how do u pronounce "often"?

nick   Sun Sep 23, 2007 3:19 pm GMT
"ofen" or "often", so how newyorker pronounce it?
Guy   Sun Sep 23, 2007 4:03 pm GMT
I'm not sure how a New Yorker might say it, but I usually pronounce it /A:fIn/, /A:f@n/ or /A:fn/.

I believe this is very common in the West half of the United States.
Skippy   Sun Sep 23, 2007 6:03 pm GMT
I agree with Guy. I pronounce it /'A fIn/ as well.
Bob   Sun Sep 23, 2007 6:18 pm GMT
I pronounce it often. That's all I have to say.
Guest   Sun Sep 23, 2007 8:13 pm GMT
omg so the t is silent????????
Lo   Sun Sep 23, 2007 8:55 pm GMT
I'm was born and raised in New York and I say it /A:f@n/ but I've heard people there say /O:f@n/ too.
beneficii   Sun Sep 23, 2007 9:28 pm GMT
I pronounce the 't' and I've grown up in Northern Virginia and presently live in Memphis, TN. I do however pronounce the 't' fairly soft.
Guest   Sun Sep 23, 2007 11:11 pm GMT
offun
New Yorker   Mon Sep 24, 2007 12:08 am GMT
Like the words: off + n

Note: Even though I lived in New York City a few months back in late 1958, and I've lived in New York state most of the time since then, I don't really have a New York City accent.
Guest   Mon Sep 24, 2007 12:11 am GMT
I guess I should stop pronouncing the t if that's wrong
Skippy   Mon Sep 24, 2007 1:35 am GMT
It's not wrong. I'm sure there are dialects that retain the "t" and, assuming you're a non-native speaker, it is forgiveable :-) it's not that it's wrong, it's just that's not how Standard American English speakers (or Southern American English speakers or any of the other dialects mentioned here)
Travis   Mon Sep 24, 2007 2:14 am GMT
Dialects that have /t/ in "often" are not retaining historical /t/, which is actually long-lost. Rather, they are modern spelling pronunciations. On that note, I myself pronounce "often" as ["Qfn=:], ["Qf1~:n], or ["Qf1~:].
Guest   Mon Sep 24, 2007 6:57 am GMT
Increasingly, I'm hearing more and more people pronounce the 't' in "often", especially among people who tend to use big words and over-articulate when speaking. I'm not saying that pronouncing the 't' is wrong, it's just that I feel that "often" falls in the same category of words as "soften", "fasten", "listen", "hasten", etc. It would sound odd to pronounce the 't' in those words.
Jim   Mon Sep 24, 2007 3:09 pm GMT
[Of.n=]
superdavid   Mon Sep 24, 2007 5:42 pm GMT
I often found many British people pronounce 't' sound in 'often'.

Though I usually pronounce it 'offen', I sometimes pronouce it 'oft+en' when I want to sound fancy. lol

Same with either, I normaly pronouce it e-ther, but I sometimes pronounce it 'ai-ther'.