Could they be saying the second ‘o’ very quickly like ‘Dross-o-philia’? Otherwise, could just be that this one has a steep learning curve as far as scientific names go. I know I’ve dropped a few vowels and consonants when learning new names.
Now, if it was Dross-o-PHEE-la, that would at least fit the spelling. But then, most people nowdays pronounce the candy made from heated sugar as if it was the mountain where Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal. I think that one must irk me as much as this irks you.
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Yeah that’s weird. I’ve never heard it pronounced that way. I’ve always pronounced it “Dro-SOH-phi-la”
Here in Texas, caramel was ALWAYS pronounced as carmel. Only time I left Texas was when I went to the Wales. So I just assumed they pronounced it differently because of the different dialect, not because that was the actual pronunciation. I don’t know if I will be able to stop saying carmel. Not because I don’t want to, but because I’ve been saying it my whole life it’s a habit. And literally nobody I know here in Texas pronounces it properly. They might not understand me! I also learned recently that mischievous is pronounced “miss-chi-vuss” not “miss-chi-vee-us” but once again, most people pronounce it the latter way. And when you look at the spellings, it’s extremely obvious why they should be pronounced that way. But I guess that’s how dialects form? Lol
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Yep, I’ve heard those variations in American English pronunciation myself, along with many others, and if you say it differently from what the locals say, you’re usually IDed pretty quickly as “not from around here, are you?”
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I’ve even heard it pronounced dah-dah once by an English speaker. But regardless of how you say it, it’s always plural, except when it isn’t.
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This could be considered actually incorrect (as opposed to a different pronunciation) since it drops a syllable and adds another. At least by Jeopardy pronunciations rules…;) If they were a student of mine, I would probably correct this as it’s possible someone might not understand what they are talking about.
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Where I’m from in Texas it’s usually pronounced this way as “day-duh” or “dah-duh”
I agree. If you’re missing non-silent parts of a word (like the second A in caramel) than that’s usually a mispronunciation.
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With words like though and enough I can see an argument for dropping a vowel when saying the word. I’ve heard it both ways in California: car-a-mel vs. car-mel.
It’s not really about dropping a vowel per se, since we’re not pronouncing individual letters, but sounds. For instance, you can see that the proper pronunciation of “though” only includes three sounds: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/pronunciation/english/though.
I think these units would be referred to as phonemes, though my linguistics is a bit rusty.
Another issue is just whether something is widely accepted enough that it is generally recognized or not. If a mispronunciation is used by enough people over time, it becomes correct. It looks like both pronunciations of caramel (including the one with the missing syllable) are now accepted:
/ˈkɑr·məl/ /ˈkær·ə·məl, -ˌmel/
So, while there isn’t a hard and fast rule for scientific names, they are words, so dropping syllables or sounds would tend to lead to mispronunciations. Using pronunciations that other users don’t understand is also a problem since it prevents accurate communication. In either of those cases, I would suggest someone might want to change their pronunciation since, most of the time, people are saying a word so that it will be understood by someone else.
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The “Petal Pusher” newsletter for the Missouri Native Plant Society had two very good articles about names and naming in the recent issue.
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I was in Mazatlan, Mexico for the 2019 City Nature Challenge and I sadly only speak English. However, the non-English speakers and I were able to communicate pretty well using scientific names, even though we pronounced some of them differently.
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I bet you know at least hola, tacos, and naturalista 
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Interesting discussion! In my understanding of Latin, Lithophane would be pronounced Lith o fan e. Although every time I read it, in my French mind, it is Lith o fan!
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At least in my opinion latin pronunciation fails in favor of doing what “looks right.” For example, Corvus corax (the common raven) should be pronounced “KORR-wuss KORR-ax” but I always say it “KORR-viss KORR-ax” (apologies for terrible pronunciation guide, I don’t know IPA.
Whereas to me, it rhymes with cellophane [ˈseləˌfān]
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I was in a group hike recently where someone who has written botany books followed this formality when pronouncing Chenopodium as KEN-OH-PO-DEE-UM.
I was very surprised and assumed it was supposed to be CHEN-OH-PO-DEE-UM (like China) and now I’m wondering about how to say Capsicum chinense.
then I am an Oxford barbarian. Our Chenopodium is China not Ken.
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