'Ree'. I've never said, or heard, 'in re'. Funny, I'd always thought 're' was an English contraction of 'regarding', 'in reference to', etc.--never considered it was the Latin (which would of course be 'ray').

I pronounce in re like English "in ray", and I don't use just re in speech (seems like strictly an abbreviation for memos and such); I suppose if I read a memo out loud I'd say "ray".

California Family Law cases, when taken on appeal, are often captioned "In re marriage of" (parties' name); lawyers I know pronounce this "in ray," though the acronym IRMO is sometimes spoken as a word, pronounced ER-mo.

ree, and in ree.

I say 'ree', and never use the term 'in re'.

Although fully aware of its real heritage, I always think of 're' as shorthand for 'reply', thanks to email usage (reply > RE:, forward > FW:), which represents *at least* 99.999% of my interactions with it.

'Ray' always, even when reading email headers aloud.

I'm with Vasha on this. I wouldn't use re by itself except as a label on a line in a memo or an e-mail, but I pronounce it like 'ray' both there and in in re.

Ree (rhymes with bee) in both cases.

Ree for emails, and ray for 'in'.

It seems reasonable to have two pronunciations, to anglicize individual words that aren't part of a Latin phrase. Unless I was very drunk I wouldn't interject a French accent to say a phrase like 'pass the menu', for example.

It is odd, the uncomfortable feeling I (we?) get when a pronunciation I had taken for granted is 'threatened' by something different. I don't like it; I think it is primitive, as if my tribe's being challenged. Having now read the pace discussion I must say that I had never heard any other pronunciation than dill-a-TAN-tee until I crossed the Atlantic.

I don't use either in spoken language, but if I did I would say 'ree' and 'in ree'. I've never heard anyone say 'ray' - that would feel pretentious.

Ree and in ree.

But per say, not per see.

I say "ray" in both cases, but my husband says "ree" (I'm American and he's British, if that makes any difference).

I would only ever say the word if I were reading something out loud.

"Re" by itself I parse as English, so I pronounce it as "ree." But in "in re" I would definitely pronounce it "in ray"--in the same way I would normally say "via" as an English preposition with a hard v, but when I come across a phrase like "via negativa" it's suddenly pronounced "wee-a neg-a-tee-wa."

I guess I would say "ree" if I said it at all, because think of it as an abbreviation for "ree-garding."

I'm not a very good source for this, but I tend to pronounce it with an intermediate vowel, something like "rey".

In my experience, lawyers, judges, and court personnel all say "ray" for the former and "in ray" or "in the matter of" for the latter.

I pronounce "re" as "ree" in English an "in re" as "in ray" in Latin.

Fascinating! There appears to be a pretty even split, and (as I expected) there are a fair number who say it differently with and without in—which on the face of it is surprising, but apparently the phrase is felt to be more "foreign" than the word in isolation. (I say "ree" in both cases, but then I'm a hardcore devotee of Traditional Anglicized Latin.)

Funny, I'd always thought 're' was an English contraction of 'regarding', 'in reference to', etc.--never considered it was the Latin

You shock me, Conrad. I shall have to withdraw the Order of Merit I awarded you after you corrected my Latinity.

That's funny, I'd never thought about the discrepancy before, but I read 're:' as in a memo as 'ree' but 'in re' as "ray". I studied Latin for three years in high school and usually notice incorrect anglicised prononciation.

I don't think I've ever said it, but I've found myself using it in print more and more.

As a Dane with only four months of propaedeutic Latin under my belt, I'd say /rɛ/ (and /pɑkə/).

"In ray", and "ree". The reason for me is that for the common use 're' is used as simply a contraction of 'regarding', in legal use I see it as a foreign word and pronounce it as I would imagine it should be.

I studied Latin for three years in high school and usually notice incorrect anglicised prononciation.

Well, "ree" and "ray" are equally correct anglicized pronunciations (or incorrect, if you roll that way); the "correct" Latin pronunciation would be /re:/, with Italian-style /r/ and a long /e/ with no diphthongization as in English.

Re is "ar-ee", i.e. I read the letters by name. I find it odd that no one above has given this variant. For me, "RE" is an abbreviation of "Regarding", and I won't take no notions to the contrary.

In re (and relatives, like in medias res) are clearly Latin, however, so in re is "in ray" and in medias res ends with "ress".

As far as I'm concerned, "re" is short for "regarding", in which case it's naturally pronounced the same as the first syllable of that word. (Maybe it's back-etymology, or maybe it's practical and reduces the likelihood that I'll be either demonstrating my grammatical snobbiness or confusing my readers/listeners.)

"ree". But if I feel like teasing, I pronounce it "anent".

I'm obnoxious enough to pronounce "per se" as "Percy", but not so obnoxious as to re-Latinize "ree" or "in ree" (the latter of which I've almost never spoken). I'm with JS Bangs in that "ar-ee" is an acceptable variant, widely used and understood.

dearieme,

and thus I learn a new praeposition. Just what is it with you Scots?

Answering before I read the comments - I say it "ray" both times, though I don't find myself using "re" very often in speech.

"ree" and "in ray". And "verbahtim", not "verbaytim". Irish people do Latin things up a bit, folk memory of the Tridentine Mass etc. I probably only say "ree" because my school principal did so when making intercom announcements.

"Ray" for both, but I'm not sure that the "Re:" in e-mail subject lines is the same word. The "Subject:" part already means what "Re:" does in a memo -- the e-mail "Re:" is added only in replies, so it's presumably short for "reply", so I might pronounce that "ree".

ree and in ray.

But I'm now seriously disturbed about the pronunciation of the phrase "via negativa" thanks to Alixtii.

"You shock me, Conrad. I shall have to withdraw the Order of Merit I awarded you after you corrected my Latinity."

Ha! I shall have to work double time to get it back.

I think of "re" and "in re" as English words, borrowed from the Latin and spelled the same as the Latin, but nonetheless pronounced in English: "ree". But I may never have used either in speech.

If I heard "in ray" it would seem okay, but standing along only "ree" would sound right.

But I don't care.

Hmm, I've never actually thought of pronouncing it. When I see it written, I automatically parse it as 'regarding' and if I were to say it out loud, I would say 'regarding' rather than 'ray' or 'ree'.

Good to know!

"Ray" and "in ray".

. . . and I think I've pronounced them that way since before I knew they were Latin; so, apparently my brain thinks "re" should be pronounced "ray" in English. Maybe I associated it with the solfege syllable between "do" and "mi", which I knew from The Sound of Music?

Re and In ray

But I never use re in conversation, only in reading aloud business correspondence, notes, or emails. I've always taken "Re:XXX to be an abbreviation for "reference" in business and email, for what that's worth--and in fact, that's all I ever seen it used as, whether in the heading or the body of the correspondence.

In Re also appears in admiralty cases a lot ("In Re Insert-Ship's-Name-Here). Since admiralty and marriage where once handled by the same set of courts and lawyers (vide Doctor's Commons), it might be the usage derives from that link.

My own rule of thumb in these cases is de gustibus. Well, actually, chacon a son gout, but since we're focusing on Latin here....

Ran, the solfege system was derived from a Latin hymn, so your association was not far off the mark.

/ɹi/ and /ɪn ɹeɪ/

I'd just want to add my vote to the few pah-kays in the last post. I believe I once looked this up in Random House Unabridged (probably after saying it for some reason while teaching), and that was the pronunciation given.

"Ree" and "in ray". Even though I know the derivation, I don't think I've ever heard "Re:" pronounced "ray" in the sense of "Re: Your submission of 2 June". On the other hand, "in re" is commonly used in law and, in my part of the woods, is always pronounced "in ray".

I never ever heard "pace" pronounced and always heard it in my head as "Pa say" ("My father says... [but I say...]")

I say "ree". I've never seen "in re".

I've used "re" for a long time, before it ever became popular as Internet usage.

The old meaning is "regarding", but on the Internet my impression is that it has become reinterpreted as "in reply". That is, under the original meaning you could use "re" from the beginning of a correspondence, but with Internet usage, I'm sure a lot of younger people think it should only be used when replying to the original message.

I agree that "Re" means "in reply" in e-mail, whereas the old meaning was "regarding" in letters. Surely the developers of e-mail software must have been aware that "Re" was in use already. Why would they not have chosen to abbreviate "in reply" to something less ambiguous like "Rp"?