Well, it's time to resurrect one of my favourite old debates: tomayto or tomahto? On the calendar discussion board, stuffnstuff brought up a commonly Americanized word: coupon. In English, vowel sounds are meant to be drawn out... it's a romantic, rather than germanic, aspect of the language. Therefore, the word is pronounced coo-pon.

Pronunciation helps to distinguish between very similar words, e.g. Yew and you. One is a plant, the other an animal (couch potatoes are the middle ground). In American English, the two words are pronounced exactly alike... in English, the "ou" in you is drawn out and prounouced as a double "o."

I'd love to hear your arguments for or against this...