Been in the bin?

Guest   Sat Feb 18, 2006 7:40 am GMT
Pronouncing "been" as though it were spelt "bin" has become common in recent years, yet "seen" hasn't become "sin".

How do you pronounce "been"?
Uriel   Sat Feb 18, 2006 7:57 am GMT
As "bin".
Guest   Sat Feb 18, 2006 8:41 am GMT
May I ask why you would do that? Is not the difference in spelling a strong pointer to a difference in pronunciation?
Kelly O.   Sat Feb 18, 2006 12:05 pm GMT
been = ben
ring = rang
Steve   Sat Feb 18, 2006 5:08 pm GMT
I pronounce "been" exactly the same as "bin". Yep, that pronunciation has bin becoming common here.
Steve   Sat Feb 18, 2006 5:12 pm GMT
<<May I ask why you would do that?>>

Why what? Why I'd pronounce "been" as "bin"?
Steve   Sat Feb 18, 2006 5:16 pm GMT
<<Is not the difference in spelling a strong pointer to a difference in pronunciation?>>

Nope. "too", "to" and "two" are all spelt differently, but pronounced the same way. Nothing different applies to "been" and "bin".
Steve M.   Sat Feb 18, 2006 5:34 pm GMT
Pronouncing "been" as "bin" never causes confusion. No one's ever misunderstood me because I didn't distinguish "been" and "bin".
Damian in Edinburgh   Sat Feb 18, 2006 5:36 pm GMT
As in "been" which rhymes with "bean" which rhymes with "clean" which rhymes with "mean" which rhymes with "lean" and so on ad infinitum.

Big fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em,
And little fleas have smaller fleas,
And so on ad infinitum....

**"seen" hasn't become "sin"**
Depends what you're looking at.
Uriel   Sat Feb 18, 2006 6:15 pm GMT
It's the nature of very common words to sometimes get simplified, and that's what has happened to "been" for many people. (Spelling in English is often NOT a good clue as to pronunciation!)

You will see this phenomenon in other words like "says" (pronounced "sez"), and "said" (pr. "sed").
Travis   Sat Feb 18, 2006 7:48 pm GMT
At least here, "been" and "bin" are always homophones, being pronounced as [bI~:n].

And yes, as Uriel says, it is very common for, well, very common wordforms to have pronunciations that do not fit how they are written at all, or in the case of the past tense/past participle forms of common weak verbs, to be irregular.
american nic   Sat Feb 18, 2006 10:40 pm GMT
I pronounce 'been' and 'Ben' the same...not like 'bin'.
Guest   Sat Feb 18, 2006 10:50 pm GMT
It's not common here (Aus). Here "been" rhymes with "seen".
Mr. Fields   Sun Feb 19, 2006 1:15 am GMT
<<It's not common here (Aus). Here "been" rhymes with "seen".>>

Well I'm from Australia and I do pronounce "been" as "bin" in fast speech.
Guest   Sun Feb 19, 2006 6:15 am GMT
I didn't say it wasn't heard here, just that it is not common, although it may be frequently heard from those who have had few birthdays.