Hi Rick,
I don't go for either of those:
The two greek stems in apoptosis are apo (away or off) and ptosis (falling).
Looking at other english words similarly constructed from greek, I'd expect
the "p" in ptosis to be pronounced, after the "o" in apo (as in helicoPter
- not often pronounced "helicoater" or "helicotter", and all of those
winged insect words like coleoPtera). If it was at the start of the word it
could be silent (like in Pterodactyl, or indeed as it is in the adopted
medico-english word "Ptosis" used to describe "prolapsus of the eyelid"
whatever that may be).
I'd also pronouce the "apo" as in apoLogy (from apo and logia - speak)
rather than "Ape-o", to prevent the word sounding like the privation or
negation of "poptosis" (as in a-cephalic, a-planatic).
So it sounds like "appoptosis" when I utter it.
I'm in quite a minority in this since someone corrects me every time I say
the word ("You mean Ape-er-tosis?"or "Ape-op-tosis"). Last time I asked
someone who speaks Greek, they reckoned it would be pronounced something
that sounded like "abbobdossiss". In the end there aren't any hard and
fast rules for this sort of thing (take the helico in helicopter for
instance), and anything goes really.
Using "sounds like" examples doesn't always get the message across, the
American company Kagi say that the first syllable of their name (which
comes from Japanese) should be pronounced like "co" in copper, which works
fine if you're american, but not if you're english.
Now, about the second Greek letter: "Baider" or "beater" ?-)
Ray
At 3:28 pm -0500 17/2/99, Richard Meister wrote:
>Hello, everyone:
>
>I have two questions re: apoptosis that came up during a recent consult on
>the subject.
>
>1. What is the best positive control to use; i.e., an easy-to-grow cell
>line that can be reliably and predictably induced into apoptosis? (I seem
>to recall a thread on this question some time ago, but I couldn't find it
>in the archives.)
>
>2. How should one pronounce "apoptosis"? When I first heard the term
>(probably 10 years ago), the second "p" was silent (A-pO-tO-sis). Since
>then, I have increasingly heard the second "p" pronounced (A-pop-tO-sis).
>And, I can't find the word in a dictionary.
>
>Thanks in advance,
>Rick Meister
Ray Hicks
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