Usage notes

* This word is generally pronounced like sub-'' + ''mariner'' (for example, in the U.K. Royal Navy and the U.S. Navy); however, since the prefix ''sub-'' was apparently deemed to imply inferiority (as in ''subpar'' or ''subhuman'') rather than the actual meaning of "under," this pronunciation may be considered offensive by non-submariners. The pronunciation ''submarine'' + ''-er , but with stress on third syllable, is often incorrectly deemed to be preferred by many or most U.S. submarine crew members today, when in fact to the submariner, it sounds as if they are being called inferior Marines. As evidence of submariners' collective lack of concern for the opinion of non-submariners on this matter, many submariners refer to themselves by the much more negative terms of "sewer-pipe" sailor, or "bubble-head."