On a roll...
OK, since there was so much resonance with the previous post, here's something that my wife and I have noticed lately, this time in the spoken word.
Where have the double-t's gone? Words like written, kitten, etc. What we've been hearing is that the t's go silent. They are enunciated instead by momentarily holding your breath. "Wri - en" is how it comes out, with a millisecond interruption between the syllables. WHAT IS UP WITH THIS? Simply bizarre!
Where have the double-t's gone? Words like written, kitten, etc. What we've been hearing is that the t's go silent. They are enunciated instead by momentarily holding your breath. "Wri - en" is how it comes out, with a millisecond interruption between the syllables. WHAT IS UP WITH THIS? Simply bizarre!
posted by MichaelPolutta at 1:15 PM
7 Comments:
Yes, but those silent letters keep popping up everywhere to make up for the missing T's! King - with a hard G pronounced at the end. Often, pronounced off-ten. Salmon pronounced SAL-mon.
The fish one cracks me up. For the ending consonant - I had an English teacher in 12th grade who put a hard consonant on the end of EVERY word that ended in a consonant. Every worD thaT endeD iN a consonanT. IT waS so distractinG thaT I learneD nothinG.
Oh, and I left off one of my all-time faves. There is no G in "banquet." How many people have you heard say BANG-quet? As in, "Do you have a date for the SuperWeek bang-quet on Friday?"
p.s. There is no SuperWeek banquet. Never has been.
What about ClemPson University?
I think we get the missing consonant sound thing from our British (or "Bri--ish," depending on the dialect) ancestors. I mean, what's up with words like "Worcestershire" and "Wednesday"?
Speaking of fish, how about "tuna fish"? I'll contemplate that one while I go walk my cocker spaniel dog and listen to my radio electronic device...
Yeah my teacher does that too it can be really annoying.
Hey I heard you wanted to start a band for the talent show this year.
Do you still need a drummer?
I just wanna know...
Where have all the cowboys gone?
Tuna fish... THAT'S FUNNY! never thought of that one before!.
ok, another linguatic* enigma:
School of Education. Most universities have them. That leads to the question: what is the rest of the university for? (dangling participle) I mean, realliy! Do people just go there to waste money? (answer: yes.)
*i made up the word "linguatic," but no one will notice until I am elected president [prez-uh-DENT]
More on the death of the consonant: Just listen to some of the young'ens. Soon, everything they say will be an amalgamation of vowel sounds. (dude, I just used the word "amalgamation").
Hey, mike! your next post should be on the absence of capital letters, then homonyms vs. homophones vs. homophobes and wind it all off with the correct use of the comma and punctuation surrounding quotation marks.
Oh my, I'm ge-in a headache...
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