I recently read something disturbing at Merriam-Webster

[conuly]

It's been haunting my very dreams.

Answer the question before you click, please: How do you say the word "detritus"?

Poll #22807

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 87

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So?

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Yeah, M-W is right
73 (83.9%)

Nah, they absolutely gotta be trolling us somehow
14 (16.1%)

Comments

[movingfinger]

Looks like the vowel is determined by the stress, in English-speaker pronunciation of -itus borrowings. Situs, pruritus, detritus, all ī, but emeritus, habitus, and propositus are short i. Tinnitus is apparently accepted with two different stress patterns and thus two different pronunciations, but I have heard only short---a double pronunciation that proves the point... Coitus is usually short i, but a few people say "co-ee-tus."

[conuly]

Yes. In English we typically reduce vowels in unstressed syllables - which is one reason English spelling is such a pain.

[darkoshi]

I always thought coitus rhymed with detritus, with a long stressed I as the middle vowel.