On top of having to deal with cold hands, people with Raynaud’s must grapple with … not even knowing if they're saying their disease's name right.
Ray-NODS? Ray-NODES? Ray-NOH? Another pronunciation entirely? (Spoiler: yes actually!)
I go through phases where I'll say it one way or another, but I'm never favor the no-pretense, no-frills “Ray-nods,” putting emphasis equally on both syllables. I've never been confident about how you're supposed to say the stupid disease
The uncertainty must end! So we here at the Cold Hands Blog went ahead and did some research to unearth the correct answer once and for all.
First stop: YouTube. I pull up pronunciation channel Emma Saying and tilt my ear toward my laptop's speaker. A lady robot blows my mind: "Ray-NOZE." I listen five more times.
Ray. Nose. Ray noze. Whoa. I’m pretty sure that was never in my pronunciation rotation. OK, we've got a contender.
Next stop: a video posted by the prestigious Johns Hopkins rheumatology department. A pronunciation guide flashes as the video opens. I can't believe it: "Ray-NOHZ," it reads. Again!
Well, that was easy. So it’s been Ray-NOHZ all along, I think to myself after four minutes of research. I can feel myself gaining rapid confidence in Ray-NOHZ as the end-all, be-all pronunciation.
After all, it makes a lot of sense. The disease was named after Maurice Raynaud (Ray-NOH) of France. It's HIS disease in a sense. Ray-NOH's syndrome. Drop the D sound -- that's easy enough to remember.
BUT WAIT!
Now someone is actually talking on the Johns Hopkins video "Raynaud's Phenomenon: What You Should Know." It's a doctor who sounds like she knows the syndrome inside and out... OMG, is she ... saying the D?! Yes, I'm definitely hearing Ray-NODES.
The mystery is alive! I plunge forward in my research. So many videos ... so many different ways of saying Raynaud's from people who say it all the time...
OK, back to basics. I type "pronounce Raynaud's" into Google. A box pops up.
Oh no Google didn't!
"American pronunciation. Sounds like "ray - naadz."
Welp, we are right back where we started. A flashier spelling for sure, but that's definitely just Ray-nods again...
Our Cold Hand Blogs conclusion? We've got ourselves a classic tomato / to-mah-to situation.
As for me, I'm leaning toward saying it "Ray-NOHZ" going forward since it's probably the correct correct version, so why not go with that?
However.
It seems that Ray-NODS has been used so consistently and for such a long time that it's become "correct" itself and has even overtaken the original pronunciation. In the U.S. According to Google.
So maybe I'll stick with Ray-nods??
How do YOU say it?
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