Cirrus
Well-Known Member
Count your blessings, at least he didn’t say there’s a knob in the chair 😂
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Count your blessings, at least he didn’t say there’s a knob in the chair 😂
Pross
Über Member
She (I'd be more than happy!)
Pross
Über Member
My initial reply was going to be "there's usually one in the chair too" but I don't know her well enough yet to know whether she'd find it funny (I suspect she would from my dealings so far).
OP
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briantrumpet
Timewaster
OP
OP
briantrumpet
Timewaster
I wondered why there was a B on the end of 'thumb', and it seems like it was just added (in the 13th century) to match words like 'dumb' and 'plumb' – but unlike those words, there is no etymological justification for it at all. A bit dumb, if you ask me.
First Aspect
Guru
Why were they at the end of those other words?
Plumb, I suspect, is of a different origin entirely since it is derived from the Latin plumbum.
As you will know, plumbumb fell out of favour because plumbers no longer wished to be called plumbummers.
PurplePenguin
Senior Member
Language is like that though. The verb edit only exists because people thought that's what an editor should do. Doctors don't doct though.
Ian H
Shaman
Dunno, but the frog looks happy enough.
icowden
Pharaoh
Found this:-
WE OWE the silent 'b' to the fact that centuries ago our ancestors pronounced a b-sound: climb was Old English climban, and bomb comes from Italian bomba. The b-sound was lost by about 1300. It leaves traces to the present day, however, in pairs such as climb-clamber, crumb-crumble. Thumb appears to be a rogue case, because here the 'b' is not etymological; there may have been influence from thimble. There are about 20 words in ending in 'mb'. In some of the rarer ones, such as lamb or coulomb, people sometimes pronounce a b-sound. Phonetically, 'b' is classified as a voiced plosive, as are 'd' and 'g'. Sound changes applying to one tend to apply to the other two as well. This is so with 'g' for those among us who pronounce no g-sound after the nasal at the end of sing and hang, but not for those midlanders and northerners who make singer rhyme with finger. But 'd' remains in the standard pronunciation of mind, stand, round (perhaps because we need the 'nd' sequence of sounds to keep the past tense distinct from the present in fined, tanned, crowned). Even so, we readily omit the 'd' in speech in phrases like mind the doors, stand back, round the corner.
Which puts me in mind of this:-
First Aspect
Guru
Coulomb is a proper noun.
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briantrumpet
Timewaster
Loads of silent letters these days, not least the H in words like 'which' in which the W was initially unvoiced (i.e. just blowing through rounded lips before the vocal cords spring into action. Amusingly, 'what' used to be spelt and pronounced 'hwat' as a loud sound to get people's attention, but has fallen into line with other 'wh...' whords.
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briantrumpet
Timewaster
As is Columbjohn.
Mr Celine
Senior Member
Which witch are pronounced slightly differently in Scotland. Also Wales and whales.
'Wh' in Scots was often written 'quh'.
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briantrumpet
Timewaster
My mum was a bit of an 'aitcher' in those words, despite not being Scottish or Welsh.
Ah, and your last bit answers my question about
First Aspect
Guru
Where does the pronunciation "haitch" originate? Gets right on my tits.
There's an intriguing relatively modern one, that I'll probably realise isn't all that recent. It is the inversion of sounds in "ask". He aksed, etc. I hear it both sides of the Atlantic, and I personally find it much harder to pronounce than "asked".
Call me when you've finished your homework.
There's an intriguing relatively modern one, that I'll probably realise isn't all that recent. It is the inversion of sounds in "ask". He aksed, etc. I hear it both sides of the Atlantic, and I personally find it much harder to pronounce than "asked".
Call me when you've finished your homework.