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

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

        [Off topic:]

        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
            ·
            6 months 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.