[Ads-l] pronunciation mess

[James A. Landau]

Whoever started this thread (I've lost track) asked if English-language pronunciation ever followed spelling rather than vice versa?

helico (spiral) + pter (wing, with a silent "p") gives "helicopter" in which the "p" is pronounced

French words such as envelope or adroit

in high school chemistry we had a lab assistant who talked about /keish @nz/ and /an y at nz/

wiener

how did /looten at nt/ and /leften at nt/ split?

quixotic

bomb, bombing, bombed, and bomber all have the second "b" silent, but in "bombardier" the second "b" is pronounced

I once did computer work for the Comptroller of the Army.  My recollection is that everyone in that office pronounced the first syllable as /kahmp/ rather then /kahn/

Lawrence Horn wrote ""Pasta" for example gets an Italianate /a/ Stateside but an /ae/ in the U.K."

    - James A. Landau

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