aPOPtosis or aPOHtosis?

[lalakers2000]

are you guys seriously debating this? who gives a flying f***????

GET A LIFE

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[greatnt249]

are you guys seriously debating this? who gives a flying f***????

GET A LIFE

Obviously you felt impassioned enough about this topic to reply to it; pot, meet kettle.🙄

 

[vickpick]

u cant compare the pronunciation of ptosis with apoptosis since ptosis has nothing to do with apoptosis... pronunciation with the p is correct in my opinion..(which doesnt really count as much but wateva)

 

[kavorca]

I have only heard students pronounce the "p". All the profs I have heard say it do not.

 

[JulyMorning]

For all it's worth, the word "apoptosis" is greek, and my research adviser who is greek always pronounces it as "apoPtosis"
However, words like "pterygoid", "psychology", etc are pronounced WITH letter "p" in Greece, and in many other countries, so I don't know whether apoHtosis is so completely wrong in the english-speaking world...

 

[lalakers2000]

Obviously you felt impassioned enough about this topic to reply to it; pot, meet kettle.🙄

yes i am very impassioned about a bunch of lames discussing the pronunciation of apoptosis. please i'm trying to help you guys.

 

[WashMe]

On a similar subject... I have a professor that insists that the pronunciation of nucleolus is "new-CLAY-oh-lus" while all my life I've heard it "new-clay-OH-lus" ... which is it?

"clay?"

new-clee-OL-us 😎

 

[greatnt249]

yes i am very impassioned about a bunch of lames discussing the pronunciation of apoptosis. please i'm trying to help you guys.

Yep, because the Internet is always serious business.🙄

My point was that you're committing the same fault by blasting into a thread you have no business being in and chastising the discussion (read, you must have no life as well).

That, and if we wanted your "advice," we would have asked for it.

 

[Meli-bee]

Actually:

"We are most grateful to Professor James Cormack of the Department of Greek, University of
Aberdeen, for suggesting this term. The word " apoptosis " ( απόπτωσισ) is used in Greek to describe the
" dropping off " or " falling off " of petals from flowers, or leaves from trees. To show the derivation
clearly, we propose that the stress should be on the penultimate syllable, the second half of the word
being pronounced like " ptosis " (with the " p " silent), which comes from the same root " to fall "
and is already used to describe drooping of the upper eyelid."

Kerr JF, Wyllie AH, Currie AR. Apoptosis: a basic biological phenomenon with wide-ranging implications in tissue kinetics. Br J Cancer. 1972.

Correct pronunciation in English is "apohTOsis" according to the people who made-up the word.
In Greek, if there is a "p", it's pronounced.

 

[gettheleadout]

I actually like this 5-year bump haha. I learned that it is correctly "apohTOHsis" several years ago, but all through high school I'd never considered not pronouncing the second "p."

 

[DJones13]

My $0.02. As an opthalmology scribe, all the doctors prounounce Ptosis with a silent P, add on the Apo- and you get aPOHtosis.

 

[itsthat1guy]

The head of the molecular biology dept at my school pronounces it aPOPtosis

 

[Low Flow]

Immunology professor always says "a-pah-to-sis". I thought it was him just being a goof, but I guess there's logic behind it. It used to drive me crazy just like how he would say "when the B-cell is introduced to antigen" instead of "an antigen". Or how they leave the s off antigens or antibodies sometimes... immunology is like its own language 😕

 

[kraskadva]

This cracked me up.
I had this same argument with my cell bio professor. He whipped out the reference where the term was coined and I whipped out the rules of greek pronunciation. It was a draw.
If you were speaking greek you would pronounce the second p, but the guys who coined the term clearly defined how they intended it to be pronounced (i.e. without the second p).
Since we're more than 40 years on from the original paper, I think either will fly, though either way you pronounce it half the group who know the word will think you're silly.

 

[noolsy]

@djones is right. It's because it's the merging of two Greek roots "apo-" and "ptsosis."

In case of the "pt" combination with words of Greek origin, the "p" is silent.

For example, no one says "puh-terodactyl" or "Puh-tolemy."

 

[kraskadva]

@djones is right. It's because it's the merging of two Greek roots "apo-" and "ptsosis."

In case of the "pt" combination with words of Greek origin, the "p" is silent.

For example, no one says "puh-terodactyl" or "Puh-tolemy."

Actually they might in languages where back to back hard stop phonemes don't scare people. But with a preceding vowel, the consonant cluster is split and the p is pronounced with the preceding vowel and the t is pronounced with the following vowel in greek.
So the pronunciation a-po-tosis is not actually according to the rules, as the Kerr, Wyllie and Currie would have known since they clearly stated that they were pronouncing it that way to highlight the derivation of the word (apo + ptosis), i.e. to not confuse people into thinking it was (a + poptosis, which has no meaning).

 

[knv2u]

I had a professor in undergrad who swore by the latter pronunciation, but everyone else I've ever heard say the word pronounces it like the former.

Most cellular and molecular biologists will pronounce the second p. Physiologist, according to my former physiology professor, do not. I don't remember the reasoning.