klmama Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 The word "troposphere" is perplexing me this morning. We were listening to Tom Glazer's Weather Songs, and one of them pronounced "troposphere" with a short o in the first syllable. We had always heard it with a long o, so we looked it up in the dictionary. Our Random House dictionary lists it with a short o. The online Merriam Webster dictionary lists it with a long o. Dictionary.com has it with a short o. Why is there no consensus on this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich with Kids Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 TROH poss fear. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Wisc Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 You can listen to the word here. There are 2 acceptable pronunciations. Jean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skaterbabs Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 My grandfather was a meteorologist and always said it TROP -o - sphere. (short O first, then long O in the middle.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyJoy Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 I've always heard it pronounced with a short o first. I looking online, I see that it is from the latin root "tropos", which is pronounced with a short o, as is "tropical" which also comes from this root. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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