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27 March 2006
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PO'-tate or Po-TATE'?

Answer: PO'-tate. 

Potate is what you do after a hard day's work at the office or on a lazy Sunday AM.  You can potate on the couch watching the teevee, you can potate in the easy chair.  You can potate with the crossword puzzle or while looking out the window watching the natures.   Many would argue that if you potate too much you are contributing to our nation's epidemic of obesity.  (They would most likely be correct.)

What you can't do is po-TATE'.  I tried to explain this to the staff of the NPR program "The Next Big Thing" during a telephone interview for a "What's Your Word" segment.  They were very insistent that I was pronouncing it incorrectly.  I reminded them that it was my word and I had accenting rights.  They reminded me, although it took several months of recording and fruitlessly checking for the segment, that it was their program.  Oh well, NPR's loss is your gain, right?


Follow-up:  I just discovered the "Pseudodictionary."  What a wonderful concept!

© 2006
Richard Factor