Dale Hoyt (dhoyt5@charter.net) asks the very reasonable question:
What is the proper pronunciation of “Anole”? Is it Ann-ol, An-ol-ee,or something else?
I get different answers when I consult online pronunciation guides, e.g.,
http://www.howjsay.com/index.php?word=anole&submit=Submit
or
http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/audio.pl?anole001.wav=anole
Thoughts, anyone?
Professor of Biology and Director of the Living Earth Collaborative at Washington University in Saint Louis. I've spent my entire professional career studying anoles and have discovered that the more I learn about anoles, the more I realize I don't know.
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marthamunoz
I prefer pronouncing it “uh – knoll”, as in a grassy knoll. I’ll sometimes say “a-knoll”, which is similar to annal. But I don’t say “uh-knoll-ee”, which I think is how it’s pronounced in Florida by the locals.
Susan Szoke
As a Florida resident, a “local”, I pronounce anole the same way you do. I have never heard it said any other way. I have only lived here 60 of my 62 years; there may be someone somewhere pronouncing it differently.
Joshua
The Floridians I know (including one named “Anole”!) all use the three-syllable pronunciation. That’s the one I learned growing up in Hawaii, too, where we had a couple of species establish themselves after, I think, coming over as pets.
It’s only specialists like all y’all I’ve heard using the two-syllable pronunciation!
From Texas
A-nol-e’
JS
I grew up in Texas pronouncing it that way too: “uh-null-ee”. Like “a gully”.
cybokat
I’m going with “uh – knoll” too. However, sometimes I use “Anolies” or “uh – knol -ees”, particularly when feeling sentimental about them.
Now someone help me to pronounce “Annals”?
Kat
Robert Gipson
Agreed. Why be anal about anole pronunciation?
Wes Chun
I read somewhere that the word ‘anole’ is from the French-Caribbean word ‘anoli’, in which case it would be pronounced with three syllables. But no matter, we all know what it means…
marthamunoz
That’s very familiar! I remember reading French descriptions of herpetofauna where they’re called “des anolys” – three syllables! We’ve certainly Americanized it.
Smokey Smith
I’m going with Merriam Webster
anole noun
ano·le | \ ə-ˈnō-lē
\
Definition of anole
: any of a genus (Anolis) of arboreal American lizards (such as the green anole) of the iguana family that have a brightly colored dewlap and the ability to change color
Rich Glor
Personally, I always use the two syllable form.
I’ve always heard that anole is from the language of the Carib people. According to Wikipedia, there are still around 10,000 surviving speakers of the Carib language, so perhaps they should be the ultimate authority on the terms pronunciation? Anybody know a Carib speaker?
Gregory C. Mayer
Here’s what I said in my later post on A Brief History of Anoles in Research:
Among anolologists, anole is almost invariably pronounced “uh-nole” or “an-ole”, but the etymologically correct pronunciation is probably “a-no-lee”. The word “anolis” is a French West Indian word, still used on some French (or Creole) speaking islands, and on currently English-speaking islands which were previously French. In Haitian Creole, Wade Davis (1983) rendered the word as “zanolite” (he pronounced it with stresses on the first and third syllables), while Allsop (1996) gives it as “zandoli” on St. Lucia. (In both these forms, the ‘z’ is a common addition to Creole nouns, as in “zwazo”, from French “oiseau”.) It is most plausibly derived from a Carib word, but claims for an African origin have also been made. So, pretty much every anole biologist you meet (including me!) will be saying “anole” wrong.
Cara
I live on a coastal Florida island, and although I have heard people call them ‘ah-noles’, most people around here pronounce it slightly differently. Like ‘uh-nole-ay’, almost like a French ‘ay’, or ‘eh’ sound on the end. I’ve always thought all those ‘other’ people were mispronouncing it! The lizards here are everywhere! As a child I grew up playing with them, even clamping then on our ears as
earrings! (can’t imagine doing that now!) However, my first tattoo was of a beautiful anole! I have a few on my patio that live on certain areas and I see the same ones everyday! So who knows exactly how to pronounce it… But they are great little lizards!
Eric Richards
Huh…
Patti aka BionicBlonde
UH KNOLL LEE
Bruce
In Galveston, they were always just lizards…I had no recollection of a real name for them until we were living in Colorado and our daughter paid money for one as a pet!
Boo R.
I still can’t believe seeing them in pet stores for sale. We have them running around like crazy here in FL. My all time favorites are the little geckos. Gives me something to watch on the bathroom window. Especially cool when you can see the two eggs in the female.
Jerry
Late comment on an old thread, but with my drawl, it comes like “Anna Lee”… You know… Sarah’s sister…
Marge
I like Anna Lee BEST! Good on ya! Give me the local pronunciation every time.
Jimmy Streeter
I prefer the three syllable ” ah-no- lees
Jeff Bruce
I prefer the pronunciation Liz-ard.
sarah
ah-no-lee.
Evan Warren
I’ve always pronounced it like Ann knoll as in grassy knoll (like an earlier comment said) but I have some friends who pronounce it like anal, which somewhat gets on my nerves.
Deborah
Is the emphasis on UH Knoll or Lee?
Jonathan Losos
UH, i think
Deborah
Thanks!
Bruce D Terry
I’m a native Floridian of many generations and (at 70) am now happy to understand why this has always been a conundrum for me! I grew up using the three syllable pronunciation, which, it seems to me, having come from the French was probably originally correct. Now, it seems to have been Americanized to the two syllables. Following with my heritage, I will use the three.
Steffaney Smith
How do I know if I am seeing a brown anole, or a stressed green anole?
Jonathan Losos
The shape of the head is different. Green anoles have pointier snouts.
Melissa Barron
Brown have more pattern
Little
I always call them Tom because they are always looking in my window like a peeping Tom.
Teresa
Until the Geico gecko came about, we always called them Chameleons. As for that “Anole” word, I dunno. I suppose that since I’m in the Beautiful South Carolina Low Country, I’ll have to pronounce it, “Ah-NO-al” (and that’s whether Ah Know, or Not!!).
Rob
Most say ah-nohl, but ah-noh-lee could be a residual of the Latin name “anolis” (ah-naw-lees). Either seem to work and if someone corrects you, just blink and move on. I’m sure the little critters don’t care either way. We have dozens in and around our patio and they eat lots of bugs, so we love them
Rob
As for Floridians and Southerners, they also call the city “Saint AW-guh-steen”, but refer to the actual saint as “Saint Uh-GUh-stin. If you mix that up, you get looks or corrected.