Table of Contents
Why do people pronounce February as Febuary?
The r in February has been dropped so that it is almost always pronounced Febuary–without the r. Perhaps this is because placing the r sound in the word makes it slightly more difficult to pronounce, and since laziness tends to get the upper hand when we speak, Febuary has become the common pronunciation.
Why do people pronounce February wrong?
Why People Drop the “R” in February The loss of the first “r” in the pronunciation of February is (in part) the result of a process called dissimilation (or haplology), where one of two similar sounds in a word is sometimes changed or dropped to avoid the repetition of that sound.
Did they change the spelling of February?
Spelling of February: February is spelled F-e-b-r-u-a-r-y. The “f” should always be capitalized because it is the name of a month. Definition of February: February is the second month in the Julian and Gregorian calendars; it is the month immediately after January, which is the first month of the year.
How do British people pronounce February?
On the other side of the Atlantic, the situation is reversed—most people in the UK say “feb-roo-ary”. However, most major dictionaries, both American and British, now list “feb-yoo-ary” as an acceptable variant, so it’s more a matter of personal preference than correctness.
Is the P silent in empty?
Is the letter ‘P’ silent in ’empty’? No, not universally. The triphthong sounds mpt and mpd are common in English (pumped, prompt, preempt and so on), so they are not difficult to say.
Is it pronounced Feb or FEB-roo-air?
Both Merriam-Webster and American Heritage dictionaries consider the common pronunciation correct, along with the less common, more traditional standard feb-roo-air-ee. This gets fans of the traditional standard all worked up. But the loss of the first r in February is not some recent habit propagated by lazy teenagers.
How do you pronounce the month of February?
What’s the Correct Pronunciation of February? In the United States, the most common pronunciation is feb-yoo-air-ee. Both Merriam-Webster and American Heritage dictionaries consider the common pronunciation correct, along with the less common, more traditional standard feb-roo-air-ee.
What’s the difference between liblib and Feb(R)uary?
Lib (r)ary attracts attention due to its association with commonly disparaged dialects. Feb (r)uary only seems to attract attention when someone asks what the proper pronunciation should be. Here’s a little help from the (parody!) guide Pronunciation Manual:
Why do we lose our first R’s in February?
But the loss of the first r in February is not some recent habit propagated by lazy teenagers. People have been avoiding that r for at least the last 150 years, and probably longer than that. Given certain conditions having to do with word stress and the other sounds in a word, we simply do not like to have two r’s so close to each other.