Please don't tell me that you pronounce the 'T' in "often"... Or, do you?

[Sierra Tango]

14 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

 

Well, if you know so much about English...

 

Then, do tell me....

 

What color is:

 

a. A nut-brown bowl

b. Nut-brown hair

 

What color is this in proper English, anyway?

 

We often hear about Nut-Brown this, or that.

But, what, exactly is the color Nut-Brown, anyway, as applied to a bowl or a woman's hair....?

 

We never say Nut-Brown in America.

I guess you know.

 

I think it must be the Irish who say this, most.

 

 

More than likely not the colour of your nuts.

[Liverpool Lou]

12 hours ago, simon43 said:

I'm a teacher, and from an academic family.

So why did you put a comma between "teacher" and "and"?!  In fact, why the "and", at all, instead of  simply, "I'm a teacher from an academic family"?   Guess it's all that academia.

[GammaGlobulin]

1 hour ago, Bundooman said:

Sorry, I don't understand. What exactly, are you trying to convince us all of?

If the pronunciation of the word 'often' is the reason for your incomprehensible rant, then, as a British guy, I personally voice the 't' in 'often'

Others may not, probably dependent on the area or country they come from.

Is this the only word the causes you to explode?

Or are there others?

Please try get a life......... 

There is a whole world out there that doesn't really care how people around the world, say the word, 'often'.

 

Of course there are other words that, when I hear them incorrectly pronounced, make me explode.

But, ofTen is  the most egregious example  of mispronunciation  I can think of....because the T is rapidly taking over the world, these days.

 

Also, someone here mentioned the word veHicle.

As I recall, John Candy once pronounced the H, but he was doing it solely for the purpose of mocking cops, maybe.

 

Also, you can never predict when someone you are talking to might slip in the T.

And then, one must bite one's tongue.

 

 

 

[GammaGlobulin]

36 minutes ago, IsaanT said:

Personally, I think Americans should accept responsibility for their deviations from the King's English and call their language American.  Then you can spell colour whichever way you want and nobody will get upset.  Just don't call what you use English because that irks those of us that use our language correctly (and thus pronounce the 't' in often...). 😉

 

I will lisTen to you when you know why ofTen is not correct.

 

[Liverpool Lou]

9 hours ago, petedk said:

Do you pronounce the "t" in "water" and "butter"?  I didn't when I was young because that was the dialect I was brought up in.  Later, I moved to the south east of England and friends at school and people all around me kept correcting my grammar and pronunciation.

They were 'incorrecting' your grammar not correcting it.

[Liverpool Lou]

9 hours ago, SingAPorn said:

Backl in the USSR ? as the Beatles would have said ?

No, they never said, "Backl in the USSR".

[GammaGlobulin]

20 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

What about them?    Vinyl and (the incorrectly spelled) Vynil sound exactly the same as a spoken word, which is what was being discussed!

 

Yes.

Just spell it like it is supposed to be spelled (spelt).

 

 

And, do not use "spelt", either.

 

 

[Liverpool Lou]

8 hours ago, VBF said:

15 hours ago, faraday said:

Leave the sheep's alone...😁

And kindly remove the errant apostrophe!

 

It would be sheeps, but of course you really mean sheep. (The plural is the same as the singular)

Perhaps he was meaning to leaving a part of the sheep unmolested.

[Liverpool Lou]

8 hours ago, Andrewdownunder said:

15 hours ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

and " haitch" and worse of all skedule instead of shedule its  all a load of skit

like your mother

Do you?  How do you know his mother?

[VBF]

5 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Perhaps he was meaning to leaving a part of the sheep unmolested.

Possible of course - one does wonder if correct grammar is a priority amongst those who practice bestiality. 

Then again, perhaps the original quote should have referred to some of the sheep?

 

I could perhaps, be overthinking this....   🙄

[Liverpool Lou]

8 hours ago, faraday said:

8 hours ago, VBF said:

It would be sheeps, but of course you really mean sheep. (The plural is the same as the singular)

Yes dear, I know, dear.

 

"Kindly"

"Errant"

 

It's the 21st Century my boy, not Greyfriars in the '50's....🤣🤣

There's no second apostrophe in "the '50s", either.  "Century" shouldn't be capitalised in the middle of a phrase and there should have been a comma after "boy", so your double hilarious laughing emojis were, ironically, doubly appropriate.  

[Gottfrid]

7 hours ago, simon43 said:

Yawn, the word 'American' is often used to denote those from the USA.  You know that, so stop quibbling...

Does that mean you understood you were wrong?

[Gottfrid]

7 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

 

Anything goes in today's Social-Media English.

Was that why you started the topic with a spelling question and tried to tell your right version. Just because everything goes?

[Gottfrid]

11 hours ago, dinsdale said:

Of-ten. Of pronounced Ov therefore one f would be ov-ten which is incorrect hence off-ten when pronouncing the t. Thank you though as my pervious of-en is also incorrect for the same reason. Should've been off-en. Off-en/Off-ten. 

No, it should be Often, and pronounced like it´s spelled. Opposite to many other words, but in this case it will be right.

[Luuk Chaai]

22 hours ago, simon43 said:

The problem GG is that YOU are not a native speaker of English.  In England, (note the name - it is where English is spoken), educated people pronounce the letter T in the word 'often'.  I was brought up by my academic parents (language professors) to pronounce the letter T...

 

Those without a decent education will not pronounce the letter T.  That's how it is...

 

GG, you are speaking American, not English.  American is a bastardised form of the original language.....  🙂

and what's this excuse ?   (Liverpool )

 

[Luuk Chaai]

18 hours ago, JAG said:

You are an American are you not?

 

And you are posting complaining about people who are diluting, warping, and perverting the English language!

 

 

 

If you (y'all) really want to hear some bastardized lingo ..  go to the South in the USA ( 'Bama, Mississippi,Louisiana,Arkansas)

    they have the South in their mouth

I was at a business dinner and a few guys from Connecticut were talking to a few from "Bama" 

they (Ct crew) later came over to me and stated . "we had no idea what they were saying"

 

But, us old timers from NYC are no exception ..  A tree grows in "Doit" (dirt) what's the number after 2? "Tree" (Three)  the list goes on !   

[GammaGlobulin]

6 hours ago, Gottfrid said:

No, it should be Often, and pronounced like it´s spelled. Opposite to many other words, but in this case it will be right.

 

When we start making exceptions for random words, such as the word often, then things can go awry.

 

We should enforce, reinforce, and teach everyone that the T in often should be pronounced just as much as the T in listen.

And, no college professors should be allowed to pronounce the T in often, just as this rule was always in effect when I was at university.

 

There needs to be some uniformity at universities.

 

 

[Scouse123]

On 4/9/2025 at 6:49 AM, NE1 said:

What pi55ses me off is the amount of people saying Aks instead of Ask.

And hearing an American news reader saying " Unalived him " instead of "  killing him ".

 

 

What about the yanks adding already at the end of a sentence?
 

 

As in, ' Why don't you stop, ALREADY '

 

Doesn't make sense.

 

Or pronouncing Maths, short for Mathematics as singular. ' You do the Math '

[Scouse123]

On 4/9/2025 at 6:54 AM, faraday said:

Incorrect, according to Pantone:

 

Nut Brown Color | #86695e

 

 

I remember it being called " Ni**er Brown " in days gone by.

 

You wouldn't get away with that now.

[NE1]

11 minutes ago, Scouse123 said:

As in, ' Why don't you stop, ALREADY '

 

Doesn't make sense.

 

Or pronouncing Maths, short for Mathematics as singular. ' You do the Math '

another irk , I worked with some Texans , I don't know if it was a Texan thing , but they always paid for things in " Cash Money "

[cdemundo]

On 4/9/2025 at 6:49 AM, NE1 said:

What pi55ses me off is the amount of people saying Aks instead of Ask.

And hearing an American news reader saying " Unalived him " instead of "  killing him ".

'hearing an American news reader saying " Unalived him " instead of "  killing him ".'

 

Have never heard that one, obviously dumb.

But I am skeptical, where did you hear that, a news reader or a YouTuber?

[GammaGlobulin]

22 minutes ago, Scouse123 said:

 

What about the yanks adding already at the end of a sentence?

 

I think that's NYC and Philly talk, pretty much, already.

 

I like it, already.

Reminds me of home, already.

 

 

I never speak this way, but I love listening to those who do, already.

 

 

[Gottfrid]

1 hour ago, GammaGlobulin said:

 

When we start making exceptions for random words, such as the word often, then things can go awry.

 

We should enforce, reinforce, and teach everyone that the T in often should be pronounced just as much as the T in listen.

And, no college professors should be allowed to pronounce the T in often, just as this rule was always in effect when I was at university.

 

There needs to be some uniformity at universities.

 

 

It depends of which country you are in and which version of English you are speaking. You have American English, UK English, Philippine English and much more so the list will go on. Don´t come and say that your version is right and correct. If you do, you have never heard of or understood the word dialect. I sincerely doubt that as every country also have a lot of them locally.

[Gottfrid]

3 minutes ago, GammaGlobulin said:

 

I think that's NYC and Philly talk, pretty much, already.

 

I like it, already.

Reminds me of home, already.

 

 

I never speak this way, but I love listening to those who do, already.

 

 

Oh, now you like something that could be seen as wrong? How come? Just because it touches home? So, you are not telling them, that they speak or do something wrong?

[GammaGlobulin]

1 minute ago, Gottfrid said:

Oh, now you like something that could be seen as wrong? How come? Just because it touches home? So, you are not telling them, that they speak or do something wrong?

 

I am mostly ONLY against ofTen.

Not sure how we got started talking about other ways of pronouncing other words, and strange word-usages.

 

 

[Gottfrid]

1 minute ago, GammaGlobulin said:

 

I am mostly ONLY against ofTen.

Not sure how we got started talking about other ways of pronouncing other words, and strange word-usages.

 

 

I guess it´s a matter of equality. You know, treating all things within the same genre the same way, disregarding if it´s you home boy or a foreigner.

[papa al]

10 hours ago, IsaanT said:

Personally, I think Americans should accept responsibility for their deviations from the King's English and call their language American.  Then you can spell colour whichever way you want and nobody will get upset.  Just don't call what you use English because that irks those of us that use our language correctly (and thus pronounce the 't' in often...). 😉

More Indian people speak "English" than do people from England.

Not the Kings English tho.

Prolly need a not-English name for that too.

Also Singapore,

& ...

[GammaGlobulin]

28 minutes ago, papa al said:

More Indian people speak "English" than do people from England.

Not the Kings English tho.

Prolly need a not-English name for that too.

Also Singapore,

& ...

 

People who warp the English language in India always require subtitles in YouTube videos.

 

[KannikaP]

10 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

What about them?    Vinyl and (the incorrectly spelled) Vynil sound exactly the same as a spoken word, which is what was being discussed!

No they do not. Vinyl as in PVC plastic used for records, and Mary Quant mini-skirts,  is pronounced Vin-ile, the incorrect way is Vie-nil.

[GammaGlobulin]

18 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

No they do not. Vinyl as in PVC plastic used for records, and Mary Quant mini-skirts,  is pronounced Vin-ile, the incorrect way is Vie-nil.

 

Oh, no worries...

 

Just pronounce it   -CH=CH2