this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2024
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You're probably thinking of the pronunciation of close as in 'close to you'
I was thinking of the pronunciation of close as in 'close the door'
Which is pronounced the same as clothes.
Those still aren’t pronounced the same. The th in clothes isn’t silent.
I'm not sure where you're from, but the th is indeed silent in my area regarding the word 'clothes'. I've never heard it pronounced any different than 'close'.
Now if it's said as 'clothing', the th is indeed pronounced. But not for 'clothes'. And I've worked at a clothing store before.
You might be thinking of the word 'cloths', which indeed does pronounce the th.
English is weird like that.
I'm not sure where you're from, the th in is always pronounced in my area regarding the word 'clothes'. I've never heard it pronounced the same as 'close'
I will say that people got called out for pronouncing it the same as the spice 'cloves'.
FWIW My area = rural southern UK.
Yeah absolutely not silent. Unless perhaps you're a cockney. Source: I'm in northern England. Perhaps it is a British thing.
I'm in the US and I pronounce it, I think a lot of people do? Maybe I just know a lot of snobs and "regular" Americans mush the word together but I don't think so
Oh well that's easy then, it's because you guys speak British, not English!
Kidding aside, I lived in East Anglia for a few years as a kid and I don't remember the British kids saying it that way either, but that was a really long time ago and my memory ain't what it used to be! I think. I can't remember how it used to be actually.
Fighting talk, sirrah! Fighting talk.... But yes, I guess.
British English has been described as three languages dressed up in a trenchcoat that go around mugging other languages in dark alleys and stealing the best bits...
You seem like the sort of person that would pronounce the word often with a hard T, yet still pronounce the letter A as if it was an O.
Not at all. Used to make fun of people who did.
No - there are two sounds for A, bath (short, as in cat) for tub of usually hot water and Bath (long, as in car) for the city famous for its hot water. Never heard it like O - no, wait... RP has an O sounding A doesn't it? Lloyd Grossman was famous for his mangling of vowel sounds.
ETA that distinction for the A sound is probably familial rather than regional; grew up with Geordie mam and Home counties dad.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_pronunciation_differences
Meanwhile, why do we pronounce cheese as cheeze?
Who threw the Z sound in there?
Yeh cheese as cheeze is an odd one - especially considering the z is "zed" not "zee"... I guess cheese is where the idea of "zee" came from?
Additional question..
Who decided to include the letter D in the pronunciation of the letter Z?
Zed?
Where did that come from? We don't say it that way over here in the states, we just say zee..
I would ask "why did you left ponders choose to change the pronunciation to zee?" - though given many USAian pronunciations are, apparently, closer to Elizabethan English than the current UK sounds I wouldn't like to guess which came first the zed or the zee....
Probably because D has absolutely nothing to do with Z.
So on laundry day you put away your clo_s_ing? The rest of us have clo_th_ing.
I can edit also.
Huh? I have lived in every corner and the middle of the United States and I have never heard anyone pronounce the TH in clothes no matter the accent. It always sounds like close as in to close the door.
Unless you are thinking of cloths, as in a pile of wash cloths.
English kinda sucks sometimes.
This is just wrong. Im canadian but think about how you would pronounce the word 'clothe' as in 'he can barely clothe himself" and then add an s sound. Although it is more of a 'z' sound abd can blend with the 'th' a little bit, the 'th' is definitely pronounced clo-th-z.
I’m American and I’ve never heard a single person ever pronounce it “close”. Listen closely and you’ll hear that the word sounds longer. That’s the pronunciation. It’s not a hard “thuh”. It’s a soft “ths”. Say the word “cloths” but use a long “o” sound rather than “awh”.
I pronounce the th sometimes, but not always, depends how fast I'm talking
Close isn't always pronounced the same?!
Sit close to me vs close the door
Ooh wow you're right.
Close to me is "closs"
Close the door is "cloz"
I never noticed
Your wright!
And I'm rong.
Why is English so weird?
Because it's wired..
I've had to train my ear because I learned to speak spanish so I notice these things with my friends who are learning english.
The one that broke my mind the other day is that the D in drink is pronounced like a J. My friend was practicing his D sounds and came up with that out of the blue.
Hmm, it is similar to a J, and may become the same depending on the speaker, but not necessarily exactly the same
According to the international phonetic alphabet they're the same sound.
Here is the IPA for drink: dɹɪŋk
Here is the IPA for jury: d͡ʒʊɹi
Mainly it's noticeable for spanish speakers because the spanish D is pronounced closer to the english th or is unvoiced depending on where it is in a word.
I think I may have always mispronounced one or both of these then.
Man, English pronunciation, I swear.
Bingo.