In school they taught us that the T is silent but then i started hearing american people say it with a T on microphones or in movies, etc.. so i started saying Off-tin
just wondering which pronunciation is more popular
Off-in. Probably goes along with growing up in a working class environment. Water even used to be ''wa'er''.. I sorted that one pretty quick once I realised how yukky it sounds.
mostly offen, but I know that it's supposed to be "often". In much the same way, I know that it's pronounced "water", not "wauda". Neither of these facts prevent my laziness!
Off-tun if I slip into the Kirkby/Sutton accent Off-ten when thinking.
Where I come from we have a terrible habit of cutting words down to two syllables to speak faster. "How now brown cow" becomes "Ah Nah Br-ah-n cah" It is a horrid accent but I do like that Saturday and Wednesday become Sat-di and Wends-di for some unknown reason.
I have a faint t off-ten, in my wicked accent. Silent T or not, both are acceptable and correct, but the silent t method is used by a majority of northern Americans.
The first option made me think of "Park the car by Harvard Yard". Now that's a poll for you, "Bawstin or Boston?"
You're all wrong, or atleast some of you are. In English, neither pronunciation of "often" makes a difference, because the difference of including or excluding the Flap "t" like in "atom, water, bottle, butter, matter" etc. does not signify a difference in meaning. This means that whether or not you say "offen" or "often", "water" "wah-er", a native speaker of English will understand.
Also you should notice this Flap "t" in "often" is pronounced differently from a non-Flap "t" like in the words "atomic", "hunter", "stem" etc. You should notice that the non-flap "t" is slightly more pronounced. Since the Flap "t" is somewhat less pronounced, and is articulated fairly quickly with the quick flick of the tongue, it is normal for it to be completely deleted in speech because no matter which way it is pronounced it won't signify a difference in meaning.
Granted, because of the way humans learn language from hearing other people speak, it is natural that in certain areas or social circles one adopts a certain way of speaking. This is how we get different dialects within certain languages. It would be simple-minded to claim that one dialect or language is superior to another, because of the simple fact that language is just more complicated than that. I should know, I've taken a course in linguistics.
Off-ten. I drop letters from the end of words, but it's rare for me to drop one in the middle. The only word that comes to mind for me is when I say prolly or probly instead of probably.
" You're all wrong... I should know, I've taken a course in linguistics. "
I've taken a course in economics, but that doesn't mean I know more about it than everyone else. I've also taken a course in linguistics, and just because omitting the 't' doesn't change the meaning doesn't mean it's correct. Basically, I'm telling you to "Go uck yourself." It's wrong, but you still get what I'm trying to tell you, right?
I hate silent letters with a passion, anytime a word has a proper yet alternate pronunciation I can use to prevent having to use silent letters I take it.
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