Do you pronounce the "t" sound in "often"?

[justlearning]

DS said that his teacher said that the "t" is silent; I've always pronounced it with the "t" sound. I googled it and saw that both are acceptable, so now I'm curious how you pronounce it?

[Twoboos]

I say "ofen." But I'm from MA so a lot of our letters go missing, only to reappear in another word. ("I had no idear she had a pahty!") :wink2:

[wendibird22]

I don't pronounce the t.

[Snow mom]

I spent several years in speech therapy for an assortment of issues and the SLPs here will be happy to hear that I pronounce ts, including the t in often. Mitten and kitten clearly have two ts when I say them.

[justlearning]

This is what I found when I googled this issue, which I found interesting:

It depends on the speaker. From Random House:

'Often' was pronounced with a t-sound until the 17th century, when a pronunciation without the [t] came to predominate in the speech of the educated, in both North America and Great Britain, and the earlier pronunciation fell into disfavor. Common use of a spelling pronunciation has since restored the [t] for many speakers, and today /ˈɔfən/[aw-fuh and /ˈɔf[awf-tuhn] or /ˈɒfən/[of-uhn] and [of-tuhn] exist side by side. Although it is still sometimes criticized, 'often' with a /t/[t] is now so widely heard from educated speakers that it has become fully standard once again.

[LMPC]

Hmmmm, I'm pretty sure I say the "t." It's funny when someone asks you how you pronounce a word and suddenly it sounds all weird when you say it :)

[wellyes]

The t is silent, for me.

[hillview]

The t is silent, for me.

:yeahthat:

[justlearning]

Are any of you surprised that so many pronounce the word differently than you do (regardless of which way you pronounce it)? In my case, I can't recall hearing the word spoken with a silent t so I'm surprised at the poll results.

[flashy09]

I pronounce it with a "t" and had no idea some people don't! I could hardly figure out the question, lol, it seemed so strange to say "ofen".

[Liziz]

I voted "other" ... I actually alternate between the two! Both sound correct to me.

[hellokitty]

I do. I've lived most of my life in the Midwest.

[KDsMommy]

I pronounce the 't' but my parents do not.

[Pyrodjm]

"Other"

It depends on where I am and who I'm speaking to. I slip into different dialects usually without realizing it depending on the situation.

With my family and childhood friends, I use way more slang, contractions and "lazy" pronunciations than I do at work or when handling business.

[Mopey]

My sis does, the rest of us do not :)

[elbenn]

I pronounce the t.

[justlearning]

Here's a link to more facts about the pronunciation of often: http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20000602

Hmmm... should I start saying it with a silent t now to sound more "educated"?

[lalasmama]

:bag "Ofden" is how it usually comes out of my mouth. I guess that would mean that I'm just not pronouncing the /t/ clearly.

Another :bag because when I hear of'n, I think, "gee, they need to learn proper English!" Funny to hear that it's the "edumacated" way to say it!

[wellyes]

Often is soften without the 's'. No one has a problem with the silent t there, right?

[Snow mom]

Often is soften without the 's'. No one has a problem with the silent t there, right?

:ROTFLMAO: Oh no, you're killing me. We clearly need another poll :D

[soon2b4]

I voted "other" - I use both - and both sound "right" to me. :D

[lizzywednesday]

I voted "other" ... I actually alternate between the two! Both sound correct to me.

:yeahthat:

One of my childhood BFFs spent a lot of time in speech therapy and she always pronounces the /t/ ... while I do both and speech has never been an issue for me. (Except when I'm trying to pronounce a word I've never heard out loud. Then I trip over my tongue.)

It's most often without the /t/ but I've been known to add it back.

[oneplustwo]

I say "ofen." But I'm from MA so a lot of our letters go missing, only to reappear in another word. ("I had no idear she had a pahty!") :wink2:

:rotflmao: :yeahthat: for me as well.

[karstmama]

i'm southern, so i actually say 'awfen'!

[khalloc]

I'm from MA and live in VT now and I have never heard of NOT pronouncing the "T".