Does "Uranus" have same pronunciation as "Your anus"?
Planet Uranus pronunciation
Yes. It is a classic joke amongst school kids to ask the science teacher whether "there is a black hole on Uranus" or whether "Uranus leaks methane into outer space" or whether "Uranus's gravity is strong enough to suck someone in".
<<as Dr. Pamela Gay, an astronomer at Southern Illinois University, noted on her podcast, to avoid "being made fun of by any small schoolchildren ... when in doubt, don't emphasise anything and just say ūr′·ə·nəs. And then run, quickly."_ >>
Well, it's funny to see that the professor who gave advice on how to avoid being made fun by children... is called Pamela GAY.
Well, it's funny to see that the professor who gave advice on how to avoid being made fun by children... is called Pamela GAY.
Officially, here in the UK, it should be pronounced as "YOU-run-uss", but of course people are at liberty to use the other version with the stress on the second syllable. Any "jokes" should be confined to the inmates of the kindergarten.
<<The planet Uranus is associated with homosexuality because, based on Greek mythology about Aphrodite, beginning in the late 19th century, the term Uranian has been used to denote homosexuals. The final show of the Cockettes, a San Francisco drag troupe, took place in the summer of 1972; it was called Journey to the Center of Uranus, reflecting the homophone "your anus." In that show drag queen Lady Divine performed her song "The Crab at the Center of Uranus" while dressed as a lobster. The Club Uranus was a popular queer dance club in that took place on Sunday nights at the End Up in San Francisco in the early 1990s; it lasted from December 1989 to December 1992.>>
The context in which Uranus became associated with Homosexuality has nothing to do with it being a homophone for "your anus", indeed, it did not gain this association in the English speaking world. It is just one of those odd coincidences. In the mid-nineteenth century the "German" lawyer, Karl Ulrichs, published a thesis on Uranian (Urning) love which sought a way to define male-male and female-female romantic love. He used the name Uranian (Urning) to describe this love based on a dialog from Plato's "Symposium". THe dialog describes the difference between the two Aphrodites, one of whom is Urania Aphrodite, the goddess of divine love. The person in the Symposium (I forget which one) argues that "homosexual" love is divine. At that time people thought females were intellectually and spiritually inferior to men and relationships with women could never be as fulfilling as those with one's own sex. I know, odd culture, but so is ours. Yet, Ulrich's motive in discribing “homosexual” love as devine has little to do with the idea of female inferiority. His purpose was to provide an ethos for a group of people who were alienated by their society.
The context in which Uranus became associated with Homosexuality has nothing to do with it being a homophone for "your anus", indeed, it did not gain this association in the English speaking world. It is just one of those odd coincidences. In the mid-nineteenth century the "German" lawyer, Karl Ulrichs, published a thesis on Uranian (Urning) love which sought a way to define male-male and female-female romantic love. He used the name Uranian (Urning) to describe this love based on a dialog from Plato's "Symposium". THe dialog describes the difference between the two Aphrodites, one of whom is Urania Aphrodite, the goddess of divine love. The person in the Symposium (I forget which one) argues that "homosexual" love is divine. At that time people thought females were intellectually and spiritually inferior to men and relationships with women could never be as fulfilling as those with one's own sex. I know, odd culture, but so is ours. Yet, Ulrich's motive in discribing “homosexual” love as devine has little to do with the idea of female inferiority. His purpose was to provide an ethos for a group of people who were alienated by their society.
<<Nor I was implying otherwise. I just clipped out of that Wikipedia entry everything I found about "Uranus" as a word rather than as a planet.
By the way, the adjective Uranian was used for a while with the meaning of homosexual, even before the very word homosexual was coined, I believe.
Uranian, however, was never a truly well-known word, being employed mostly in highly-literate circles, and eventually fell out of fashion completely.>>
I didn't think you were implyin anything of the sort. I just wanted to fill in the gaps.
And, what you say about the word Uranian and its usage is true to my understanding.
By the way, the adjective Uranian was used for a while with the meaning of homosexual, even before the very word homosexual was coined, I believe.
Uranian, however, was never a truly well-known word, being employed mostly in highly-literate circles, and eventually fell out of fashion completely.>>
I didn't think you were implyin anything of the sort. I just wanted to fill in the gaps.
And, what you say about the word Uranian and its usage is true to my understanding.
<<And what's funny in the name "Gay", I ask? >>
And what is funny in the name "Your anus", I ask?
Don't be so sensitive. Kids laugh at gays. That doesn't mean they hate them or are homophobic. They laugh at anuses too, but they don't hate anuses. They even laugh at heteros...
And what is funny in the name "Your anus", I ask?
Don't be so sensitive. Kids laugh at gays. That doesn't mean they hate them or are homophobic. They laugh at anuses too, but they don't hate anuses. They even laugh at heteros...
<the former pronunciation also saves embarrassment>
Of course, by painfully obviously avoiding the ambiguous pronunciation, those who take the professor's advice draw even more attention to it.
Of course, by painfully obviously avoiding the ambiguous pronunciation, those who take the professor's advice draw even more attention to it.
I never heard the pronunciation YOUR-an-us until the 1980s. Until then, in every science nerd 1970s class I took, it was always "your-ane-us"...
↑ This all reminds me of a 70s-era joke:
Q: What do Star Trek and toilet paper have in common?
A: They both circle around Uranus looking for Klingons.
Q: What do Star Trek and toilet paper have in common?
A: They both circle around Uranus looking for Klingons.
I heard the alternate pronunciation a lot as a child, growing up watching Sailor Moon where they had to be careful. ;) Although it came to my attention that it wasn't much better, since it was essentially pronounced 'urine-us.'
That's just a joke. I'm British and we say YOOURahnus - emphasis on the your. /ˈjʊərənəs/