The Grammar of Politics Thread - Page 8 - Politics and Society -- Two Plus Two Poker Forums

In American English we would pronounce it if it's singular but if it's plural the /t/ disappears. Interesting. Perhaps there are some dialects of American English where that's not the case so I'm mostly speaking for myself here.

Quote

03-06-2024 , 12:50 PM

#177

Didace

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 19,890

How about often or gift?

Quote

03-06-2024 , 12:51 PM

#178

chezlaw

Limey Bastard

Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 46,913

For the official position on caring:

Quote

03-06-2024 , 12:51 PM

#179

Didace

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 19,890

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luckbox Inc

In American English we would pronounce... I'm mostly speaking for myself here.

Interesting dichotomy.

Quote

03-06-2024 , 12:51 PM

#180

Luckbox Inc

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 61,116

Quote:

Originally Posted by d2_e4

I didn't get this one when I heard it about 25 years ago, but I feel I should get half points because I was looking at the right ending. Probably from playing scrabble at a high-ish amateur level.

I'll tell you now that it is longer than 10 letters.

Is the ending "-ings"?

Quote

03-06-2024 , 12:54 PM

#181

d2_e4

certifiable moron

Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 12,165

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luckbox Inc

Is the ending "-ings"?

No, but I like your line of thinking.

Quote

03-06-2024 , 12:55 PM

#182

d2_e4

certifiable moron

Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 12,165

Quote:

Originally Posted by chezlaw

For the official position on caring:

Chez, thank you for introducing me to a brand new experience - being in agreement with you.

Quote

03-06-2024 , 01:00 PM

#183

Luckbox Inc

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 61,116

Quote:

Originally Posted by Didace

How about often or gift?

In "often" everything is pronounced. But with "gifts" (in the plural), I think it's going to be pretty slight. Something is going on there but it's definitely not a fully realized /t/.

Quote

03-06-2024 , 01:04 PM

#184

chezlaw

Limey Bastard

Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 46,913

Quote:

Originally Posted by d2_e4

Chez, thank you for introducing me to a brand new experience - being in agreement with you.

It'll get boring after a while

Quote

03-06-2024 , 01:05 PM

#185

d2_e4

certifiable moron

Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 12,165

Quote:

Originally Posted by d2_e4

No, but I like your line of thinking.

Also it's not a plural. Not even a noun, in fact.

Quote

03-06-2024 , 01:09 PM

#186

Luckbox Inc

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 61,116

Quote:

Originally Posted by d2_e4

Also it's not a plural. Not even a noun, in fact.

Is it a medical condition?

Quote

03-06-2024 , 01:13 PM

#187

d2_e4

certifiable moron

Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 12,165

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luckbox Inc

Is it a medical condition?

No. It's not a massively obscure word.

Quote

03-06-2024 , 01:21 PM

#188

chillrob

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 20,995

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luckbox Inc

Strength was what I was looking for and I didn't consider making it a plural noun----but I don't think the "ng" is a single phoneme there like it is in a word like "tangy"-- there is a 'release' with the g when the tongue moves from your velum to between your teeth-- you could pronounce it without the release but no one does.

In "scripts", the t there is just silent. "Scrimps" works though.

Do you pronounce "scripts" the same as "scrips"? I don't think I do.

Quote

03-06-2024 , 01:23 PM

#189

chezlaw

Limey Bastard

Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 46,913

obfuscating

Can I post obfuscatingly?

Quote

03-06-2024 , 01:31 PM

#190

d2_e4

certifiable moron

Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 12,165

Quote:

Originally Posted by chezlaw

obfuscating

Can I post obfuscatingly?

Very good. There is a longer one though.

Quote

03-06-2024 , 01:39 PM

#191

d2_e4

certifiable moron

Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 12,165

Quote:

Originally Posted by chillrob

Do you pronounce "scripts" the same as "scrips"? I don't think I do.

Definitely sounds like it could be some country bumpkin thing. Like rural Tennessee or some ****.

Quote

03-06-2024 , 01:41 PM

#192

Luckbox Inc

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 61,116

Quote:

Originally Posted by chillrob

Do you pronounce "scripts" the same as "scrips"? I don't think I do.

Yeah I'm pretty sure I do. I might try producing some spectrograms later to see what is going on there but I don't have an external microphone with me so it might be difficult.

Quote

03-06-2024 , 01:46 PM

#193

chillrob

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 20,995

Quote:

Originally Posted by d2_e4

Very good. There is a longer one though.

How many letters?

Longer than obfuscatingly? I don't know if that is really proper English, though there are plenty of uses online.

Quote

03-06-2024 , 01:48 PM

#194

d2_e4

certifiable moron

Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 12,165

Quote:

Originally Posted by chillrob

How many letters?

Longer than obfuscatingly? I don't know if that is really proper English, though there are plenty of uses online.

15 letters. It is an adjective. Think suitable prefixes and endings for maximum padding. Or in other words, find a long enough noun or verb and then pad it out.

Last edited by d2_e4; 03-06-2024 at 02:03 PM.

Quote

03-06-2024 , 01:49 PM

#195

Luckbox Inc

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 61,116

Quote:

Originally Posted by chillrob

How many letters?

Longer than obfuscatingly? I don't know if that is really proper English, though there are plenty of uses online.

But zero hits in the COCA.

Quote

03-06-2024 , 01:58 PM

#196

chillrob

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 20,995

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luckbox Inc

But zero hits in the COCA.

What is that?

Quote

03-06-2024 , 02:00 PM

#197

d2_e4

certifiable moron

Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 12,165

Upon googling, there is a really obscure answer with 17 letters which is definitely not the word I'm thinking of. There is also a second pretty obscure answer with 15 letters which is also not the word I'm thinking of. The word I am thinking of is not hugely obscure, certainly not for its length, i.e. it is gettable for the posters ITT.

Quote

03-06-2024 , 02:04 PM

#198

Luckbox Inc

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 61,116

Quote:

Originally Posted by chillrob

What is that?

The Corpus of Contemporary America English hosted by BYU-- it's a 1 billion word sampling of American english that allows you to search for word usage and phraseology. It requires a login to access but no academic affiliation. I use it all the time to settle debates about what is "correct"-- since there isn't really such a thing only what is used and what isn't.

It's how I was determining that "could care less" is used 11x more than "couldn't care less" in American english.

https://www.english-corpora.org/coca/

Quote

03-06-2024 , 02:16 PM

#199

Didace

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 19,890

Quote:

Originally Posted by d2_e4

The word I am thinking of is not hugely obscure, certainly not for its length,

How would a longer length calibrate how obscure a word is?

Quote

03-06-2024 , 02:26 PM

#200

d2_e4

certifiable moron

Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 12,165

Quote:

Originally Posted by Didace

How would a longer length calibrate how obscure a word is?

Obviously longer words tend to be more obscure (i.e. encountered less frequently in speech or writing) than shorter words, so when gauging the relative obscurity of a word it makes sense to weigh it on a scale of words of similar length. "Going" is more common than "circumlocutory", but that doesn't tell us much about the obscurity of the latter, relatively speaking.

Quote

Page 8 of 9

First

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Last

Post Reply Subscribe

...

Page 8 of 9

First

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Last