I tend to say "kah-YO-tee" after Wile E. Coyote of Bugs Bunny fame. I've also heard "KAH-yoat", and out west, there seems to be some preference for "KAH-yoot".
How does everyone else pronouce it, and can we figure out if there is a geographical pattern to the favoured pronunciation?
everyone in these here parts says it the first way.
i think the only place i've ever heard it the other way is in movies, usually uttered by the stereotypically tangle-bearded shotgun-totin' tobasco-spittin' mountain men.
Oh, b96... you clearly don't know what you've gotten yourself into...
Well, in order to get Dr Bill's mind on a higher plane, let's switch subjects. Let's talk about orchids! Orchids derive their name from - oh, nuts! We're right back in the gutter!
Having loved in the Southwest in times past, I often heard the word pronounced just as it's spelled, i.e. Koy-Oat-Ay, which is probably closer to the Spanish pronunciation.
Oops, there's a typo - or maybe a Freudian slip - in my last post. I meant to say, "Having lived," not having loved! I need a proofreader!!! Or a girlfriend. Or a shrink. Or a brain...
I think i would say Kigh (to rhyme with high) yoat (to rhyme with goat)
but I might sometimes say kigh yoat ee -- I am not sure which i would say-- i think it might be "reflective" and I might mirror what is being said to me. Its not often some one in NY would need to generate a sentence with Coyote in it -- but there was a big news story 2 years ago, when a coyote from upstate came down to visit the big city-- he was found in one of the local parks..
And no matter how you pronounce it, they have spread very widely in the past fifty years, becoming a problem for people who have pets and livestock killed by them. An animal control officer told my wife that only a few hundred yards from her sheep fold there was a coyote den, with over a dozen pet collars outside it. But since they also eat the mice that are part of the Lyme Disease chain, they are not all bad.
Disclaimer: Wordsmith.org is not responsible for views expressed on this site.
Use of this forum is at your own risk and liability - you agree to
hold Wordsmith.org and its associates harmless as a condition of using it.
