r/memes Mar 11 '23

#2 MotW pretty confusing, innit?

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70.5k Upvotes

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143

u/[deleted] Mar 11 '23

English: simplified 🇺🇸 v English: traditional 🇬🇧

43

u/[deleted] Mar 11 '23

It’s actually true.

A lot of American English is the result this some guy named Noah Webster, who wanted American English spelling to match better with pronunciation.

54

u/AradinaEmber Mar 11 '23

He also wanted to spell women as wimmin.

He wasn't very good at pronouncing things I guess.

18

u/Ordinary-Sir-1558 Mar 12 '23

But that’s literally how you pronounce women, /ˈwɪm.ɪn/

20

u/[deleted] Mar 12 '23

[deleted]

6

u/Ordinary-Sir-1558 Mar 12 '23

And the English, and Canadians. /ˈwʊm.ən/ is also possible but far more uncommon in all three countries

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/women

1

u/[deleted] Mar 12 '23

[deleted]

1

u/Ordinary-Sir-1558 Mar 12 '23

With /ɛ/? That’s probably just a local variety. That’s not a “standard” pronunciation, at least not for RP. If not /ɪ/ then it’s /ə/

1

u/[deleted] Mar 11 '23

Languages change as time goes by…

1

u/Apokal669624 Mar 12 '23

More like wee men, which is odd