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[Golfhaus]

Diaresis?

Dude, leave the Scientologists out of this. Seriously.

[Roger]

To be more precise, there is no 'g' at the end of the standard pronunciation of the gerund  -ing.  It is a sound we don't have a single letter for, a velar nasal.  The 'g-dropped' version substitutes a different nasal consonant, [n].  You can prove to yourself that there is no [g] at the end of the gerung -ing by listening to the difference between the words 'singer' and 'finger'.   "Singer" has only the velar nasal in the middle.  "Finger" has the velar nasal followed by [g].  The cluster of velarnasal-g never ends a word in English, so you will see that -ing sounds like the middle of 'singer', not like the middle of 'finger'.

By the way, I'm not positive if there are dialects where those two words are pronounced identically, but I never came across one in my years of teaching, so I think the examples should work for everyone.

Rotating Josephs!. I've been studying English for at least 15 years now and I never realized that "singer" and "finger" weren't pronounced the same way.

Guess I'll have to return my CPE then.

[theinevitable]

dierisis?
the end of the word "flaccid" coincides with the end of a metrical foot?

[AlohaDawg]

Rotating Josephs!. I've been studying English for at least 15 years now and I never realized that "singer" and "finger" weren't pronounced the same way.

Guess I'll have to return my CPE then.

Until Wombat mentioned it, I never really considered that they are pronounced slightly differently. And I've been speaking English for 36 years now.  It's possible that certain people from certain language backgrounds would have great difficulty with the difference - maybe even impossible for sum.

[wombat]

All those years in grad school and slaving away for tenure are finally worth it: I have taught people some phonology in a thread titled "Whose ass am I kicking."

It's possible that certain people from certain language backgrounds would have great difficulty with the difference

Possibly, but they have other worse problems.  Probably the worst pronunciation difficulty for speakers of other languages are the two sounds (yes, there are two) spelled 'th' in English.  These are very rare sounds in the languages of the world, so hardly anyone comes to English as a second language with any experience with them from their native tongue.  You have probably noticed that nonnative speakers have trouble with those sounds, and maybe you've also noticed that children learn to pronounce these sounds late - it is typical for children to acquire rare sounds later in their development.

Just a little of what counts as a Fun Fact in linguistics for those who might care.  Now, how about those cartoon cats?

[Golfhaus]

Linguistics is one of those things that I wish I knew about. As an English major, I always wanted to take a class in it, just an introductory class to learn a little about it. But alas, no linguistics class at my university.

[wombat]

But alas, no linguistics class at my university.

True many places - which also means sadly no jobs teaching them for my grad students.  One of the reasons I'm glad to be out of it.  Now, anyone have any questions about cleaning up reptile and amphibian poop?

[Bobby Isosceles]

Until Wombat mentioned it, I never really considered that they are pronounced slightly differently. And I've been speaking English for 36 years now.  It's possible that certain people from certain language backgrounds would have great difficulty with the difference - maybe even impossible for sum.

I pronounce the words identically, but then again English isn't my first language.

[Bozack]

I pronounce the words identically, but then again English isn't my first language.

His parents spoke Klingon at home.

[AugustWest]

His parents spoke Klingon at home.

I keep trying to figure out if this would be funnier if his parents were Kligons or if they weren't.

[Bobby Isosceles]

I keep trying to figure out if this would be funnier if his parents were Kligons or if they weren't.

I've been told by a D&D geek friend that my father is really a dwarf because he is 5'6" and can easily lift twice his own weight, even at age 50.

[AugustWest]

I've been told by a D&D geek friend that my father is really a dwarf because he is 5'6" and can easily lift twice his own weight, even at age 50.

I don't know whether that makes him a dwarf or not, but it clearly makes him someone whom I would not fuck with.  Has he been in the GOF?

[CortJstr]

I've been told by a D&D geek friend that my father is really a dwarf because he is 5'6" and can easily lift twice his own weight, even at age 50.

See if he's any good at detecting secret passages. If you try and toss him, does he get mad?

[Bobby Isosceles]

I don't know whether that makes him a dwarf or not, but it clearly makes him someone whom I would not fuck with.  Has he been in the GOF?

He should be...

[arkabee]

He should be...

does this mean that you think your Father Kicks Ass,
or
that you Want Your Father's Ass Kicked?