How do you pronounce “crayon”?

[Dan Murphy]

I teach 6-8 English in central Virginia. I always have the students take the New York Times dialect quiz as a class when they learn about dialect. Crayon is usually one of the question on the quiz. Once we’ve discussed the class’s results (which are pretty spot on), I take the quiz myself and show them my results, which confirm that I’m a Southern California girl! They are amazed at how well the quiz works!

Give it a try!
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/dialect-quiz-map.html

Hit the nail on the head for me. The red area is Chicago.

View attachment 635302

I wonder if 'hit the nail on the head' is Chicago dialect.

 

[Skywalker3]

I teach 6-8 English in central Virginia. I always have the students take the New York Times dialect quiz as a class when they learn about dialect. Crayon is usually one of the question on the quiz. Once we’ve discussed the class’s results (which are pretty spot on), I take the quiz myself and show them my results, which confirm that I’m a Southern California girl! They are amazed at how well the quiz works!

Give it a try!
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/dialect-quiz-map.html

that is super fun! and correct. My parents/family are all from South AL, but I was born and raised in South LA, so picked up most of my way of talking from a combination of those. And that is what map showed too!

I LOVE comparing how people from all over the country pronounce things. Super fun!!
My kids love making fun of the Louisiana way I pronounce a lot of things, especially oil, water, quarter, etc.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I believe that it has 2 syllables!

 

[MomOfDisneyPrincess]

I say it with two syllables. I have heard it pronounced "cran." My in-law's pronounce it in a different way that's not on your poll. It's almost like "crown."

Yes, when we were little we called them "crowns", but as I got older and saw the spelling and heard others pronounce it various ways, I decided they "cray-on" was correct.

 

[RogueX]

Neither for me. I refer to them as "not markers".

 

[BlueStarryHat]

Philly vernacular: crown

Yep. Gimme a crown, I wanna kuller in ne kullerin book.

 

[Christine]

Yep that test was perfect. DC native and I got DC/Baltimore (and Louisville for some reason).

 

[ronandannette]

I teach 6-8 English in central Virginia. I always have the students take the New York Times dialect quiz as a class when they learn about dialect. Crayon is usually one of the question on the quiz. Once we’ve discussed the class’s results (which are pretty spot on), I take the quiz myself and show them my results, which confirm that I’m a Southern California girl! They are amazed at how well the quiz works!

Give it a try!
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/dialect-quiz-map.html

Neat quiz! My result was Des Moines, Iowa and I'm a western Canadian so I'm not sure what that says but it tickled me to do it.

 

[TipsyTraveler]

Yep that test was perfect. DC native and I got DC/Baltimore (and Louisville for some reason).

I got DC, Baltimore, and Richmond so I guess there’s no denying where I come from. Funnily, when I selected the crayon pronunciation as “crown” the map came up solid blue as though no one in the country pronounces it that way. Just me and two other DISers.

 

[Meriweather]

Salt Lake City......I am a west coast girl....CA, WA
I did it twice and there were some different questions

 

[maxaroni]

Cray on. Never heard another pronunciation until we moved to South Jersey, Philly burbs, when I heard crown.

As far as the quiz, spot on. A mix of North Jersey outside of NYC and South Jersey, outside Philly.

 

[Cheburashka]

My husband and I got into it last night after he pronounced the word “crayon” without saying the “yo” portion. I’ve never heard anyone say it that way before or I must have been wildly ignoring it. I pronounce it like “cray-awn” and he thinks I’m crazy...Is my marriage in trouble?

No, you two are perfect for each other.

 

[Sweetpancake]

Definitely cray-on! What the heck is a crawn,lol

 

[Pea-n-Me]

For kicks and giggles, I looked to see how the British pronounce crayon:

For me, it’s cray-on. Never heard it pronounced differently but you learn something new every day!

As luck would have it, I got myself a Cairn Terrier. Talk about feeling like a mush mouth!

Most people pronounce it ”kerr-in”. I pronounce it “karn” (in my best Boston accent - so “kahn”). Not something I ever foresaw was going to be so awkward at times! Lol

 

[Minnesota!]

Cran

 

[Disney.Dreamin.Dee]

I say cran.

 

[RedAngie]

Yep. Gimme a crown, I wanna kuller in ne kullerin book.

I got em on sale at The Ak-a-me. They only cost a korter.

 

[nene0182]

I teach 6-8 English in central Virginia. I always have the students take the New York Times dialect quiz as a class when they learn about dialect. Crayon is usually one of the question on the quiz. Once we’ve discussed the class’s results (which are pretty spot on), I take the quiz myself and show them my results, which confirm that I’m a Southern California girl! They are amazed at how well the quiz works!

Give it a try!
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/dialect-quiz-map.html

Apparently I’m all over the place but the most similar aren’t that far from me.

 

[aprilgail]

Two syllables. My DW used to say it "cran" and I had no idea what she was talking about. She didn't understand how I forgot what crayons were. I teased er enough that she now pronounces it cray-awn.

She also cannot hear the difference between pin and pen, so she has some auditory processing issues.

some people think Don and Dawn sound the same too-it’s nuts.

 

[aprilgail]

Wow I’m shocked! I thought everyone said cran! I’ve heard a VERY few people say cray-on and I always thought they were just saying it wrong. I seriously thought this post was going to be about cran was correct and a few people mistakenly pronounced it cray-on

I have never ever heard someone say cran for anything other than like a cranberry. I wouldn’t know what in the world they were talking about if someone said cran when they meant crayon.