anti-vaxxer / anti-vaccer (double c pronunciation)

Brian Hitchcock brianhi at SKECHERS.COM
Tue Apr 15 18:28:02 UTC 2014


I can see why some might pronounce (anti-)VACCER as *anti-vacker*,  or even as *anti-Vassar*.
(Reminds me of "antimacassar", a word not seen much nowadays, though the item survives.)

I generally hear the two  Cs in SUCCESS, ACCESS, and ACCENT sounded out separately; but I have often heard people pronounce ACCESSORY as if it were  spelled *assessory*, and occasionally heard SUCCINCT pronounced as *sussinked* (perhaps  I hear this less often because fewer people use the word succinct).

Even ET CETERA, spelled with T followed by a clearly distinct C,  is often combined to ETCETERA, abbreviated ETC, and then pronounced as *exsetra* (or maybe *exetra*; it's hard to tell).

Still, for those who try to phoneticize the spelling of  VACCER to vaxxer, it seems that one 'x' would have been sufficient.  FACSIMILE, for example, with central consonant sounds similar to vaccination, became fax (not faxx); and faxing (not faxxing); so , presumably, faxer (not faxxer).

Brian Hitchcock
Torrance, CA

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