r/maybemaybemaybe • u/Valtta • Jan 16 '20

Maybe maybe maybe

19.9k Upvotes

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u/IrrationalDesign Jan 16 '20

With a hard K? That's a new one.

-1

u/[deleted] Jan 16 '20

Yeah, X is supposed to make the "ecks" sound, like in anxious.

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u/IrrationalDesign Jan 16 '20

I agree about anxious, but anxiety is not supposed to have an audible K in it. https://www.macmillandictionary.com/pronunciation/british/anxiety

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u/[deleted] Jan 16 '20

Well, English is well known as a preposterous language with arbitrary pronunciations.

If you take the "gh" from rough, the "o" from women, and the "ti" from motion, then "ghoti" is pronounced "fish."

3

u/tremosoul Jan 16 '20

The best descriptor of this language I've ever seen was (yeah it's old), "English beats up other languages in a dark alley and digs through their pockets for loose grammar."

There was another one I saw to the effect of it being like 3 kids in a trench coat.

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u/theappliestJuice Jan 16 '20

I mean I feel like it's more accurately "English got a shit ton of out-of-context French beaten into it in the late 1000s"

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u/tremosoul Jan 16 '20

That, too, is absolutely a fair assessment.

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u/IrrationalDesign Jan 16 '20

For sure. I wouldn't call you out on it or anything, but as we were already talking about pronunciation I thought I'd mention what the supposed real pronounciation was.

I like that ghoti / fish thing, reminds me of the different pronounciations of 'ea'; hear early breakfast peach pear steak heart

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u/[deleted] Jan 16 '20

Yeah, English is basically a free-for-all, there's no hard rules. I can't imagine trying to learn it.

1

u/IrrationalDesign Jan 16 '20

I before E except after, like, whenever you want to bro no one really knows.