This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2146.
How often should you worry about English pronunciation?
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Do you often say often?
Today, find out why some native speakers have a pet peeve when it comes to this difference.
Plus, learn which one is correct in English.
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Hey there, Aubrey.
How's it going?
What's shaking?
I'm great, Lindsay.
How are you today?
I'm feeling good, but I have a key question and I bet you're going to throw it right back to me after too.
Yes.
So I'm ready.
So how do you personally, you, how do you pronounce the word often?
Yes, I say often with a silent T. I have noticed you say often.
I do.
This is interesting.
And we got a question about this.
And I really am curious to hear you guys, listeners, which do you pronounce?
Which do you hear more often?
We're going to go into this because it's a little bit controversial in the States.
Yeah, it's true.
This is fascinating.
We're going to get into a little history here, a little etymology, current opinion.
But for me, when I think about the word often, it just feels too soft to say often.
I feel like I need a hard consonant.
There is a consonant there, the F, but I need something to spring off of in my pronunciation.
I need something harder, like the T. That's just a personal quirk.
And while it's a quirk of your regional dialect, you likely you know your family probably pronounced the T and a lot of neighbors like this is very much.
A lot of pronunciation is based on where you grew up.
What you hear.
And when it comes to.
Often, if you listen to podcasts and pay attention on TV, you are going to hear both.
Like you might sort of feel like one is a little more common than the other, but you absolutely will hear both.
I'm excited.
We are recording this a few months in advance.
So candidly, I'm going to go home for Christmas and listen to everyone saying this word.
I'm going to elicit this word from my family and then take a poll and see what everyone's doing and see what's going on.
Yeah.
Yes.
Very interesting.
It reminds me of sort of either and either where some people might go back and forth, right?
And they just don't see one as correct.
They're just variants.
They're like, don't put me in a box, right?
Don't put me in a box.
Love that.
Yes.
So guys, before we get going with today's episode, we want to send you back to another winner of an episode 2125, which was how to share your faults in English.
For deeper connection,
And we think that one's important, because opening up about your drawbacks of your personality or the things you're struggling with builds connection.
And we want that for you guys.
Yeah.
If you're willing to share that.
You're not perfect, you make mistakes.
That creates such a deep bond with whoever you're talking to.
And they know you're not judging them for their imperfections.
You're admitting yours.
What a great way to deepen connections.
Yeah.
So go check it out.
2125.
All right.
We have a question from a listener.
Aubrey, could you read it for us?
Yes.
And this was in Spotify and the name was just letters and numbers.
So we can't shout you out, unfortunately, but great question.
It is.
Yes.
Hi, Lindsay, Aubrey, and Michelle.
May I ask what's the acceptable pronunciation of the word often or often?
Hope you can do an episode on this.
Thanks.
Oh, Rosie from the Philippines.
Oh, I'm glad she put her name in the question.
Great question, Rosie.
We so appreciate your questions.
Guys, if you do listen over on Spotify, you now can enter your question after any episode.
So do that because we read those every single week.
Right, Aubrey?
Yes.
Absolutely.
And guys, if you don't have the app yet, you should check it out.
If you want to follow along with the episode with the transcripts, this is such a great way to listen.
Go to allearsenglish.com slash app.
You can get it on iOS or Android.
Yeah.
And the level of detail is insane that we use on those transcripts.
Way beyond what you would see from a machine, right?
These are created by us.
These are very specific transcripts.
So go check them out.
All right.
Let's get into it.
Yeah.
Let's get into it.
All right.
So often just means frequently, right?
I often fold laundry.
What do you do often, Lindsay?
Oh, let's see.
I often take my dog for a walk in the morning.
Yeah.
Nice.
There you go, right?
Just something you do a lot frequently, right?
And like we said, there are two standard accepted pronunciations.
So where Rosie's saying like, You know, what's the acceptable pronunciation?
That's what's really interesting is like, can we even say correct pronunciation?
With some words.
It's really more about asking you know what is the standard accepted pronunciation.
And then you might want to know what that is and what are all of the different variants, so that you know which one to use.
Right, and also why.
Maybe you wanna, I think our listeners are a smart bunch.
And so you guys probably wanna know why and we're gonna talk about it today a little more context than your average person, right?
You don't want to live superficially.
You want to know why is it?
There are two ways that are actually accepted.
That's what we're going to get into today.
Yes, and it's very interesting, right?
And so when you're talking about okay, what is standard accepted for this word?
It actually depends on which dictionary you check.
In webster's dictionary, the pronunciation often with a silent t is is listed as standard accepted pronunciation and with the T is listed as a variant.
But then they have a whole interesting entry about the etymology, about why and what came first, that we're going to get into.
But other dictionaries just list them both as correct.
Right, right.
So it depends on the dictionary you ask.
But we know that Americans, specifically many of them, are passionate about the only way being silent.
T Is that right?
Yes, we've seen this.
I had posted a grammar TikTok and in the comments so many people were saying my pet peeve is when someone pronounces often with T.
But then a lot of other people were they're like what?
The only way I've ever said it is with a T. That's the correct way.
That's hilarious.
You're just used to what is said in your regional dialect and you assume that's the correct way.
Super interesting.
Okay, Aubrey, let's get deeper into this because I think there's a little history we want to know.
Can you fill us in on what we need to know here?
Yes, this is fascinating.
So up until the 1500s, the T was pronounced.
The word began as a variant of oft, which has become less common.
Sometimes I'll see this in like church music the word oft, but we don't use it much in casual conversation, right?
Right.
Or I might hear it in poetry or old literature, right?
Right.
Yes.
And so this is called the medial T when there's a T in the middle of a word like this.
And in other words like soften, hasten and fasten.
All of these were originally pronounced with the T.
You could hear the T And you know this is of course coming from that base word soft haste, fast.
And all of those T's were pronounced originally.
So really the original correct pronunciation was often soften, hasten and then kind of changed over time.
Well, this is interesting because when I look at these words, it really depends on the word, what I choose to say.
So for me, hasten, I can only imagine saying hasten.
I can't imagine saying hasten.
Oh, you say hasten.
Yeah.
Oh, that's interesting.
And we don't use this word all that often, right?
It means to do something quickly, right?
You're trying to rush.
Yeah.
And I think because we don't hear that as often, we don't realize that there are variants.
I say hasten, but I don't hear it very often.
But what about fasten?
I would never say fasten.
I would never say that.
But it's interesting to know that once upon a time, that was the correct pronunciation.
Right.
And I think for me, soften, I...
Soften, soften.
I do both for that, actually.
That's like often.
Often, soften.
Okay, this is really interesting.
And I think it's good just to know, like, you're going to hear both.
There are variations.
But as far as the history, there was...
During the 15th century is when this started changing.
English speakers stopped pronouncing some sounds within consonant clusters in the middle of words like this, just to make language easier to articulate, to be able to speak more quickly.
And so a lot of words like handsome and handkerchief.
Originally we pronounced the letters in the middle.
It was said handkerchief.
Sometimes you'll still hear people say that.
Really?
That's interesting.
So these ones have clearly changed in my mind in terms of what I hear, right?
Handsome, not hand some, right?
Not hand kerchief.
Yeah.
Raspberry.
We don't say raspberry, right?
Yes.
Once upon a time.
Yeah.
In the 15th century, that P would be pronounced, but now it's been dropped.
Also chestnut.
We would hear the T, chestnut.
Fascinating.
But a lot of English speakers started dropping those sounds in the middle of consonant clusters.
And like you've said, some of them you have kept.
So this has sort of changed in regional dialects what has been accepted.
And do we know?
I mean, we'll have to interview one of our British friends from a British podcast about this, but do we know if in British English it's closer to the older way, or are they having the same debate?
Do we know, Aubrey?
It's similar in the UK, from what I've been researching, as the US, where you'll hear both, depending on the region.
So in certain parts of the UK, you'll always hear the T often.
And I know when I was watching Downton Abbey I know I heard a couple of them they would pronounce the T often.
But in other parts of the UK, the T is silent.
So sort of similar to the United States, neither is really right or wrong.
There are two variants depending on your colloquial speech.
Okay.
Interesting.
I mean, in terms of that's makes me want to reflect on where the regions we grew up in.
I mean, I grew up in new England, which is, I think, there's a lot of parallels to British culture in terms of the architecture of this, like the way the streets are set up, the towns.
Boston is basically set up like London and it's all like windy streets, like a town, and it's new England.
I mean, it has a lot of remnants.
It's kind of a conservative part of the country, but also liberal in a weird way.
Um, I could see how New England would kind of create that pronunciation.
I'm grasping for something here.
Possibly, right?
Recognizing that it's more common in the UK and trying to hold to that a little bit.
Definitely possible.
I grew up in the Northwest and I'm going to do the same thing you are talking about.
When I get together with my family, I'm going to pay attention.
Do we all say often or do some people say often?
Because it is possible, depending if someone moves away and lives in another area for a while, they could pick up you know something from that regional dialect and change the way they say it.
Yeah, let's reconvene after the holidays and come back and take a poll.
Come with our poll results and see.
Yeah, that's for sure going to be the poll.
We want to know, do you pronounce the T or not?
Do you say often or often?
Yeah, be sure to participate in that poll, guys, so your voice is heard.
Okay, we have a role play.
Shall we do it?
Yes, and you're going to hear it both ways here if Lindsay has the option.
I think I have all of them for me.
So I'm like, nope, you don't get to say often.
Okay, nothing.
I'll say nothing.
I'll say nothing.
So you and I are discussing our morning routines in this role play.
All right, here we go.
Do you often sleep in?
Oh, no, I'm an early bird.
I usually get up around 7 a.m.
Same.
I'd love to sleep in, but even on the weekends, my children are often awake early.
What about when you're on vacation without your kids?
I don't often go on a trip without my kids.
When I do though, I still often wake up early.
My internal alarm clock won't let me sleep in.
Okay.
So I heard a lot of- I didn't do that on purpose.
I'm like, I'm keeping Lindsay from saying often in the real life.
Clearly we see which one is superior now.
I have a prejudice for the silent T. Yeah, you have a prejudice.
Yeah.
I heard a lot of, I heard the soft or the often, often I often sleep in, do you often sleep in?
Yeah.
So that is your style.
I love it.
I love it that we have some choices.
You know, I think we should quickly go through this again, with you doing my part.
Yeah.
And as I say these, I'm trying to think about what I would really say.
So here we go.
So, so Hey, Aubrey, do you often sleep in?
No, I'm an early bird.
I usually get up around seven same.
I'd love to sleep in, but even on the weekends, my children are often awake early.
What about when you're on a vacation without your kids?
I mean, i don't often go on a trip without my kids, but when i do though, i still often wake up early.
My internal alarm clock won't let me sleep in.
Yeah, so you definitely.
We heard the tea in all of them.
Yeah, although there was a moment before i said the last one where i said maybe i would say often there, i think i mix it up, I think I'm just not immune to the tea.
Like, I will add the tea in when I feel like it.
And a lot of often, the way we pronounce words is for ease of speech right, this is why it was dropped.
A lot of people found it easier to articulate without those, you know, medial consonant sounds yeah, and so often it's like the same with contractions.
We're dropping sounds in order to speak more quickly yeah, and we advocate that right.
We advocate for connection right, it's all about connection.
So, whatever you need to get your message across, focus on the whole message, not the individual words, Right.
Absolutely.
Right.
This is not something to stress about.
You'll hear natives say it both ways.
I think you'll hear this from us quite a bit, but when it comes to pronunciation, rarely is there a correct and incorrect, or at least with a lot of words, there are variants, there are accents, there are regional dialects.
So I wouldn't correct someone's pronunciation.
As long as you're understood, that's what's key.
Totally.
I mean, the language belongs to the people, right?
There's no one best accent.
There's no one right way of doing it.
So guys, focus on that connection and you will be good to go.
Love it.
Absolutely.
Yes.
Thanks, Lindsay.
This was fun.
All right.
Talk soon.
Bye.
Bye.
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