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Pearls Before Swine: Pronouncing the L in Could

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From: lynnmcgu...@gmail.com (Lynn McGuire)
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Subject: Pearls Before Swine: Pronouncing the L in Could
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2022 14:11:48 -0600
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by: Lynn McGuire - Thu, 13 Jan 2022 20:11 UTC

Re: Pearls Before Swine: Pronouncing the L in Could

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by: John W Kennedy - Thu, 13 Jan 2022 21:16 UTC

On 1/13/22 3:11 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> Pearls Before Swine: Pronouncing the L in Could
> https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2022/01/13
>
> Yup, nobody pronounces the L in Could.
>
> Lynn

They did for a while, starting in the 1500s. It appears to have been a
hypercorrection—thinking that because “would” and “should” had Ls,
“could” should an L, too. But that was a mistake, because “would” and
“should” are the past forms of “will” and “shall”, which do have Ls
(although they are not pronounced in “woujld” and “should” anymore). But
“could” is the past form of “can”, and there had never been an L in it.

--
John W. Kennedy
Algernon Burbage, Lord Roderick, Father Martin, Bishop Baldwin,
King Pellinore, Captain Bailey, Merlin -- A Kingdom for a Stage!

Re: Pearls Before Swine: Pronouncing the L in Could

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From: nad...@mips.inka.de (Christian Weisgerber)
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Subject: Re: Pearls Before Swine: Pronouncing the L in Could
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2022 21:31:15 -0000 (UTC)
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by: Christian Weisgerber - Thu, 13 Jan 2022 21:31 UTC

On 2022-01-13, Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:

> Pearls Before Swine: Pronouncing the L in Could
> https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2022/01/13
>
> Yup, nobody pronounces the L in Could.

And it's not as if the L fell silent at some point. It never was
there in the first place (cf. Old English cuþe, German konnte). As
Etymonline explains: "The unetymological -l- was added 15c.-16c.
on model of would, should, where it is historical."

--
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber naddy@mips.inka.de

Illiterate? Write today, for free help!

arts / rec.arts.comics.strips / Pearls Before Swine: Pronouncing the L in Could

Subject	Author
Pearls Before Swine: Pronouncing the L in Could	Lynn McGuire
Re: Pearls Before Swine: Pronouncing the L in Could	John W Kennedy
Re: Pearls Before Swine: Pronouncing the L in Could	Christian Weisgerber