_toluene_

[Eric Nielsen]

I believe I've heard it mostly pronounced without a "w" sound on the final
syllable: --you een. The "ene" part of the word indicates a double bond and
is important for naming the comound. Methylene, however, I've always heard
pronounced with the "l" on the final syllable.
When I worked in a biodegradation research lab years ago, one of the
fellows there was looking for organisms that could metabolize toluene. When
I told him that a lot of glue sniffers would be angry at him if he
succeded, he gave me a funny look (toluene is the "psychoactive?" compound
in model glue). We became pretty good friends, in spite of my awful sense
of humor.

Eric
On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 9:52 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: _toluene_
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Not that I say it every day.
>
> JL
>
> On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 8:58 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: _toluene_
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 4:46 PM, Jonathan Lighter
> > <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > > Subject:      Re: _toluene_
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > [ou] sounds right to Yankee me.
> > >
> > > JL
> >
> > Oh wow, man!
> >
> > Well, that there's a dialect-split is worth knowing.
> >
> > --
> > -Wilson
> > -----
> > All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
> > to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> > -Mark Twain
> >
> >
> > > On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 4:33 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > >> -----------------------
> > >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > >> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> > >> Subject:      _toluene_
> > >>
> > >>
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >>
> > >> Heard this pronounced by a TV actor as
> > >>
> > >> TOLE-you-ween [touLuwin].
> > >>
> > >> Haven't heard that before. I'm used to
> > >>
> > >> TALL-you-ween [tOLuwin].
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> Did the actor sleep through high-school chem?
> > >>
> > >> Or am I once again behind the language-change  curve?
> > >>
> > >> --
> > >> -Wilson
> > >> -----
> > >> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
> > >> to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> > >> -Mark Twain
> > >>
> > >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> > >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >>
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> > truth."
> > >
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> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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