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Thread ID: 146456 2018-08-08 23:07:00 They don't know the difference Roscoe (6288) PC World Chat
Post ID Timestamp Content User
1452433 2018-08-09 10:54:00 You obviously did not read what I wrote. I reiterate - woman is pronounced as it is written, women is pronounced "wimmen." Surely that's simple enough for your tiny brain?

:lol:

All part of the language ;)
pcuser42 (130)
1452434 2018-08-09 22:20:00 Roscoe - it pi$$es me off, too :)

A bit like "any think" instead of "any thing" :(
Zippity (58)
1452435 2018-08-09 23:08:00 Yup ...

who's instead of whose
loose instead of lose
fink instead of think
their instead of there
there instead of their
of instead of off
to instead of too

In short, the stuff of social media (and without pointing the finger, on these pages by some regular contributors). Speech or prose sometimes - if you're lucky - peppered with funny malapropisms, but far too often being just ignorant misuse of the language. Or laziness. Or too much influence from (particularly) American TV.

I just held up social media as blameworthy, but on reflection, it's not entirely its domain. MSM is just as guilty these days.
WalOne (4202)
1452436 2018-08-10 08:21:00 It's not a matter of evolving - it's just ignorance. It's mispronunciation. That simple. If you don't pronounce the two words differently, how is one to know just what you are talking about?

Who says it is pronounced "wimmen"? and besides the difference is in the context. Exactly as the difference between red (the colour) and read (the book); between lead (the metal) and led (up the garden path).
decibel (11645)
1452437 2018-08-10 10:07:00 Who says it is pronounced "wimmen"? and besides the difference is in the context. Exactly as the difference between red (the colour) and read (the book); between lead (the metal) and led (up the garden path).

English was never meant to be easy, and here's some complications:

Noun ... red (the colour) - pronounced "red"
Past tense ... read (a book) - pronounced "red"
Present tense ... read (a book) - pronounced "reed"

and

Noun ... lead (the metal) - pronounced "led"
Past tense ... led (the way)- pronounced "led"
Present tense ... lead (the way) - pronounced "leed"

So, your broad brush about context is correct although only in the singular / plural sense in the example. The two words are different: essentially one is singular (woman) and the other is plural (women), both following from the male "man" and "men". The difference is more a product of our local (NZ) vowel pronunciation.

Confusing? Think how it must be to those whose native language is not English.
WalOne (4202)
1452438 2018-08-10 20:58:00 Y
of instead of off
.

of instead of have.

As in "should of", instead of should have.
piroska (17583)
1452439 2018-08-10 23:40:00 Listening to some people on the radio and television I hear that they don't know the difference in pronunciation between "woman" and "women."

"Woman" is pronounced as it is spelt and "women" is pronounced "wimmen" and yet some people pronounce them the same.:waughh:

It seems as though some people's education is lacking and they just don't know the difference. It's appalling. :(

+1 to that. And more often than not, it's the women doing the mispronouncing. On National Radio, anyway.
rumpty (2863)
1452440 2018-08-11 02:34:00 I call them war-men cause they always beat me in a battle. Kame (312)
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