• Nelots@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      7 days ago

      In that persons comment, they removed several “silent” e’s, but all but one changed the word’s pronunciation. I was talking about them. Like the E in hate. It doesn’t make a sound itself, so isn’t it still silent?

      • optional@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        7 days ago

        It’s not silent, but in the wrong place. Haet would be more correct, as it changes the pronunciation from [hæt] to [heɪt]. Hait might be an even better way to write it (see also: bait, maid, laid etc.)

        English is a weird language.

        • bleistift2@sopuli.xyz
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          7 days ago

          English is three languages wearing a trench coat and pretending to be one.

          I just now realized that the word “trench” is in “trench coat”.

          […] heavy-duty fabric,[1] originally developed for British Army officers before the First World War, and becoming popular while used in the trenches, hence the name trench coat.

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trench_coat

            • bleistift2@sopuli.xyz
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              5 days ago

              In my mind, “trench coat” was always a single word. I never noticed that it is two words, one of them being trench, as in war infrastructure. It was interesting to find that out.