Two great questions for this week’s post.
Marko Filipović wants to know what the deal is with pronouncing the t in often. He’s a non-native speaker and was taught that the t is silent, but now notices many natives pronouncing the t.
Truth to tell, Marko, while it certainly doesn’t hurt anything or anyone for often to be pronounced “off-ten,” it’s an example of how writing can inhibit natural language change and force people into what we might artfully call arbitrary reticences, where my “art” is in appealing to the fact that pronouncing it “off-ten” holds us back, technically. That is: in so many other words we would never think of pronouncing the t that’s on the page. If often is “off-ten,” then why not “whis-tling” and touring “cas-tles” once inhabited by women wearing “bus-tles” (that is anachronistic but you get my point!)?
Often as “off-ten” is kind of like how literally gets such a bad rep for meaning both “to the letter” and “figuratively” when plenty of other words mean opposite things (a fast learner vs. a chair stuck fast to the floor). Often gets special attention just “because.”