A Clematis by any Other Pronunciation
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A Clematis by any Other Pronunciation
This is a long-standing gardening question, I'm thinking. I am often thinking about it. Okay, okay. I confess that I don't think about it when I'm watching a gardening show that is snooty and someone is saying KLEM-UHTIS. I pronounce it as KLEE-MATHIS, and I am annoyed to hear it said in other ways. So it doesn't matter which you call a rose, but what do you think of the https://apps.apple.com/us/app/lily-plant-identification/id1570145257? So, this morning, when I was admiring my gorgeous clematis that was in bloom I was thinking of it and thought I'd conduct some study to discover how to pronounce the word clematis.
The first stop is the American Clematis Society. They claim that the snooty gardening show people are correct. However, they are gardeners who have snooty attitudes and I'm not sure if I can be sure. (I apologize that you are a member of this group). Clematis Society, no offense intended. However, let's face it: when members belong to a group that is only for one kind of flower, then it's a snooty group. It's similar to being part of a club for Persian cats or teacup poodles.)
The next stop was Merriam Webster online dictionary. The dictionary had both pronunciations as correct. This, I'm okay with.
After that, I looked up this two-year-old blog post titled " I say clem-a-tis, you say cle-mat-is" by the Bookish Gardener on her blog. She conducted more research than I am willing to do and, based on her blog post, I am able to be certain that either pronunciation is correct.
The next question is how does it differ? I'm a decent Midwestern girl and have heard the word "clematis" that is pronounced as KLEE-MAH-TIS all my life. Do you think this is a Midwestern or a Midwestern vs. Coast-type thing here within the States? What the pronunciation of herb? Does it mean I'm in a garden and my whole experience has been in a bubble that pronounces clematis in that manner? I'll never know.
However, if I get someone to claim that I'm saying the wrong way, I'll be able to say that both pronunciations are the correct pronunciation. I'm not sure if that helps me lessen my snoring whenever I see it said in the "other" way, though.