Starrett pronunciation

[David Ragan]

I have been pronouncing it as in "stairs"-a machinist told me a while back it is properly said "star"
How about it?

[Scott Shepherd]

I've bought Starrett tools since 1985 and I've never once heard it pronounced "star". Never by anyone using them or anyone selling them, so that's a new one on me.

[mike holden]

I started my patternmaking apprenticeship in 1974, never heard Starrett pronounced any way other than STAIR-it.
Only correct way is the way the founder pronounces it and that source is long dead.

Mike

[David Ragan]

Good. Any naysayers out there? or Star-rett sayrs

[Phil Thien]

I have been pronouncing it as in "stairs"-a machinist told me a while back it is properly said "star"
How about it?

Maybe the machinist was from Boston? People from Boston can't make the "stairs" sound properly.

[Shawn Pixley]

Oddly enough, I've only heard it pronounced "Star-ette" never Stair-ette".

[Scott Shepherd]

It's pretty simple to figure out, call their number and the message says "Welcome to the L.S. Stair-It company".

Problem solved.

Now, everyone else start saying it right from this point on :D

[John Coloccia]

I've always said Sta-Ret...a like stab. I'm going to lodge a formal complaint with their embassy.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Correct pronunciation:

Ka-CHING.

[Justin Ludwig]

I follow a video blog by a D.P.T. Kelly Starrett, and he pronounces it Star-et. That's how my brain reads it.

Good thing I don't converse with people that work for the manufacturer.

[Jim Matthews]

I live near Boston.

Stare​-it.

[Mike Henderson]

I live near Boston.

Stare​-it.
That's the way I always pronounced it. Maybe a bit more toward the "stair".

Mike

[glenn bradley]

I live near Boston.

Stare​-it.


That's the way I always pronounced it. Maybe a bit more toward the "stair".

Mike

I'm a SoCal boy; stair and stare are pronounced the same. My dialect is infected by relatives during my early years and I do wash my clothes in the warshing machine, I wash my face but, never use a nut and bolt without a warsher(???). Stair-it (or Stare-it) it is and ever shall be ;-)

[Moses Yoder]

I tend to have an issue with this, in that there is more than one correct way to do everything. I speak Pennsylvania Dutch and I still remember the impact it made on me when my cousins from Pennsylvania visited. I was maybe 12 and there were a lot of words they pronounced very differently from the way I was taught. The main difference was the fact that they did not roll the R, and we always did. The dutch word for potato sounds entirely different when you do not roll the R's. There were many other differences, and yet we still got along just fine and had a great time; the difference in language actually added interest. The bottom line is it does not matter whether you say Stair-et or Star-et, everyone who knows anything about tools knows what you mean.

[Matt Day]

I disagree Moses. When it comes to something like this, the way the company pronounces their name is the correct way.

[Myk Rian]

I have been pronouncing it as in "stairs"-a machinist told me a while back it is properly said "star"
How about it?
I spent a week in Athol, Mass. at the Stair-it plant for training. That's how they pronounced it.

[Scott Hearn]

I've bought Starrett tools since 1985 and I've never once heard it pronounced "star". Never by anyone using them or anyone selling them, so that's a new one on me.


I started my patternmaking apprenticeship in 1974, never heard Starrett pronounced any way other than STAIR-it.
Only correct way is the way the founder pronounces it and that source is long dead.

Mike

Well I'm between you guys and I've always heard the same as you. Been buying and using Starrett since 1978.

[Moses Yoder]

I disagree Moses. When it comes to something like this, the way the company pronounces their name is the correct way.

What do you do when you are having a conversation with someone and they pronounce it "Star-et"? I have met retired machinists, 20 or 30 years my senior, that pronounce it "Star-et". Do I look them in the eye and say "You are pronouncing that wrong; the proper pronunciation is "Stair-et"?

A modern common grammar error is to say "I seen" instead of "I saw". Seen is a past participle of see and saw is the simple past tense of see. I was once corrected on the Woodcentral forum by a fellow member for saying "I saw a #46 at an auction yesterday". He laughed at me and said a saw is used to cut stuff, the proper English is to say "I seen a #46 at an auction yesterday". My response? I saw no need to make a response. There are no laws governing language and I don't want any. Imagine if you said "seen" instead of "saw" and someone dialed the grammar police. My opinion is that if it is spoken in such a way as to convey the proper meaning, it is correct.

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[Richard McComas]

https://www.howtopronounce.com/starrett/

Steer-it

[Jim Matthews]

I'm beginning to think that anyone pronouncing it "Star" ette watched too many Johnny Depp pirate movies.

[Tom Stenzel]

Years ago I worked in a hydraulics shop. One of the things I did was rebuild Moog servovalves. Once when I was on the phone to the company I asked the rep if Moog was pronounced with a "moo" or "moe". He said, " However the paying customer wants too!".

If I were selling Starrett tools I definitely would follow that advice!

-Tom
(who wishes he had the money to buy Starrett tools and have a dog in this fight...;)

[Bert Kemp]

I just buy escalator tools it saves all the walking up and down the stares, stars, stairs :D:p

[Myk Rian]

https://www.howtopronounce.com/starrett/

Steer-it
That's for a completely different use of the word.
It's Stair-it. Read my comment up-thread.

[Kev Williams]

I'm in the 'who care's' camp. My ex used to always correct how I pronounced certain words.
My favorite- "It's NOT SEEment, you *(%$!, it's sa-MENT!!

Heavy sigh.... seriously, does it really matter?

[John Coloccia]

Anyone care to guess how you're supposed to pronounce "Dr. Suess?"

[Frederick Skelly]

Anyone care to guess how you're supposed to pronounce "Dr. Suess?"

Herr Doktor Zuess (zoyce)?

[John Coloccia]

Herr Doktor Zuess (zoyce)?

Pretty much...he gave up the fight early on. It's his middle name, actually.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Obviously Myk is right, but I either have to change how I say my wife's name, or stick with star-ette. Probably going to just continue to say it wrong.

[Jerome Stanek]

How are you supposed to pronounce school is it skool or showl

[Justin Ludwig]

Obviously Myk is right, but I either have to change how I say my wife's name, or stick with star-ette. Probably going to just continue to say it wrong.

Exactly. If I got upset every time someone called me Lugwid, Loodwick, etc, I'd be red-faced. If I wanted to get technical, I'd have to pronounce it correctly myself, according to its German origin. As they say, "Just don't call me late for dinner."

[Scott Shepherd]

Obviously Myk is right, but I either have to change how I say my wife's name, or stick with star-ette. Probably going to just continue to say it wrong.

Your wife is named Starrett? :D

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Your wife is named Starrett? :D

LOL, no just Starr.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Exactly. If I got upset every time someone called me Lugwid, Loodwick, etc, I'd be red-faced. If I wanted to get technical, I'd have to pronounce it correctly myself, according to its German origin. As they say, "Just don't call me late for dinner."

For sure, many of us have grown up with Americanized pronunciations of our last names. Heck, mine lost a full syllable. I think lots of families ran with the new pronunciation because as life wasn't so good in the old country, it was a symbol of a new beginning when they got here. Welcome to the wild west of grammar!