Monday, May 24, 2010

Phonetics

Today I noticed a helpful parenthetic phonetic prunciation on an Rx label (not mine- it was work-related). Next to Diclofenac was written "(DYE-KLOE-FEN-AK)."

I've been puzzzling over such helpful guides a lot lately- I think maybe since Mark wrote about something similar a few months ago. The 'phonetic' hints do nothing but puzzle me, because if I interpreted them the way I was taught I think I would be led very far from the correct pronunciation.

But the first syllable is what most caught my eye. I can't help but wonder if the drug company's advertising department was in any way involved in choosing "DYE" over "DIE."

1 comment:

Mark said...

Why would they choose "DIE"? The correct pronunciation of the first syllable obviously rhymes with... "tree yeah." Or something like that.