Quizzes & Puzzles4 mins ago
The Strength Question.
60 Answers
For over 50 years living in the UK I have been pronouncing strength as 'strenth'. Recently on BBC 4 I have heard the Open University people saying strength with a hard 'g' between the 'stren' and the 'th'.
Have I been guilty of mispronunciation all these years?
Have I been guilty of mispronunciation all these years?
Answers
I used to know someone who pronounced the p in psalm and pseudo and the l in calm. think lazyness and mis-hearing over the generations causes words to be pronouned differenly from their spelling - they must have been spelt that way for a reason.
As an opposite to omitting letters, when I moved down south from Lancashire I discovered there was an r in saw and law.
As an opposite to omitting letters, when I moved down south from Lancashire I discovered there was an r in saw and law.
I don't pronounce the H separately, Tilly, but the blowing WH sound I use is different from W. I remember the OED used to give the pronunciation of "when" as "hwen", and that seems about right. I've never been bothered by wen, or strenth, but I say strength as if it was strenkth - a very hard G, I suppose.