Yes, the k in knot, know, knife, and knight was once pronounced. Alvaro in Dallas wonders about that silent first letter. The change is an example of apheresis, the loss of an initial sound. Old English had a pronounced initial consonant in words...
Our Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a word game about words with a silent “e” and their “e”-sound counterparts. For example, a walking stick and someone good at judging situations might be a canny guy with a cane. Or a guy with a...
A California caller gets a clarification about when to use “a” and “an” if the next word starts with a vowel sound. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Articles for Words with Vowel Sounds” Hello...
box office n.— «There are swept tip designs that lessen the factors contributing to noise and some noise canceling technology has been tested inside the cockpit (or “box office” if it’s a female crew [g]).» —“Re: Silent...
asplode v.— «Oh an I almost fergot that all my heirs fells outsa my hed when I asploded it cause I wuz standin too cloze ta it.» —“Re: What 222 was all about—a scenario” by Silent Bob Usenet: alt.dss.hack Mar. 8...
jazz hands n.pl.— «Pauline Gomez pantomimes encouragement. Her arms extend at her side, her fingers stretching for the ground in jazz hands.» —“No Yelling, No Cheering. Shhhhh! It’s Silent Saturday” by Robert Andrew...