free variation in pronunciation

[David M. Robertson]

James A. Landau wrote:

> "route" can rhyme with either "bout" or "boot".  I use the former, but I
> can't recall ever having heard "rout 66" instead of "root 66".
>
>

Personally, I always rhyme it with "bout" when I use it as a verb. Naming a road
(as Route 66), I always rhyme it with "boot." Using it as a common noun, I go
either way.

> P.S. I always pronounce "often" without a "t" sound (I am a native of
> Kentucky) but both my children use the "t" sound.  In fact, my son who is
> sitting next ot me as I write this cannot recall how I pronounce the word.

  I come from Virginia, and it gives me the creeps when somebody pronunces the
"t" sound in often.

Somebody else mentioned words which can begin with either e- or i-, and might
thus be pronounced dufferently, but couldn't think of any examples. I think
he/she was driving at words begiining with en- or in-, such as endorse/indorse.
Hasn't that distinction in pronunciation been pretty much lost, at least in the
US? Does the "in-" variation in such words tend to be British, and the "en-"
American? I tend to spell them en- and pronounce them In-.

   Snake