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How do you pronounce 'insulin'?

173 replies

UpUpUpU · 30/10/2024 12:12

Sorry it is random! Just been watching a documentary on Lucy Letby and one of the people of there was pronouncing 'insulin' in a way that was making my teeth itch! 😂

How do you pronounce it?

OP posts:
TizerorFizz · 30/10/2024 15:25

No “h”and no “r”. U in the word is pronounced “u”.

mondaytosunday · 30/10/2024 15:27

In- suh - lin,
I should know I'm type 1 and have had numerous meetings with doctors and nurses and that's how they pronounce it.

AtomHeartMotherOfGod · 30/10/2024 15:36

IN-ssyou-lin

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Bignanna · 30/10/2024 15:42

VioletCrawleyForever · 30/10/2024 12:13

In-shoo-lin

Why? There’s no h!

tuvamoodyson · 30/10/2024 15:48

In-sul-in

VioletCrawleyForever · 30/10/2024 15:50

Bignanna · 30/10/2024 15:42

Why? There’s no h!

Cause that’s my accent

Chicooo · 30/10/2024 15:51

Mmmm I'm not sure now.

I think I flit between in-sull-in and in-shull-in

VioletCrawleyForever · 30/10/2024 15:54

Isn’t it amazing in a country with many accents that astoundingly people pronounce words differently

Mind boggles. Not.

Chicooo · 30/10/2024 15:54

Tissue
Bless you (if saying quickly)
Special
Issue
Fissure

All 'sh' sound in south London where I'm from.

Even to some extent words like measure too.

VioletCrawleyForever · 30/10/2024 16:04

@ErrolTheDragon

Well they should stop it
Think 'insular' and 'insulate'. Does anyone feel the need to put 'sh' sounds in those

Yes I do. That's my accent.

We should stop it? Why?

StaunchMomma · 30/10/2024 16:18

Ins-you-lin but fast so more like Insyerlin.

StaunchMomma · 30/10/2024 16:18

Agree that it's like Insular but ending 'in'.

ErrolTheDragon · 30/10/2024 16:52

VioletCrawleyForever · 30/10/2024 16:04

@ErrolTheDragon

Well they should stop it
Think 'insular' and 'insulate'. Does anyone feel the need to put 'sh' sounds in those

Yes I do. That's my accent.

We should stop it? Why?

I'm generally a supporter of regional accents and dialects. But when it comes to scientific and medical terms, not so much.

My international colleagues seem to manage!

newyearsresolurion · 30/10/2024 16:53

Inshulin

DerekFaker · 30/10/2024 17:02

In suh lin

RaraRachael · 30/10/2024 17:19

Ins-you-lin

VioletCrawleyForever · 30/10/2024 17:19

ErrolTheDragon · 30/10/2024 16:52

I'm generally a supporter of regional accents and dialects. But when it comes to scientific and medical terms, not so much.

My international colleagues seem to manage!

You are generally a supporter are you?

How splendidly spiffing of you.

Do tell me which regional accent you speak so that I can tell you whether it’s one that I am in general support of.

Or whether I don’t care for yours so much.

dragonfliesandbees · 30/10/2024 17:27

OliviaRodrighost · 30/10/2024 12:15

In-syuh-lin

The same way I’d pronounce insulate but “in” instead of “ate”.

(I’m Scottish if that makes a difference)

Edited

Same. I’m a nurse and this is the only way I’ve known it be pronounced. My mum is Scottish, my dad is English and I’ve lived in Scotland, Wales and Northern England so my accent is all over the place!

Weirdly as soon as I saw the thread title I thought of the Lucy Letby podcast as I found one of the presenters of that really distracting with her talk of “inshulin”. Maybe it’s the same person OP is talking about…

UpUpUpU · 30/10/2024 17:28

Thank you everyone!

It is when people adds the 'h' sound to make it, in shu lin, that makes my teeth itch! Just why??

OP posts:
Chicooo · 30/10/2024 17:35

StaunchMomma · 30/10/2024 16:18

Agree that it's like Insular but ending 'in'.

I think every will pronounce insulin the same way as they pronounce insular.

The discussion is how people pronounce them.

Chicooo · 30/10/2024 17:36

UpUpUpU · 30/10/2024 17:28

Thank you everyone!

It is when people adds the 'h' sound to make it, in shu lin, that makes my teeth itch! Just why??

Makes my teeth itch when people say something makes their teeth itch. Biscuit

Different parts of the country have different accents.

user2848502016 · 30/10/2024 17:43

In-su-lin
And I'm a biological scientist!
It should be an "s" sound in the middle not "sh"

JaninaDuszejko · 30/10/2024 17:44

ErrolTheDragon · 30/10/2024 16:52

I'm generally a supporter of regional accents and dialects. But when it comes to scientific and medical terms, not so much.

My international colleagues seem to manage!

And how do you pronounce apoptosis?

LockForMultiball · 30/10/2024 17:44

Depends how much effort I'm putting in and how slowly I'm speaking.

High effort: ins-yu-lin
Normal: ins-uh-lin
In a rush: ins-lin

The poster above who mentioned yod coalescence is correct about the sh sound. (It's also sometimes called palatalisation, but I don't think that's technically accurate.)

Sounds like tyuh, dyuh, syuh etc. are effortful for most English speakers. This means that over time, either the yuh part of the sound (the yod) gets dropped — as in the common pronunciation of "suit" as "s-ooh-t" rather than "syoot" — or the consonant and the yuh sounds get coalesced/changed into a different, easier sound. Tyuh becomes chuh, dyuh becomes juh, syuh becomes shuh, etc. For example, "assure" — many people will pronounce this similarly to "ashore", and you might sound over-fussy if you said "ass-yure". Pretty much everyone does yod coalescence with the dyuh sound in "soldier", but with something like "endure", it's more mixed.

It's a natural process of language change and it's not necessarily better to shift ins-yoo-lin to ins-uh-lin than in-shu-lin.

RaraRachael · 30/10/2024 17:46

"Makes my teeth itch" another annoying phrase only heard on MN

I wonder of my regional accent would be generally accepted by @ErrolTheDragon 🙄