But is that “root” to rhyme with “foot” and “soot” (as in the Midwest) or with “hoot” and “boot” and “loot”?
I grew up in the Northeast and both heard and spoke “route” and “root” about the same (rhyme with “hoot”). In the Midwest I heard “root” to rhyme with “foot” for the first time. Now in Northern California I hear “route” as “rowt” (rhymes with “out”), but I don’t say it. And Cisco makes “rowters,” not “rooooters.” (But “rout,” another word altogether, always rhymes with “out.”)