How To Pronounce “Often”
As a linguist, I believe that there are no real “rules” for language. There are only sets of evolving tendencies and commonly accepted speech-habits. Linguistics, as a field of study, does not strive to be prescriptive (that is, telling people how they should speak), but rather descriptive (that is, telling people how they do speak).
Yesterday, Larissa and I were talking about the “proper” way to pronounce often. When I was younger, I never pronounced the [t] in the middle of the word. But in my adult years, whether through a shift in our culture’s constantly evolving speech patterns, or maybe because there is a growing perception that pronouncing the [t] is a more “formal” or “refined” way of speaking, I have found myself more often than not pronouncing this word with the [t].
Larissa herself was a little confused as to whether or not the [t] should be pronounced, and couldn’t quite remember if she had been pronouncing the [t] her whole life, or just for the last few years. As a compromise, I decided to exercise my rights as a linguist and modify the pronunciation of often to a third form that we can all agree upon: offenton.
So now it is up to you, my loyal readers, to spread the use of this new word, and forever silence the questions of how to say often. I think if we use this new pronunciation offenton enough, it’ll really catch on.
I will stick with the common (and properly pronounced) usage of the word. However, I will continue in my quest to make your invention of ‘kick-asser’ an actual adjective.
Comment by Bart Wang — August 7, 2006 @ 9:57 pm
In norwegian we say “ofte”
As an english speaking norwegian i say “often” with a t but i will give “offenton” a try:P
Comment by Sander — August 8, 2006 @ 5:52 pm
When I was little and had my easy piano Phantom of the Opera book (ha) there was one phrase that had the word ‘often’ in it, but since it was lyrical it was with a hyphen so that it fell under the appropriate note: of-ten. Call me dumb, but I didn’t put it together that the word was actually “often” and would pronounce it ov TEN. EmPHAsis on the wrong sylABle. Funny how when you separate parts of words they can be pronounced completely different. I’m not really sure if that applies to your post…but…ummmm………
Comment by Lorraine — August 11, 2006 @ 3:54 pm