Wednesday, 20 August 2014

To b or not to b?

Most Malaysians would've learnt about silent letters in school and are probably familiar with silent 'k' words (e.g. knife, knee, knight, knack, knob), silent 'p' words (e.g. psychic, pneumonia, pneumatic, psalm, pseudonym), and silent 'g' words (e.g. gnash, gnu, gnarl, gnaw, gnat).

There are many other silent letters, of course (practically all the letters of the alphabet are silent in some words), but one letter I think many Malaysians fail to keep silent when required is the letter 'b'.

In all of the following words, the 'b' is silent:
 
 
    aplomb /əˈplɒm/
    bomb  /bɒm/
    catacomb /ˈkætəˌkoʊm/
    climb  /klaɪm/
    comb /koʊm/
    crumb /krʌm/
    debt /dɛt/
    doubt  /daʊt/
    dumb  /dʌm/
    jamb /dʒæm/
    lamb  /læm/
    limb  /lɪm/
    numb  /nʌm/
    plumber  /ˈplʌmər/
    subtle /ˈsʌtl/
    succumb /səˈkʌm/
    thumb /θʌm/
    tomb /tum/
    womb /wum/

Are you guilty of not keeping the 'b' silent when pronouncing the words above?

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