This is a question I’ve been asking myself ruefully these last few days. The E on my keyboard hasn’t been very coöperative, insisting that I bang it at least a few times for it to make the letter E appear on the screen. This has made me really… appreciate, for wont of a better word, just how often we have to use the letter E.
English pronunciation
Isle of Dogs
Writing about dogs yesterday (something I’m surprised I don’t do more often) made me think about the new Wes Anderson film Isle of Dogs. I’m not going to write a review or anything, because obviously that’s not what I do here. Instead, I’m more curious about that title.
2018
Welcome to 2018!
An Historic Occasion or A Historic Occasion?
I’ll tell you before the end, I promise (I bet he just says that both are correct, he always does). But you can see already, can’t you, how the letter H isn’t so simple even for native speakers.
In fact, it can be quite a controversial letter, sparking more arguments than perhaps any other.
Robots in the Skies
This was a common refrain of my childhood. From my lips, anyway, for you might recognise this as a mondegreen. Anyone familiar with 80s and 90s children’s cartoons/toys might know that I was mishearing the lyrics to the Transformers cartoon. The line of course should be robots in disguise.
Which makes a lot more sense. I mean, that’s the whole point of the Transformers. They’re in disguise. They’re robots, and they’re in disguise. In my defence, some of them could fly, so my interpretation made sense to six-year-old me. Still, on paper, in the skies and in disguise are fairly distinct. Th doesn’t sound like D, E doesn’t sound like I, and K doesn’t sound like G. How could I make such a mistake?
Why don’t we usually Pronounce the Letter B after an M?
Good question, I’m very glad you asked. There are about ten words in English that end in –mb, but have a silent B. Off the top of my head, I can think of:
- Bomb
- Thumb
- Lamb
- Plumb
- Limb
- Tomb
- Womb
- Climb
- Dumb
- Jamb
- Comb
- Crumb
As you can see, it’s a fairly common phenomenon, but what’s the story behind it?
Paradise
If you’re reading this reading this on the day it was posted, there’s a good chance that I’m in Paradise right now. Well, Pairi Daiza, to be more specific, which is the name of a zoo in Belgium. The similarities between the two words are not coincidental though.
English-Language Thoughts 