How do you pronounce Uranus?

There are two canonical pronunciations:

1) You Rain Us or Your Anus

2) Urine Us

Generally, if I am giving a public talk to young people and teenagers, I use the scatological pronunciation. If I am giving a talk to an older audience, I opt for the more conservative 'Urine-Us' pronunciation. When talking to other professional astronomers, or when I overhear them talking to themselves, I hear both forms being used.

Purists often draw from the greek language the pronunciation

Ooo Ron Ooos

where 'Ooo' is pronounced like 'Oooo what a yucky roadkill!' But this always strikes me as sounding a bit too high-faluting.

I think that columnist Dave Berry could have some fun with this, don't you think?


Copyright 1997 Dr. Sten Odenwald
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