I pronounce it "koyf". But what do I know? My law school didn't have
a chapter.
--
Bob Lieblich
Never coifed -- and my hair looks it
Back in the day, the nuns at "the institution" wore "coifs", pronounced
as you suggest. But they were Americanized German, Italian, French
and/or American nuns. (One had to guess the nationality by the "taken"
names, though a few had accents.)
That was a very tightly wrapped white cloth rigging that they put on to
cover the neck and was held tightly against the cheeks. It closed
somewhere on the top of the head or in the back, so as to completely
cover their hair. On top of the head they wore veils, and over the
chest a stiff white "gimp" or "guimpe", so all their glories were
covered and armored in purity.
I asked.
[...]
> I pronounce it "koyf". But what do I know? My law school didn't have
> a chapter.
My partner in The Lawsmiths, a U.C. Davis J.D., also so pronounced it,
as did every one of the seemingly countless attorneys we interviewed
over the years, so I daresay that despite your modesty you have it
nailed.
> How do you pronounce coif in Order of the Coif?
Properly.
Thanks for asking.
So it's unanimous, if we include Mark. That's what I've always said
but some tv show used kwaf! and the on-line dictionary either also
said kwaf but was referring to hair and didn't have this particular
usage, or possibly I didn't understand the phonetic alphabet they used