It would appear that some people pronouce font like want, and some people don’t.
I say potato, you say potahto, let’s call the whole thing off.
It isn’t dead because I for one have heard it used on numerous occasions, always pronounced similarly (though not quite exactly) to want.
On the other hand, most of the people who I’ve heard use it were very old law profs who’s only wet dream in life was to find a time machine that could take them back to 17th century England, where I presume they think they would fit in. So perhaps it is dead.
I’m not saying that I’ve ever heard the “won’t” pronunciation, but I am saying some dictionaries give different pronunciations for the word.
There are other words people mispronounce:
- potable
- denouement
- penchant
- barbiturate
- turmeric
- et cetera
- asterisk
- prerogative
- pronunciation
- prostrate/prostate
- recur
- respite
Wean is another word for a bairn. Pronounced like wane.
As in: “Senga, the weans huv bin at yir Buckie again, 'n’raa pished ootay thir heids.”
Wean is another word for a bairn. Pronounced like wane.
As in: “Senga, the weans huv bin at yir Buckie again, 'n’raa pished ootay thir heids.”[/quote]
I thought it meant “child” and that it was pronounced like “Ben” with a long e-sound.
Then again, it depends how you pronounce “wane”.
Wean is another word for a bairn. Pronounced like wane.
As in: “Senga, the weans huv bin at yir Buckie again, 'n’raa pished ootay thir heids.”[/quote]
Heddawayanshy!
If you get words like this out of the dictionary and use them just to act snotty, it’s pretentious. If you grew up in a well-educated family using the word as part of the normal vocabulary, it’s normal usage. :loco: :p[/quote]
Then by that conclusion, I’m wont to say that you’re wrong. I’ve used “wont” in posts before as well as in speaking (let me dig for a bit…brb)…
Uh…the results are embarrassing. 
The one time I’ve used it in a public forum on forumosa, I used it incorrectly to say that I was less likely rather than more likely…but I got the collocation for it right so I am wont to say that I’ve seen it in modern English.
I blame my uneducated family and the ‘nt’ at the end that makes it seem negative. My problem is that I get a lot of my language from reading but since I use contect clues, I don’t really get the actual meaning of the word, but rather the deduced meaning of it. You essentially only gleam the pragmatic surface of language when you learn through reading.
However, I must add that all this morosophy only makes you people sound very altiloquent. I wish you people would stop all of your galimitias or I shall be forced to face another sisyphean night of lucubrating on forumosa.
If you get words like this out of the dictionary and use them just to act snotty, it’s pretentious. If you grew up in a well-educated family using the word as part of the normal vocabulary, it’s normal usage. :loco: :p[/quote]
Then by that conclusion, I’m wont to say that you’re wrong. I’ve used “wont” in posts before as well as in speaking (let me dig for a bit…brb)…[/quote]
My point is that using ‘wont’ is not necessarily pretentious as TC claims. Pretentiousness is in the attitude and not in the words one naturally uses. 
My family says I am pretentious because I use the words that I learn instead using simpler ones which often don’t reflect the shades of meaning I want to express. I was only calling foul on the idea that learning words when it’s not something you grew up with is not necessarily pretentious, but now that you’ve explained your post, I find that I was simply preaching to the choir.
[quote=“ImaniOU”]
However, I must add that all this morosophy only makes you people sound very altiloquent. I wish you people would stop all of your galimitias or I shall be forced to face another sisyphean night of lucubrating on forumosa.[/quote]
Can you translate that? 
You missed ‘lucubrating’. 
I basically said, “Cut the stupid shit cause it makes you all look like idiots and I don’t want to waste my time responding to your silly asses tonight.”
Sorry to create such an imbroglio. 
I didn’t get that from my family, but I have had friends along the way who felt this way, which is of course unfortunate. Communication of ideas shouldn’t be restricted to 7 colors.
Yeah, sorry – I certainly didn’t mean you have to grow up with them to use them. Later acquisition of words is of course valid – the point being that precision, clarity, color and richness of expression are valid reasons for using ‘big’ words. Arrogance is not. The OA (original accuser) would do well to learn the difference.
I didn’t get that from my family, but I have had friends along the way who felt this way, which is of course unfortunate. Communication of ideas shouldn’t be restricted to 7 colors.[/quote]
Oh god, this reminds me of an ex-gf from eons ago. She was like that - she never liked it when I used language she didn’t consider “ordinary”. I remember she was pissed off at me because I said “acne pimples”. She yelled, “Why couldn’t you just say ‘zits’?” 
I didn’t get that from my family either - they’re academics.
Other words and phrases my ex couldn’t get her tiny little brain around:
go through the motions
revel
conducive
moratorium
contributing factor
office politics
free spirit
“You’d think…”
efficient
She was a weirdo. There’s a reason she’s my “ex”.
Yeah, well, if we’re gonna get into nightmare ex’s, here’s mine:
“On de plane, I sat next to Bin Lah-dehn. Yeh.
Neber like does In-di-yan, noh.”
Hey, she was young and hot. Real hot. What can I say? :help:
I’ve since focused on dating smart, philosophically sophisticated girls. Still young and hot, though. 
We all have our weaknesses, noh?
[quote=“Chris”]Other words and phrases my ex couldn’t get her tiny little brain around:
go through the motions
revel
conducive
moratorium
contributing factor
office politics
free spirit
“You’d think…”
efficient
She was a weirdo. There’s a reason she’s my “ex”.[/quote]
Wow. I think I need to go do a little lucubration after hearing words like these.
***Edit:
I just finished lucubrating some more. Wanna see the results?
Most of the things we don’t agree about today crept into English because a lack of highly educated university staff a few decades ago:
Maybe it is time we classed American English as a seperate language and called it something different. Spanish and Portuguese are similar enough for speakers to understand eachother as are Mandarin and Cantonese (on the whole) why not English and Yankee?
I believe that Latin died out because it became too widespread and thus overly localised. Ask an African and a Singaporean to converse in English and you may also be convinced that the end of English is nigh. Lets just separate the bastardisations now and we may have a chance at least of making it as a language of historical importance.
Obviously in future we will all speak some weird combination of Spanish, Chinese and English street slang, which is OK if that is progress.
A new question:
How do you use the word four-square and what does it really mean?
[quote=“AAF”]A new question:
How do you use the word four-square and what does it really mean?[/quote]
Four square and seven years ago, our forefathers… 
[quote=“Dragonbones”][quote=“AAF”]A new question:
How do you use the word four-square and what does it really mean?[/quote]
Four square and seven years ago, our forefathers… :p[/quote]
He got me four and square, yer honour.
Oh…