diabetes

[ANNE V. GILBERT]

Ben:


> I was intrigued to discover this morning that the preferred pronunciation
> of the last syllable of "diabetes" in Amer. Heritage and Random House is
> -tis rather than -teez. In Webster's it's reversed; OED has only -teez.
> I always thought -tis was a regionalism; I heard it growing up in the
South
> where it seemed to have the same status as "arthuritis" for arthritis. I
am
> told it's also found in the Midwest. The word is not in DARE. Does anyone
> know if the -tis pronunciation is regionally restricted or not?

That's kinda weird.  I've heard "arthur-itis" and "diabetis" in Seattle, and
I grew up here(and have mostly lived here), so I should know.  "Diabetis"
seems to be a fairly common pronunciation here, but I've only heard
"arthur-itis" once or twice, mostly among older folks.
Anne G