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Although I am not necessarily proud of it, my heritage is from Philadelphia. I am proud of my earnest attempt (over these 40+ years) to shake that tell-tale accent.
I no longer pronounce dog as if it was spelled 'dawg' or water as if it was spelled with two O's and a D.
What stil lingers, however, with the word OFTEN is the pronunciation of the 'T'.
I would like to elicit a vote from every one who reads this: When YOU say "often", can we hear the sound of the 'T'?
"I am certain there is too much certainty in the world" -Michael Crichton
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Carpal Tunnel
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There is no t in my pronunciation of often.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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veteran
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"When YOU say "often", can we hear the sound of the 'T'?Not offen in Alabama. Except when we are asked a question that requires the answer "often". In that case you would always hear the "t". "Offentimes" is always spoken without a "t" except, of course, for the "t" in "times". And rightly so. 
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I don't pronounce the T. Until your post, Parkin, I thought it was an affectation. I'll see if I can find a pronunciation map (if Zm doesn't beat me to it!)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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there is a T in offen? next you'll be saying that there is no such word as juring (as in Juring the performance, the children behind me giggled and kicked the back of my seat)
(there have been freds about this sort of stuff before)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Juring is Brit pronunciation, and I expect ofTen is, too, for the most part.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Quote:
Juring is Brit pronunciation, and I expect ofTen is, too, for the most part.
I ain't no Brit, subhaan Allah, but "juring" is how it's normally said here, unless one is striving for deliberate over-enunciation of the sort associated (in the traditional K1W1 psyche at any rate) with an attempt at emulating Brits. As for offen, the "t" is ofTen heard when one is emphasising the point, otherwise it is offen unsaid.
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old hand
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old hand
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There is indeed a tendency to soffen the t
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Carpal Tunnel
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I do not pronounce the t in soften or listen either. Mor the b in debt or subtle. Pronouncing the t in often is a recent hypercorrection.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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formerly known as etaoin...
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He fell asleep juring the adagio.
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addict
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Some North Americans often say the following:
IN-ah-net (Internet)
moun-IN (mountain)
IN-ah-res-ted (interested)
IN-ah-national (international)
I think this is called a "glottal stop". Is this characteristic of any particular region of the States?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Quote:
He fell asleep juring the adagio.
I have never heard juring for during in my life.
formerly known as etaoin...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Quote:
Quote:
He fell asleep juring the adagio.
I have never heard juring for during in my life.
That's because you live in the US... as established in previous posts, it's Brit and Zild pronunciation, at the least. Kinda like Tuesday (Chews-dy). Only different. 
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Carpal Tunnel
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yeahbut®, I seen some tv?
formerly known as etaoin...
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Carpal Tunnel
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a "glottal stop"
When I've heard interesting pronounced without the t in the States, it's not replaced with a glottal stop, as in Cockney, but has assimilated to an n: /Inn@rEsn/ rather than /In?@rEsn/.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Carpal Tunnel
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up heres in Vermont, we get those that say mitten and kitten, etc., all weird-like. makes my mouth go all funny when I try it.
formerly known as etaoin...
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Pooh-Bah
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Without actually having Googled it, I was under the impression that the "t" was originally a misspelling, and as a former prescriptivist I was appalled that apparently most folk now pronounce it
The pronunciation [off ten]is not uncommon among the educated in some sections, and is often used in singing--Merriam Collegiate 1956
dalehileman
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I was under the impression that the "t" was originally a misspellingFWIW, the t in often (NB, good historical note), alteration of oft (from Old English oft from PIE * up-) is etymologically sound. It just wasn't sounded often until recently. Spelling influencing pronounciation happens often in English: e.g., perfect was pronounced parfit in Middle English when it was borrowed from French, but then the etymologically-based spelling took over (another French fashion,, and now that c is pronounced.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Right you are about spelling/pronounciation thing.
Waistcoat (a sleeveless garment that ends about at the waist) is called a W'skit in UK.
in US, a Waistcoat is a waist coat. and an alternate word a vest is Weskit. the word weskit was created to match how Waistcoat was pronounced.
the first time i saw Jane Eyre, i was startled by the character Syngin.. (where the hell did he come from?) eventually i realized that St. John was pronounced Syngin!
(grindstone in US is Grind Stone--not grin d stin)
and Hempstead (a town and road on LI is Hemp (like the fiber) stead (like instead with out the in.)
and just how is the town called "chumley" really spelt?
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Carpal Tunnel
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how is the town called "chumley" really spelt?
Cholmondeley.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Pooh-Bah
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Is that near Wuster where they make the steak sauce?
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makes my mouth go all funny Ooh, can I watch? A British friend of mine says Chewsday, which I thought was kind of odd...until I noticed that I say temperachur. Also, I like to watch the cooking lady from Georgia on TV, because I like (usually) to hear the way she talks; she says tempa-tour. Oh yes, the original ?: again, I say offen.
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Carpal Tunnel
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heh.
I hadn't thought about temperature. probably a bunch more of those iffen I was to think about it.
and the whole offen thing makes me think of Pirates of Penzance. there's a schtick about often-orphan.
formerly known as etaoin...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Some North Americans often say the following:
IN-ah-net (Internet)
moun-IN (mountain)
IN-ah-res-ted (interested)
IN-ah-national (international)
I think this is called a "glottal stop". Is this characteristic of any particular region of the States?
Harumph! Those pronunciations are just careless...and for those of us who are deaf or hard of hearing they are frustrating.
What ever happened to enunciation? Harumph!
The imprecise pronunciation is not a glottal stop. A GS is a specific intonation most often heard in US in Hawai'i where the stop is annotated by a backwards apostrope which is not on my keyboard.
It looks like this Liliu'okalani - the name of Hawai'i's last queen...pronounced Lily-oo(stop)oh-ka-lani with the accent on the oh ka. [The oo like the end of you !]
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