Proofreading Service - Pain in the English
Proofreading Service - Pain in the English

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Proofreading Service - Pain in the English
Proofreading Service - Pain in the English

Your Pain Is Our Pleasure

24-Hour Proofreading Service—We proofread your Google Docs or Microsoft Word files. We hate grammatical errors with a passion. Learn More

Is it sunday or sunduh?

My wife and I have this ongoing battle over the word sundae. She always pronounces it sunDUH while I say it’s sunDAY because when they were first made, one could only get the ice-cream treat on Sunday. She says I’m nuts - I say she’s kinda douchey. Who’s correct - anyone know?

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I already have the url of the American Heritage Dictionary, thanks to Speedwell. Now as a greedy person I'm asking for more: are there any other good, FREE online English dictionaries with pronunciation samples of the words on the Internet?

Perenna1 Nov-12-2004

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Oops! I am ever so sorry, Chuck, I meant to send a new question! Please forgive me.

But since the accident has happened, let's make the best of it. American Heritage Dictionary pronounces sundae 'sundee':

http://www.bartleby.com/61/55/S0885500.html

Perenna1 Nov-12-2004

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Perenna--I like the clips at m-w.com.

Chuck--at that site, they list "sundee" as the first pronunciation, but they also have "sunDAY" as the second. I've NEVER heard anyone say "sundee"--I'm guessing it's a regionalism, as I grew up in the Northeast (although I did go to school in TX). Where are you & your wife from, if you don't mind me asking? Just trying to figure out who says what. :)

Johanna Nov-14-2004

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Perenna, you really cannot do better than this: http://www.onelook.com/

Pay attention, though, because although they give you results from a couple dozen possible dictionaries, a few are of purely historical interest.

(cough) Ok, the matter at hand. "SundEE??" I've only EVER heard "sunday." I bet the "sundee" pronunciation is from out in the Northwest US, but truly I haven't a clue.

speedwell2 Nov-15-2004

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I know people who pronounce the word "Sunday" the same way... Sundee, and I'm from the Northeast. And they, of course, pronounce the other days of the week similarly... Monday is Mondee, Tuesday is Tuesdee, etc.

ladylucy1 Nov-15-2004

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Johanna and Speedwell, thanks for the dictionaries. I already had Merriam-Webster in my favourites, but I never noticed before that it has sound in it! The reverse dictionary behind Speedwell's link seems tempting.

Perenna1 Nov-15-2004

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My understanding of the etymology is that the inventor or original proprietor altered the spelling to avoid blasphemy. When I say "my understanding" in this case, of course I don't mean to imply that this makes any sense at all to me but hey, this is what America is all about, so why knock it. At any rate, I don't think it really helps with the discussion since I don't remember hearing whether said vendor pronounced the word the same way or differently.

Joachim1 Dec-15-2004

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My name really is Sundee, and it comes from the way that people say the days of the week improperly around where I live (Maryland). I will tell someone my name and they will say , "oh, like the day of the the week?" and I will have to correct them. It really is a regional thing. People from out of the area generally do not have as hard of a time understanding my name as people from Mideast do.

Sundee Apr-22-2005

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its true you could only get icecream on sundays because no one was aloud to drink on sunday's beacause it was church day. wich is where it came from but it is spelled sundae. i know this because i watched a documentory on icecream on the discovery channel.

Nikki1 Apr-30-2005

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I say Sunduh.

MON Mar-07-2017

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Is your wife from St. Louis, Missouri?

_brant Dec-02-2018

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I'm guessing your wife is from Saint Louis...

bankie Apr-26-2019

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I live in the Midwest u.s, and I have heard it pronounced sunDAY as well as the aforementioned sunDUH. I really have no basis or possible memory of hearing this explanation, but I've always been under the impression that, since Sunday, the weekday, is traditionally the Christian day of worship, and it would be disrespectful or inappropriate to possibly compare this day and a sweet treat in such vernacular

user109443 Dec-22-2020

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I live in the Midwest u.s, and I have heard it pronounced sunDAY as well as the aforementioned sunDUH. I really have no basis or possible memory of hearing this explanation, but I've always been under the impression that, since Sunday, the weekday, is traditionally the Christian day of worship, and it would be disrespectful or inappropriate to possibly compare this day and a sweet treat in such vernacular

user109443 Dec-22-2020

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My mother, who grew up in St. Louis as did my grandparents, used to say sunduh. I never really questioned her about it.

user111759 Jan-27-2023

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