a root by any other name more fair

Before I begin: three cheers for wireless internet, without which the following paragraph would not be possible.

Leaving my almost indecent ardour for anything that sinks me deeper into the www aside, I do have this to say against wireless: viz., as far as I can tell, EVERYONE pronounces "router" as "rowter". As in, for want of a phonetic alphabet, r-ow-tah. In some of the more grit-and-cactus states of the US, where "route" is pronounced "rowt", this is all well and good. But when even the shark-proof dinky-di Aussie tech-support person at the end of your telephone enquires after your "rowter", you're tempted to get all etymological on his ass and tell him exactly how rooted it is. Hear this, Mr Tech Support Person, any kind of "router" derived from "route" (pronounced "root") should be correspondingly pronounced "rooter". And yes, I may be a pedant, but at least I don't dispense flagrantly useless instructions to innocent maidens trying to set up their internet connections.

(Before I move on, it's worth noting that "router", correctly pronounced, has the added advantage of rhyming with "computer", thus allowing for sardonic couplets on the theme of modern communication systems. Also, of course, when your router is finally devoured from the inside by Sydney cockroaches, you have the dubious pleasure of saying "my router is rooted".)

That is all. I dedicate this discussion to the good people at D-LINK Wireless.