forte (was: Re: Accents in Am. English)

[Bethany K. Dumas]

On Fri, 16 Jun 2000, Beverly Flanigan wrote:

>>says /ku rIk u lum/... consistency is not our forte (which you almost have to
>>pronounce /for te/ or everyone will THINK you're  ignorant.
>
>Quite right.  I said /fort/ once and was "corrected" most
>condescendingly.  So now I never use the word.

I ALWAYS say /fort/, but I am careful to say aferwards, "a word that
almost no one pronounces correctly anymore." I don't mind being thought
ignorant, but I sure don't want to miss an opportunity to give a Lx
101 lecture. (I usually get it.) (When I hear /fortay/ I think music.)

Bethany