Why are routers called rowters and not rooters?

Eligbak

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Not being a native American, I'm just curious. :D

You don't say Rowte 66, do you?

And you've got nothing against the French...?
 
As a noun I always pronounced it "root" and as a verb I always pronounced it "rowt." So, I "rowt" the sound to my ears when I get my kicks on "root" 66.
 
In my opinion, in English the "root" pronunciation is used for the noun form while "rowt" is used for the verb. So we plan a route ("root"), but if we encounter an obstacle in the planned route we'll route ("rowt") around it. Since routers perform an active task, that is, switching packets from one network to another, we say they're routing ("rowt") the packets.

ETA: Babbylonian beat me to it by three minutes! :D
 
I guessed it had to do with the slow connection speeds on the baby internet. A French person would say "Ah", a German "Aaaargh", but you mumbled "Ow" and "Ouch" instead.

Edit: do you, dear English/British folks, roote or rowte around the problem?
 
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Eligbak said:
I guessed it had to do with the slow connection speeds on the baby internet. A French person would say "Ah", a German "Aaaargh", but you mumbled "Ow" and "Ouch" instead.

Edit: do you, dear English/British folks, roote or rowte around the problem?
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We would root a cable under the floor or through a duct, or pick a new root for the drive to work.
The box of electronics we're discussing is a rooter.

afaics it's always root when we're talking about a path or direction.

But then there's a rowter, which is a machine for carving complex shapes in wood. But that's derived from "rout" anyway.
 
I'd pronounce it "rowte" as both noun and verb, except when I've heard a particular case pronounced "root", such as Route 66. "Root" is countrified, which fits the highway.
 
In German it's a foreign word anyway. If you're above 30 you lean towards the French, otherwise the device is American, but the action it performs can be rooten or rowten. Rooten sounds nicer.

Can anyone come up with yet another variation?
 
Actually I probably pronounce it "root" more often than I think I do. Similar to how Canadians don't think they're saying "aboot".
 
Eligbak said:
In German it's a foreign word anyway. If you're above 30 you lean towards the French, otherwise the device is American, but the action it performs can be rooten or rowten. Rooten sounds nicer.
Can anyone come up with yet another variation?
Click to expand...

Unless you an Australian IT specialist - asking a client what are they rooten will probably get them into trouble
 
MG1962 said:
Unless you an Australian IT specialist - asking a client what are they rooten will probably get them into trouble
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Google translate doesn't know what you're rowting around.

But the French call the device routeur, apparently. I simply love the word télécharger, it melts on the tongue.

Edit: we are already the top result for "Australian they rooten".
Google scares me.
 
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Eligbak said:
Not being a native American, I'm just curious. :D

You don't say Rowte 66, do you?

And you've got nothing against the French...?
Click to expand...


The term "route" in the US can be appropriately pronounced either way.

Root or Raut

Mostly it depends upon location and cultural traditions.
 
Eligbak said:
You don't say Rowte 66, do you?
Click to expand...
It depends where you're from, lots of people here pronounce it that way.

eta: but actually people usually say root 66, but rowt 83. It just rolls off the tongue easier that way.
 
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Can anyone come up with yet another variation?
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"The blue blinking thingie for my internet".

I used to help senior citizens with their computers from time to time and I've heard that more than once.
 
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