Stephen is correct; however, why is it spelled "button" (pronounced, but'n)
in the textbooks? One of the definitions of a "button" is: 4. Any of
various knoblike organic structures, especially; a. The head of a small
mushroom. b. The tip of a rattlesnake's tail.
Might there be some French influence on the pronunciation? In John
Mitterrer's videodisc from the early 90's (Dynamic Concepts in
Psychology--Harcourt Brace) he pronounces it as "bouton." John is Canadian,
although I do not know if he is French-Canadian.
I remain curious why the word is spelled button if the correct term is
bouton.
Chuck
****************************
Charles M. Huffman, Ph.D.
Chair, Psychology Department
Cumberland College, Box 7990
Williamsburg, KY 40769
(606) 539-4422
****************************
-----Original Message-----
From: Stephen Black [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Tuesday, October 10, 2000 10:14 PM
To: TIPS
Subject: Booting bouton
On Tue, 10 Oct 2000, Beth Benoit wrote:
> There's a discussion going on in one of my classes on the pronunciation of
> "buttons" (the "terminal" neuron kind, not the ones on a jacket). Some
have
> been taught to pronounce it to sound like "boot-ONS" with accent on "ons,"
> while others the same as the clothing item. (I was taught the clothing
> pronunciation.) The students who pronounced it boot-ONS weren't French,
so
> I ruled that out.
>
> Anyone taught it the boot-ON way? If there's any interest, please respond
> offlist and I'll compile the figures.
After sending Beth a private note, I just realized I misread her
question and my response makes no sense. So now that I
understand what she's looking for, I decided to go the scholarly
route. Pronunciation isn't a democracy, anyway. The on-line
medical dictionary didn't have it, but the regular one at
http://www.dictionary.com/ did.
Here's what it said:
bou ton
n.
A knoblike enlargement at the end of an axon, where it synapses
with other neurons.
Unfortunately, the pronunciation marks don't reproduce with my
mailer, but they specify boot-ON (accent on the second
syllable).
Case closed?
-Stephen
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stephen Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470
Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661
Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Lennoxville, QC
J1M 1Z7
Canada Department web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy
Check out TIPS listserv for teachers of psychology at:
http://www.frostburg.edu/dept/psyc/southerly/tips/
------------------------------------------------------------------------
