Why is it that so many supposedly intelligent people find it impossible to pronounce the relatively simple word 'kilometre' correctly ?
Confronted with 'kilogram' they happily say 'kilo-gram'; 'kilowatts' are always called 'kilo-watts' and 'kilohertz' are rightly sounded as 'kilo-hertz'. However, presented with the identically structured 'kilometre', these same people almost always lose all sense of grammar and end up saying 'kilom-etre'.
A 'kilometre' means a thousand metres; the two parts of the word are no different to the two parts of 'kilogram' 'kilowatt' or 'kilohertz', and yet news readers, assorted commentators and even highly qualified and otherwise intelligent broadcasters such as Professor Brian Cox insist on calling 'kilo-metres' 'kilom-etres'.
No doubt, various trendy teachers of English would argue that the pronunciation is up to the individual and there are no 'hard and fast' rules, but surely when a word has two quite clear elements, its pronunciation is not a matter for debate. It is obvious. 'Kilo-metres' it is and 'kilo-metres' is how it should stay. 'Kilom-etres' is simply wrong.
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