Forum: ell.stackexchange.com
Tags: <pronunciation>
Title: Where do people pronounce "route" as ro͞ot, and as rout?
Question: Where do people pronounce "route" as ro͞ot, and as rout?  In Maryland of U.S., I hear only rout, and I was looked at strangely when I said ro͞ot as if I wasn't speaking proper English. When I changed myself to get used to speaking rout, I  hear only ro͞ot in TOEFL examination.

Answers:
sents: text: According to the Harvard Dialect Survey (click to see the map), route (as in, "the route from one place to another") a. rhymes with "hoot" (29.99%)
text: b. rhymes with "out" (19.72%)
text: c.
text: I can pronounce it either way interchangeably (30.42%)
text: d.
text: I say it like "hoot" for the noun and like "out" for the verb.
text: (15.97%)
text: e.
text: I say it like "out" for the noun and like "hoot" for the verb.
text: (2.50%)
text: f. other (1.40%)
text: (11137 respondents)
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/3281/Damkerng T.
score: 17
sents: text: This, and several other, pronunciations, are influenced by spelling, and not from ancient variations in the pronunciation (contrast the marry/merry merger) and hence we don't expect it to be tied to one region.
text: This map confirms this, although there do seem to be some tendencies: http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_26.html
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/3488/hunter
score: 4
sents: text: I am from Buffalo like "out."
text: Wife from Cali "root.
text: "
text: Causes family problems anytime the topic comes up like today watching drag racing at Route 66 Raceway.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/21325/outlawadventures
score: 2
sents: text: In England and the rest of the UK, route and root are pronounced the same and rhyme with the words loot and moot .
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/1425/Tristan
score: 1
sents: text: I'm Aussie
text: and I'd prefer 'rowt' version of route as not to confuse it with 'root' in the bedroom, so to speak.
text: You get stupid comments when saying something similar to 'I'm taking this route (root) to the woods today' like 'Great, who is she?'
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/48542/Lynx318 therealone
score: 1
sents: text: I am from Massachusetts and we have always pronounced it "root" - not matter what you are referring to.
text: As I paper route, route 1, what route you're going to take.
text: It's all pronounced root.
text: But I have realized that most people outside of New England pronounce it route with the "out" sound.
text: And most times when you hear it on tv
text: it's pronounced that way too.
text: But us New Englanders like being different :)
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/51722/Wickedgood
score: 1
sents: text: I'm no professional, but my teacher told me that "route", when referring to a way/path taken (eg Route 10 in Pokemon), is pronounced sounding like "hoot".
text: The sound which rhymes with "out" is only used in "router", as in the networking device.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/3667/Eugene T
score: 0

Summary of the answers:
In England and the rest of the UK,  route  and  root  are pronounced the same, and rhyme with hoot. However, people also pronounce route with the "out" sound.
It depends on region and could be pronounced 'root' or 'rowt'.