this post was submitted on 06 Jul 2024
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[–] [email protected] 17 points 4 months ago (3 children)

I don't mind silent e's, they do actually change the way words are pronounced at least.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

They work like an e after a vowel, making it a long vowel, but with a letter in between. They have absolutely no reason to exist as haet is pronounced the same as hate but has the letters in a more logical order.

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

haet would be pronounced “heat” like in “haemoglobin” and “haematoma”

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

The ae in haemoglobin is pronounced like the a-e in hate.

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

You linked a diffent word. However, a quick google shows that the Brits and Americans pronounce it like you are saying. Over here in aus I've only heard it pronounced the way I said it was pronounced.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

You linked a diffent word.

You mean because Merriam-Webster defaults to the American spelling? If you search for Haemoglobin, you’re redirected instantly.

Over here in aus I’ve only heard it pronounced the way I said it was pronounced.

Is there an accepted online dictionary that lists Australian pronunciation and word use? What do you use to look things up?

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

Magic Es they taught them to me as. Come to think of it as an adult a magic e could mean something entirely different...

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

If they are silent, they don't chang the pronunciaton, becaus if they do they are not silent.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

In that persons comment, they removed several "silent" e's, but all but one changed the word's pronunciation. I was talking about them. Like the E in hate. It doesn't make a sound itself, so isn't it still silent?

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

It's not silent, but in the wrong place. Haet would be more correct, as it changes the pronunciation from [hæt] to [heɪt]. Hait might be an even better way to write it (see also: bait, maid, laid etc.)

English is a weird language.

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

English is three languages wearing a trench coat and pretending to be one.

[Off topic:]

I just now realized that the word “trench” is in “trench coat”.

[…] heavy-duty fabric,[1] originally developed for British Army officers before the First World War, and becoming popular while used in the trenches, hence the name trench coat.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trench_coat

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

I don't get it - what about "trench" being in "trench coat" ..?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

In my mind, “trench coat” was always a single word. I never noticed that it is two words, one of them being trench, as in war infrastructure. It was interesting to find that out.