What is that with pronouncing Autism?

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Hi

This might be really particular to me in that it annoys the hell out of me, but my husband got involved with an autism charity and he started pronouncing autism with the stress on the 'ism' - kind of like he's sneezing.

I've only noticed it before dealing with ignorant professionals of the 'I know all about autism cos I went on a course' ilk.

You should see their faces fall when they're 'explaining' to me about how one of my kids 'will never be normal' and I explain that my AQ score is 45 and I do fine - mostly by shutting out the NT background noise. But the auTISM thing, apart from making me want to shout 'bless you!' looks like a particular few NTs indicating that they 'own'autism in some weird nasty way.


Does anyone know what I'm on about here? X

I've never heard it pronounced that way, but I have heard people complain about others pronouncing Asperger's "ass burgers". I admit, I do pronounce it that way but that's how everyone I've talked to down here pronounces it.

On TV I hear autism pronounce "AH tism" but I (and most others I know down here) pronounce it "AWW tiasm".

Very thick Southern accent here.

I try to say Asperger's the British way, even though I'm not British - "As-per-jers" instead of "ass burgers." It sounds way more dignified.

Heh I do that too, just because ... oh its just so awful the other way!! Considering the nature of the thing ... couldn't they use a different name or pronunciation?? Gee we've got a bunch of people that are severely struggling with social interaction, what's the best name we could use, I know, ass burgers. That'll make things real easy for them.

I pronounce it "usparger" (or "aspɛʁɡɐ" in the international phonetic alphabet spelling). That's how Hans Asperger's name is pronounced in German. I cringe every time I hear the typical American pronounciation

I've been wondering how does one actually pronounce Aspie. Is the A like 'Ah' or like 'Eh'?

Being a bit on the obsessive side I've done my research now.

The funny stress on autISM seems to be a son rise thing - to stress the pathology not the people. As for Ass-burgers - actually I love it! I pronounce it the way the guy would have pronounced his name (makes sense, right?) and NTs are always correcting me. Odd.
And I'm proud of my Aspie nature (Ass-pee) and putting together a 'celebrating autism' web project.
Now can someone explain to me why NTs spend half their waking hours watching tv that celebrates people upsetting and humiliating each other?

I pronounce Asperger's as Ass-burgers. That's how most people down here do pronounce it, no harm is meant, it's just how we talk.

I pronounce it this way, as well. Funny enough, my Aspie says "ass burgers".