Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.

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There's probably a word I've been pronouncing wrong my whole life that I don't know about (discuss.tchncs.de)

submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Just based on how often I notice someone mispronounce a word without realizing it (or have done so myself and realized it later). Statistically I'm probably still doing it with some word.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

You CAN pronounce it fish, but you can also just simply not pronounce it.

GH is pronounced _ like in high.

O is pronounced _ like in jeopardy.

T is pronounced _ like in potpourri.

I is pronounced _ like in receive.

Therefore, ghoti is completely silent.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Fun fact: every letter except V can be pronounced silently.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

That's interesting! How about Q?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Lacquer. (Which I believe is the only word in English with a silent Q. Proper nouns don't count.)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Do you mean stuff like acquire? There are a good bunch of 'cq' words.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

No, the C is silent in "acquire." Otherwise, it'd be pronounced "akire."

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

Got it, thanks.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

T is pronounced _ like in potpourri.

Kind of a cop-out, since that's a straight-up French loanword. "Soften" would be better. Or "often," if not for the fact that it's so commonly mispronounced.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

True! I just remembered that there was a way to make the whole word silent but didn't remember the T bit so I looked it up. This was the first example. Soften is much better!