xkcd #2942: Fluid Speech

https://xkcd.com/2942

explainxkcd.com for #2942

Alt text:

Thank you to linguist Gretchen McCulloch for teaching me about phonetic assimilation, and for teaching me that if you stand around in public reading texts from a linguist and murmuring example phrases to yourself, people will eventually ask if you’re okay.

  • cobysevEnglish
    21•6 months ago

    See, my middle name ends with an S and my last name begins with an S… and my middle name is a pluralized name, so nobody hears the S when I say it in conjunction with my last name. So I’ve gotten really good at pronouncing the S, stopping for a beat, then saying my last name, without it sounding super weird or robotic.

    So properly pronouncing “hot potato” while enunciating the first T doesn’t seem too challenging to me.

      • Butt PirateEnglish
        14•6 months ago

        Something like “Adams Smith” probably fits the bill. People would hear “Adam Smith”

        • @asteriskeverythingEnglish
          3•6 months ago

          Thanks so much! I always sucked at riddles I couldn’t come up with anything lol