How do you pronounce chaeto?

[xerophyte_nyc]

Cheetos!

 

From now on, whenever I see "Chaetomorpha" mangled into "Cheato", this picture will pop up.

 

[chachew]

Chae-toe

[Amphiprion1]

You mean like http://www.webster.com/cgi-bin/audio.pl?zooxan09.wav=zooxanthellae]zooxanthellae[/url], http://www.webster.com/cgi-bin/audio.pl?archae03.wav=archaeology]archaeology[/url], http://www.webster.com/cgi-bin/audio.pl?polych01.wav=polychaete]polychaete[/url], http://www.webster.com/cgi-bin/audio.pl?orthop01.wav=orthopaedic]orthopaedic[/url] and http://www.webster.com/cgi-bin/audio.pl?baccha01.wav=Bacchae]Bacchae[/url].It's key-toe. :)Edit: added another example

Agreed, at least for those of us in North America. Unfortunately, the rules aren't as hard and fast as we'd like them to be and while they can often be called Latin or Greek, scientific names are neither. It would be easier to think of it as its own little pseudo-language, as it isn't always appropriate to use the Latin or Greek pronunciations (not to mention it would sound completely different if those pronunciations were used). A good example would be when a species, genus or family is named after someone, in which case it is more appropriate to use the name's pronunciation (an example for FW plant enthusiasts would be Riccia, where the two "cs" make a "ch" sound in honor of the Italian scientist).

 

In any case, technically "key-toe" or "kay-toe" is correct in English, but it depends on where English is spoken. The latter pronunciation would be far more common in the UK compared to the US. In either case, pronouncing the "ch" as anything other than a hard "k" sound would be incorrect. On the other hand, if we adhered to classical Latin pronunciation, it would be "kai-toe," (kai being like eye) which sounds kinda odd and few people would recognize the pronunciation. As you can see, it can be pretty diverse either way. FWIW, I typically use the North American/US standards when pronouncing them.

[reefsahoy]

My friends call it weed of wisdom, and some even smoke it! Or am i confusing it wit something else? Lol

[metrokat]

Kay-toh

[GHill762]

Zombie thread circa 2007... lol.. and kay-toe for the record..