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Some people pronounce it "LAS-so" and some "las-SOO" (from the rope cowboys throw to catch cows). Which way is "the right one"?

Silverfish
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PA6OTA
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    I and most people I know also pronounce the rope thing a "LAS-so". Then again I've never even touched a real lasso in my life so what do I know. – shadowtalker Jul 31 '14 at 01:17
  • I think it's a matter of regional dialect, and you can say it either way. – Russ Lenth Jul 31 '14 at 01:21
  • You're probably best off pronouncing it: Le-ASS-Oh. You know, "just to be on the safe side"... – Steve S Jul 31 '14 at 02:14
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    The intent is to relate it to the rope thing, so presumably it should be pronounced the way you pronounce the rope-thing, but the rope-thing is pronounced either way in different varieties/dialects of English (e.g. see here which lists both). So please yourself. – Glen_b Jul 31 '14 at 02:28
  • Also, I was kidding about pronouncing it Le-ASS-Oh... – Steve S Jul 31 '14 at 04:47
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    Obviously you should pronounce it L-A-S-S-O. Trust me, I'm a statistician. – Hong Ooi Jul 31 '14 at 06:22
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    Related question: is it spelled "LASSO," "Lasso," or "lasso?" It should strictly be the first option, but Tibshirani uses "L" on his webpage and "l" in the original paper. See also: LO(W)ESS. – shadowtalker Jul 31 '14 at 06:45
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    @ssdecontrol Hastie & Tibshirani spell it "lasso" in their newest (2015) book on the topic. See here http://stats.stackexchange.com/questions/200416, and in particular my comments under the answer there, I give some quotes from this book. – amoeba Apr 12 '16 at 20:49
  • Who cares how to pronounce it. Just use the damn thing. – Mark L. Stone Jul 21 '16 at 15:28
  • I was born and raised in cow country - Southern Alberta, Canada - we pronounce it la-soo. – Skadoodle Apr 20 '19 at 01:55
  • LASS-oh is what most Americans say while la-SOO/luh-SOO is how people here in Australia say. – Vannyboi Jul 21 '16 at 14:31

1 Answers1

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Rob Tibshirani pronounces it the first way ("LAS-so"), which seems fairly definitive to me. However, Trevor Hastie pronounces it the second way ("las-SOO") and is from South Africa, so I'd agree with @Glen_b and say that any common local pronunciation of the word would be appropriate.

bnaul
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  • +1. Related comment: http://stats.stackexchange.com/questions/200416/#comment380178_200418. – amoeba Apr 12 '16 at 22:21