with 'piped'"? I understand the "usual"
pronunciation splits it as "pie-ped" (as with a two-legged "biped" and
opposed to being "wiped" out). My Webster's dictionary also offers
"pipp-edd" (i.e., a short "i" sound) in addition to John's preferred
pronunciation. Interestingly, my Random House dictionary offers
"parallel-o-piped" as an alternative spelling, presumably a bit of
cross-fertilization from "parallel-o-gram." Perhaps the usual
"pie-ped" pronunciation became so because the connecting "o" in
"parallelogram" (which is a far more common term) is slurred in with
the "allel" so the same wound up being done with the "e."
Also, might the humor in the usual pronunciation stem from it sounding
like it ends in "pipe head"?
Barry Cipra
cipra@microassist.com