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You can change the spelling of one word in the English language to match how they are pronounced. What word do you pick? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by ericbomb@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

393 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I'm picking "Colonel" needs to be respelled to match how it's pronounced.

Try to pick a word no one else has picked. What word are you respelling?

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[–] EssentialCoffee@midwest.social 21 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You and I pronounce 'quay' very differently.

[–] khannie@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

How do you pronounce it? I had some American tourists ask me for directions to the "kway" before. Only time I've ever heard a different pronunciation.

[–] Telcontar@lemmy.today 6 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I've always heard it pronounced kway... Is that wrong?

[–] khannie@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

I can't say really. Where I live (Ireland) it's definitely pronounced "kee" but where you live "kway" might be correct. Fascinating stuff!

[–] Nemo@midwest.social 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's wrong, even in the US.

[–] electrorocket@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's pronounced kway in a Pavement song.

[–] Nemo@midwest.social 5 points 1 year ago

It's pronounced "kaye" in a Pogues song, but songs aren't a good indication of pronunciation...poetic license reigns.

Hell, "reigns" is another candidate word.

[–] WhoRoger@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

In my dictionary spelling is [ki:] so like "kee"

[–] Pipoca@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Quay is one of those words like bowline or boatswain that's commonly mispronounced because people see it in writing without hearing it said. Bowline "properly" rhymes with pin, and boatswain sounds like bosun.

A similar thing happened to solder in Britain, where it originally had a silent l as a nod to its Latin etymology, but some people started pronouncing it.