I thought the 'rowter' pronunciation re. computing was a purely American influence.

In the UK at least, router (in a computing context) _does_ rhyme with hooter. It is, after all, something that routes traffic -- exactly like your first example.

A router pronounced 'rowter', on the other hand, is a device for cutting grooves in wood.

When you use the string 'row' to describe pronunciation, are you using it in the sense of 'to row a boat', or 'to get into a row with someone'?

Americans rhyme "route" (path) with "doubt" and "row" (paddle a boat) with "dough". If you are rhyming "row" (fight) with "cow", that's a word most Americans don't know.

> Americans rhyme "route" (path) with "doubt"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCYApJtsyd0

The usual distinction is "to route" rhymes with "to doubt" and the word "route" is pronounced like "root". Some people also use the verb pronunciation for the noun as well.

That distinction exists only in your own mind, and likely not even there.

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/route

Contrast http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/legiti... , which correctly notes that the adjective and verb are pronounced differently.

I most often hear:

Route 66 -> sounds like root

My usual route to work -> rhymes with doubt

Can someone reset the router -> rhymes with doubter.

Turns out, we're really inconsistent! http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_26....

Router as in the hardware always rhymes with doubter. I have never heard any other pronunciation for it. Route as a verb in IT always rhymes with doubt.

In other meanings the pronunciations vary.

  > Router as in the hardware always rhymes with doubter.
  > I have never heard any other pronunciation for it.

Neither had I, until I lived in the UK.

I'm Australian, and we use the owl sounding router.

In the UK, it's very much a rooter sounding router.

Always funny, as here in AU root is slang for the act of copulation.

The pronunciation made Akamai's SureRoute product especially droll.

Sorry, I can see that was unclear.

'to get into a row with someone'

To me (US), 'route' might rhyme with 'hoot' or 'stout' according to whim. (Compare the American "Route 66".) A router would always use the MOUTH vowel, though.