Most outrageous english word pronunciation

kINk   Sunday, September 19, 2004, 06:05 GMT
Wednesday !!!
Two silent letters in a word, pronounced Wensday
Damian   Sunday, September 19, 2004, 07:25 GMT
I know...silent letters...yuk!...makes you want to gnash your teeth and recite a psalm...we won't even mention phlegm...that could be open to doubt.
Juan   Sunday, September 19, 2004, 08:00 GMT
kINk sez:
<<Wednesday !!!
Two silent letters in a word, pronounced Wensday>>

I didn't know that! LOL I alwayz pronounced it wed-nes-day.
Mxsmanic   Sunday, September 19, 2004, 10:12 GMT
[wEnzdeI] is the standard pronunciation.
Maya l'abeille   Sunday, September 19, 2004, 10:43 GMT
Here are my favourite ones:

Psychiatrist [sai'kai..trist]
Paediatrician [pi:di..'triSn]
Lieutenant [lef'ten..nt] / [lu:ten..nt]
Mayor [me..]

LOL!
In English, such a word as "Shrabolock" could be spelt Z.R.A.U.W.X.Q.Y.
,   Sunday, September 19, 2004, 22:27 GMT
Here are some more words silent letters,

h-in ''hour'', ''herb'', honor''.
g-sign, reign, campaign
c-antarctica, scissors
h-loch
w-whine, what, why, where, when, which
e-have, give, more, store, shore, before
ch-yacht
h-Thomas
h-yogh
w-who
n-hymn
a-caramel
or-comfortable
o-double
e-heart
a-heard
u-guess
a-boar
oe-hors doeuvr
second ''e'' in-were
ugh-thought, bought, sought, fought
u-court, four, pour
z-buzz
p-pterosaur
h-in-ghetto
h-in-spaghetti
ps-in-corps
Second-o-in-door, floor
h-in-vehicle
o-in-people ''Why not ''peeple'' like ''steeple'' and ''feeble''?''
w-in-whore
second-o-in-poor
u-in-tour
h-in-hour
a-in-board, oar, roar.
th-in-clothes
b-in-comb, bomb, tomb, thumb.
h-khaki
u-aunt
h-whoa
l-half
c-in science, scent
h-bhang
ch-schwa
k-know, knead, knew, knot, knit, knock
w-saw, caw, raw, paw, maw, law, claw, straw, draw, gnaw
a-bread, instead, head, read, pleasure, measure
e-cheese, please, house, mouse, goose, loose, sense, defense, offense, tense
u-misquito, marquee
ue-barque, torque, antique, unique
d-sandwich
a-broad, broadcast
gh-light, night, caught, taught, sight, straight, eight
h-chemical, chord, school, choir, character, choral
g-gnu, gnome, gnarl, gnat
w-write, wrong, wrestle, wrest, wrap
h-rhyme, rhinoceros, rhythm, rhotic
c-stuck, truck, lock, stock, back, stack, sock, sack, tick, heck
h-thyme, Thomas, Thompson
t-match, fetch
h-dhow, dhole
p-psycho, psalm
i-friend
u-quiche
Kirk   Monday, September 20, 2004, 02:35 GMT

g-sign, reign, campaign
old silent g

c-antarctica, scissors
sc = s

h-loch
both are silent

w-whine, what, why, where, when, which
not silent, the h is silent

h-yogh
both gh are silent

oe-hors doeuvr
french word, so it will be silent

second ''e'' in-were
not silent.


u-court, four, pour
only the o s silent, u has OO sound

z-buzz
no silent letter, pronounced booz

h-in-spaghetti
italian word

ps-in-corps
french world.

u-in-tour
ou has oo sound

th-in-clothes
silent because th+s would be dififcult

h-khaki
kh = k

c-in science, scent
sc = s

h-bhang
bh = b

ch-schwa
sch = sh



e-cheese, please, house, mouse, goose, loose, sense, defense, offense, tense
ee = ee



h-chemical, chord, school, choir, character, choral
ch = k

w-write, wrong, wrestle, wrest, wrap
wr = r

h-rhyme, rhinoceros, rhythm, rhotic
rh = r

c-stuck, truck, lock, stock, back, stack, sock, sack, tick, heck
ck = k


t-match, fetch
tch = ch
h-dhow, dhole
p-psycho, psalm
i-friend
u-quiche
Damian   Monday, September 20, 2004, 07:16 GMT
Indict - Indicted - Indictment - Indictable

[in'dai t] [in'dai ted] [in'dait ment] [in'dait ^bl]

To charge a person with a crime

A hapless announcer on TalkSport radio once said [in'dik ted] in a news bulletin. In the next one an hour later she pronounced it correctly. Maybe people with nothing better to do had rung up to "complain".
Damian   Monday, September 20, 2004, 07:22 GMT
There was a Hollywood film star in the 1930's who was a very attractive actress called Jean Harlow. A jealous female rival spitefully spelled out her last name saying "The T is silent as in harlot".
Elaine   Monday, September 20, 2004, 15:56 GMT
Actually, Damian, the old Hollywood lore goes like this: Jean Harlow had met the one-named actress Margot at a party but innocently (and ignorantly) kept calling her "Margott". After one "Margott" too many, an irritated Margot corrected her, "It's pronounced Margo, honey -- the 't' is silent, as in Harlo(t)".

Ah, I just love those old Hollywood "broads"!
Damian   Monday, September 20, 2004, 19:37 GMT

Oh, Elaine....thanks a lot for that....so funny! You quote it exactly! I was trying to remember something I had read in a book on sharp wit and rejoinders for cutting overblown people down to size.....from memory the book was called Acid Drops or something. I remembered it had something to do with a silent "T". I looked up Jean Harlow on the net...she died when she was only 26.....how awful!

I love quick witted repartee. Still in America then....Dorothy Parker was famous for that...like when told that the apparently boring President Coolidge had died, she asked "How can they tell?" Poor guy!

On the theme of this forum.....two Irish novelists Oscar Wilde and George Moore. Oscar said of George: "He wrote brilliant English until he discovered grammar!" There's got to be somnething in that!
Damian   Monday, September 20, 2004, 19:39 GMT
ok.... spot the typo.......
Sanja   Wednesday, September 22, 2004, 17:43 GMT
It seems to me that most words in English that have silent letters are actually foreign words. Most original English words seem pretty regular to me, but when I see a French word in English, I get lost. LOL :)
vincent   Wednesday, September 22, 2004, 18:40 GMT
It would be better pronouce them as they are written, it would be more regular.
languidMandala   Saturday, September 25, 2004, 11:45 GMT
I beg to differ on the silent h (or ch) in"loch". All Scots and Irish and some English & Welsh pronounce the ch in a similar way to the German ch in "ich". Dictionaries give the option of "loK"or "loKH" but anyone who lives near to a loch always uses the KH sound.
Fun thread though!