- Reel-a-ter: this one is definitely wrong as there is an extra syllable in the middle
- Reel-tor: this one is right sometimes
- Reel-ter: this is the correct pronunciation
The pronunciation that has become increasingly more common lately is Reel-tor, which is actually a trademark by the National Association of Realtors, and should only apply to realtors who are members of NAR. Since this is a trademark, it should also be capitalized when refereed to in this context, Realtor.
The third pronunciation "reel-ter" is the traditional pronunciation and is correct for ALL realtors, not just NAR members, and refers to anyone who sells real-estate, and therefore does not need to be capitalized, realtor.
Kudos to the marketing "gurus" at NAR for completely taking hostage a word out of the English dictionary, altering it's pronunciation, and then proliferating it through advertising so well that people begin to think they've been pronouncing an English word wrong their whole life. You'll notice this if you listen to a radio or TV commercial from NAR about Realtors:
"Only Realtors are members of the National Association of Realtors"
"Only real estate professionals who are members of the National Association of Realtors can call themselves Realtors"
In an effort to drive the pronunciation home, they even add extra emphasis on the "tor" part of the word, seemingly just to rub it in your face... Equally annoying are people who are jump at the chance to correct you on the pronunciation, with only press materials from the NAR to back them up...
So, next time a realtor "corrects" your pronunciation, you can kindly mention to them that you were not referring to the NAR trademarked term, but instead to simply someone who sells real-estate. If he still doesn't buy it, maybe you can ask him to go see his tax collect-OR after getting together with his financial advis-OR.
