Why do we often see a letter that we don't pronounce?
It's a strange word because it also has that image of coming off the rails.
You would think you do not want to be re-railed, you would think you want to remain on the track,
and yet sports writers have come to use this phrase to come untracked.
Coming up on Word Matters, a disputed pronunciation and the language of getting out of a rut.
I'm Emily Brewster and Word Matters is produced by Merriam-Webster in collaboration with New England Public Media.
On each episode, Marian Webster editors Neil Servin, Amin Shea, Peter Sakalowski,
and I explore some aspect of the English language from the dictionary's vantage point.
Show of hands.
When you want to say that something occurs frequently,
do you say it happens often, or does it happen often?
Is one pronunciation more correct than the other?
Here's Peter Sokolowski on a common adverb said two ways.
So how do you pronounce the word OFTEN?
That's my question.
Orly.
I say often.
I say often.
I don't pronounce the T that's in often, but we know it's spelled OFTEN.
And there's a very fair question.