Actually, the French word “forte” would be prounounced with the final t because it has the e afterwards, which means you pronounce the previous letter.
Elizabeth Lightwood:
December 24th, 2010 at 1:55 pm
If you want to be clever you can snark those who mispronounce it by saying something like: “Well, correct grammar and pronounciation has always been my forte,” or, if you don’t mind being utterly rude, “I can see pronounciation isn’t your forte.”
Mark Holman:
January 8th, 2011 at 9:46 pm
Elizabeth: I’m afraid that if I tried to be snarky by chiding people about their “pronounciation” it would be me who looked like the idiot. I don’t think many people would get the joke about the mispronounced pronunciation.
Topi:
March 31st, 2011 at 4:24 am
Dearest creature in creation
Studying English pronunciation
Jim:
October 28th, 2011 at 10:50 am
I think the most important part of this is the quote; “rapidly becoming standard”.
Language is a consensus. If a roomful of people decide that “gluff” means one part of a pair of gloves, THAT’S WHAT IT MEANS ! If YOU happen to misunderstand that, then you speak a language of another region,or at least, another room. It’s not much different than “offen” vs. offTen. The thought gets conveyed, which is the purpose of language to begin with.
Liz:
April 29th, 2018 at 8:08 am
I find it odd that you would write with such certainty that forte is pronounced “indisputably” in Italian “for-Tay” when it is most certainly not. It is pronounced “FOR-tay,” as any Italian speaker, Spanish speaker (think of the Spanish word for strong: “fuerte,” pronounced “FWER-tay,” NEVER “fwer-TAY”), or music student (who, when reading the word “forte” knows to get louder) knows.
Jeff:
March 9th, 2020 at 3:19 pm
Huzzah for Liz, for recognizing the languages of origin and recognizing our general practice of Anglicizing words as a combination of laziness and linguistic ethnocentrism.
And huzzah for Jim, who recognizes that many of the “indisputably” correct pronunciations of today would have been the height of linguistic ignorance only a century ago.
Our language is a living reality – new words are being coined, new meanings developed, and new connotations acquired every year we live – and pronunciation can hardly be considered static over the ages (if you suppose it is, see how well understood you are speaking 18th Century Queen’s English to a room of people today).
If you want a language that can be permanently and finally pinned down, learn a dead language (although in my experience even speakers of Latin usually adapt the pronunciation to their own native phonetic conventions). If you want to communicate, you will have to negotiate with a dynamic reality which, while not efficient, remains sufficiently malleable to address changing realities in the world it describes.
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Sue Schroeder:
December 20th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
Actually, the French word “forte” would be prounounced with the final t because it has the e afterwards, which means you pronounce the previous letter.
Elizabeth Lightwood:
December 24th, 2010 at 1:55 pm
If you want to be clever you can snark those who mispronounce it by saying something like: “Well, correct grammar and pronounciation has always been my forte,” or, if you don’t mind being utterly rude, “I can see pronounciation isn’t your forte.”
Mark Holman:
January 8th, 2011 at 9:46 pm
Elizabeth: I’m afraid that if I tried to be snarky by chiding people about their “pronounciation” it would be me who looked like the idiot. I don’t think many people would get the joke about the mispronounced pronunciation.
Topi:
March 31st, 2011 at 4:24 am
Dearest creature in creation
Studying English pronunciation
Jim:
October 28th, 2011 at 10:50 am
I think the most important part of this is the quote; “rapidly becoming standard”.
Language is a consensus. If a roomful of people decide that “gluff” means one part of a pair of gloves, THAT’S WHAT IT MEANS ! If YOU happen to misunderstand that, then you speak a language of another region,or at least, another room. It’s not much different than “offen” vs. offTen. The thought gets conveyed, which is the purpose of language to begin with.
Liz:
April 29th, 2018 at 8:08 am
I find it odd that you would write with such certainty that forte is pronounced “indisputably” in Italian “for-Tay” when it is most certainly not. It is pronounced “FOR-tay,” as any Italian speaker, Spanish speaker (think of the Spanish word for strong: “fuerte,” pronounced “FWER-tay,” NEVER “fwer-TAY”), or music student (who, when reading the word “forte” knows to get louder) knows.
Jeff:
March 9th, 2020 at 3:19 pm
Huzzah for Liz, for recognizing the languages of origin and recognizing our general practice of Anglicizing words as a combination of laziness and linguistic ethnocentrism.
And huzzah for Jim, who recognizes that many of the “indisputably” correct pronunciations of today would have been the height of linguistic ignorance only a century ago.
Our language is a living reality – new words are being coined, new meanings developed, and new connotations acquired every year we live – and pronunciation can hardly be considered static over the ages (if you suppose it is, see how well understood you are speaking 18th Century Queen’s English to a room of people today).
If you want a language that can be permanently and finally pinned down, learn a dead language (although in my experience even speakers of Latin usually adapt the pronunciation to their own native phonetic conventions). If you want to communicate, you will have to negotiate with a dynamic reality which, while not efficient, remains sufficiently malleable to address changing realities in the world it describes.