How To Pronounce ‘PETA’ (as in People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals)

Why PETA pronounce their acronym PETER

The people at PETA pronounce the name of their organisation in a different way to what one might expect, in my opinion. I have been mispronouncing it for years! Well there it is and now I know. How did I find out? PETA now have a regular podcast and the introduction includes pronouncing the acronym: PETA. Update: about 18 months later I realised why they prefer this pronunciation. It is because they want to avoid the word ‘pet’ in their acronym. They don’t like the use of the word ‘pet’ to describe companion animals because it encourages the wrong relationship between human and animal.

Please play this short audio file for the correct way to say PETA.

The reason why they pronounce it ‘incorrectly’

In a flash of inspiration it occurred to me that the reason why the people at PETA have done this is because they don’t like the word ‘pet’ because it has the wrong connotations for an organisation who don’t accept the domestication of animals. They have effectively changed the pronunciation of ‘pet’ to ‘Pete’.

Cat hoarding cat in cage with no water or food

Comments

How To Pronounce ‘PETA’ (as in People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) — 3 Comments

Luposian on October 23, 2019 at 3:18 am said:
If you break the words down, it makes sense:
People (‘P’ sound)
for the
Ethical (‘Eh’ sound)
Treatment (‘T’ sound)
of
Animals (‘Ah’ sound)
So, logically, it’s pronounced Peh-tah, not Pee-tah.
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M E King on October 11, 2018 at 4:49 pm said:
I believe the correct name should be PITA for them. I’m just not a fan.
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Jane Carter on October 10, 2018 at 5:58 pm said:
I say ‘petta’ like you. ‘peter’ seems just the wrong pronunciation.
I ad a childhood friend named ‘Peta’, her parents called her ‘Peter’ which she understandably hated as it is usually a male name. She liked to be called ‘Petta’ (Peta)
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