Pronunciation of Uranus

estebanrey

estebanrey

estebanrey

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Watching Star Gazing Live and Brian Cox called the planet "Eura-nus", this is how say it too but I've only said it that way in the last few years.

So my question is, has it always been said that way, or is it a new thing because scientists have got bored of people giggling every time they said "Your anus"?
 
you wouldnt say Eura-nium, so why would you say Eura-nus? Both named after the same Greek God.

Actually, I missed something, it should be pronounced 'Oo-ray-nus' and 'Oo-raynium' if I remember correctly.
 
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ins0mn1ac said:
But he's like the coolest ultra nerd I can think of, he's always right!
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He annoys the hell out of me. He is, without doubt, a very clever man, that is not the issue.
He has taken what should be a subject and made a television series out of it. This should be a good thing except that instead of being educational and entertaining he has dumbed it down to the educational equivalent of a home economics lesson, and about as entertaining too :( Anyway, we are more than a little OT so.... back to Uranus (and indeed uranium, for the reason I stated previously).
 
malfunkshun said:
Anyway, we are more than a little OT so.... back to Uranus (and indeed uranium, for the reason I stated previously).
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Back to Uranus, or your anus? :p

I pronounce it Eura-nas, it just sounds odd to me if I say it more along the lines of Eur-anus (despite saying Eur-anium instead of Eura-nium).
 
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malfunkshun said:
He annoys the hell out of me. He is, without doubt, a very clever man, that is not the issue.
He has taken what should be a subject and made a television series out of it. This should be a good thing except that instead of being educational and entertaining he has dumbed it down to the educational equivalent of a home economics lesson, and about as entertaining too :( Anyway, we are more than a little OT so.... back to Uranus (and indeed uranium, for the reason I stated previously).
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Sorry, but that's what it takes to educate people who don't normally care about science. You have to simplify things, and use fancy CGI and backing tracks. I rather suspect the Coxinator (as he shall henceforward be known) probably did in fact record more hard science stuff, but it would have been cut out in editing.

To get people interested in science in the first place, I think he does a stellar job. To get the real facts... well you actually have to do some hard work to learn about that, and it helps to already be the bookish sort. Not pop-science books, but hard books with lots of maths in them. It's one of those subjects where you get to university, and then they tell you everything you've learned previously is a load of over-simplified rubbish.

As for the pronunciation of Uranus, I tend to go with the greek Οὐρανός - Ouranos - "or-rah-nos" (stress on the second syllable). "Your anus" just makes people giggle, which gets really really tiresome when you're trying to talk about planets and people laugh at it for the millionth time. The other popular pronunciation sounds like "urine-us" or "urinous", as in "covered in urine" or "composed largely of urine". That's hardly any better. It also sounds more awkward and just draws attention to the fact that you're desperately trying to avoid saying "your anus". So "or-rah-nos" it is. It's not awkward, it doesn't sound like anything toilet related - win.

Or you could always go back to the name Herschel wanted to call it - Georgium Sidus.
 
It pronounced YOUR-ANUS, let the haters hate, what is it with this modern phenomenon of changing the pronunciation of words ;)
 
SlyReaper said:
Sorry, but that's what it takes to educate people who don't normally care about science. You have to simplify things, and use fancy CGI and backing tracks. I rather suspect the Coxinator (as he shall henceforward be known) probably did in fact record more hard science stuff, but it would have been cut out in editing.

To get people interested in science in the first place, I think he does a stellar job. To get the real facts... well you actually have to do some hard work to learn about that, and it helps to already be the bookish sort. Not pop-science books, but hard books with lots of maths in them. It's one of those subjects where you get to university, and then they tell you everything you've learned previously is a load of over-simplified rubbish.
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Nicely said, and I 100% agree, to the Cox! err.. yeah!
 
malfunkshun said:
He annoys the hell out of me. He is, without doubt, a very clever man, that is not the issue.
He has taken what should be a subject and made a television series out of it. This should be a good thing except that instead of being educational and entertaining he has dumbed it down to the educational equivalent of a home economics lesson, and about as entertaining too :( Anyway, we are more than a little OT so.... back to Uranus (and indeed uranium, for the reason I stated previously).
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Well not everyone in the public is an uber nerd, so science needs dumbing down?

I'm currently finishing my GCSEs and I find his shows very interesting, even if a lot of the 'basic' stuff I do already know. Him and Carl Sagan are my biggest influences who got me into Physics and Astronomy, really science in general.
 
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