On Friday 30 July 2021 at 22:30:34, Rowland Penny via Dng wrote:
> On Fri, 2021-07-30 at 22:18 +0200, Antony Stone wrote:
> > On Friday 30 July 2021 at 22:04:28, Hendrik Boom wrote:
> > > On Fri, Jul 30, 2021 at 07:13:43PM +0100, Rowland Penny wrote:
> > > > We also have a habit of having letters in words that we do not
> > > > pronounce, 'pterosaur' for instance :-)
> > >
> > > But it's *fun* pronouncing both the p and the t.
> >
> > Who in their right mind would pronounce the 't' in that :) ?
>
> Just about everyone in England, it is the 'p' that you do not
> pronounce. Unless you are actually referring to the 'that' on the end
> of your sentence, in which case 'ha' :-D
I suspect I under-emphasised the smiley in my sentence :(
> > German pronounces all the letters in a word, in as consistent a way
> > as possible.
>
> They would.
At least it's easy to learn how to say German words, and how to know which
word a German has just said.
> > French pronounces as few of the letters in a word as it can get away
> > with.
>
> Terrible language, we stole the best parts of their language.
Yes, mostly from the original Latin...
> > English pronounces most, but not all, of the letters in a word, in as
> > many different ways as possible.
>
> How about the name 'Cholmondeley ' which is pronounced 'Chumley'
Agreed.
St. John = Sinjun
Featherstonehaugh = Fanshaw
Gloucester = Gloster
Worcester = Wooster
Antony.
--
The words "e pluribus unum" on the Great Seal of the United States are from a
poem by Virgil entitled "Moretum", which is about cheese and garlic salad
dressing.
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