I've been interested in this one since my daughter, brought up as an OFF-en speaker, went to college at the University of Michigan and came back saying OFF-ten. I don't think it's a regional thing -- I grew up two hours south of Ann Arbor, and I don't remember OFF-ten even as a variant. It must have been something she picked up from friends.
The variation seems to go quite far back in history. The American Heritage Book of English Usage (1996) suggests that the /t/ was lost in the 15th century, but that "Because of the influence of spelling," often "is now commonly pronounced with the t." That would, as Robert suggests, make the t-full version a spelling pronunciation.
Naturally, the t version has been scorned as both an ignorant goof and a pretentious mannerism. "The bad odor of class-conscious affectation still clings to it," says Charles Harrington Elster in "The Big Book of Beastly Pronunciations." And it's true that OFF-ten deviates from the usual pattern of soften, listen, fasten, christen, etc.
Much more at the link in the very interesting (and wonderfully-titled) blog
Throw Grammar from the Train.
Never thought about it, but I say "often", my wife says "offen"
ReplyDeleteOf course, I like to pronounce things the way they are spelled, so jalapeño is pronounce with the 'j'. Drives people bonkers :)
I had never thought about it either, and now I'm terribly paranoid. I think I tend to say "offen", but I can't be sure.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of the word 'literally'. I had always said it like "litrally", but watching an American TV show I heard it pronounced as how it is spelt, "lit-er-ally". I looked it up on thefreedictionary.com and listened to the audio, and apparently "litrally" is the British pronounciation and "literally" is the American one.
I guess being in Australia meant that I was more exposed to the British way.
The commenters seem to feel the pronounced t to be pretentious.
ReplyDeleteI grew up thinking it was slightly blue collar.
I omit the "t." I grew up near Nashville, TN with a high school English teacher who tried her best to rid us of local dialect quirks. She also lived next door to me while I was growing up and exerted a great deal of control over my spoken English outside the classroom. Traveling around as a child, then out of the local area at various colleges, I discovered that "offen" vs "often" was not just limited to my part of the country.
ReplyDeleteI still prefer to omit the "t." Glad you brought this up.
Like Mike, I "often" tend to pronounce things as they are spelled. One of my quirks is "bicycle". I pronounce it bi-sikel (with a long i, like in "motorcycle"). Everyone else I know pronounces it with a short i (as in bi-sickle). It seems most tend to pronounce "cycle" differently dependent on the prefix. I tend to pronounce it the same regardless of the prefix.
ReplyDeletei say 'often', grew up in new england. had never thought about the other way to say it before, but when i say it 'offen' it does seem familiar so i'm sure i've heard it many times.
ReplyDeleteI grew up saying "offen." I know I've heard "often" from time to time, but in my experience it's much less common.
ReplyDeletei, too, do not pronounce the "t". i live in canada, i'm not sure if that has anything to do with it haha
ReplyDeleteBorn and bred Minnesotan from the Twin Cities, I always say "off-ten," but I fluctuate on the pronunciation of "soften." Can't believe I never realized how unnecessary the "t" is in "listen."
ReplyDeleteAs a Minnesotan also bred in the Twin Cities (Edina and Excelsior), I pronounce it "offen."
ReplyDeleteI've lived all over the country, with the exceptionof the South. I have always said "offen", and agree with Sue that ofTen sounds blue collar or less educated.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in Brazil and learned English as a second language. I was taught to pronounce it OFF-ten, but I realised most of the people pronounce OFF-en. I thought this was just some accent issue. People don't get pissed off if you include or not the "t", just like in the word "listen". It's different if you include the "b" in "doubt".
ReplyDeleteWhat have always intrigued me is the fact that people say SAMwich instead of SANDwich.
How funny that some think that that "off-ten" comes across less educated! I'm at a coffee shop with friends - all grad students/med students - and we all thought that "off-en" sounds less educated, reason being that it was the "sloppy" manner of pronouncing the word.
ReplyDeleteNot that the way of pronouncing one word really indicates education, but interesting to find the differences in quick assumption here.
I grew up in north Texas and everyone I knew pronounced it "off-ten." I don't remember how old I was the first time I heard it the other way (was probably in a movie) but I do remember thinking it sounded kind of hoity-toity.
ReplyDeletei'm not English native speaker but i pronounce it "OFF-en", and when i hear ppl pronouncing it as "OFF-ten" i think they mispronouncing it !!
ReplyDeletei've never thought pronouncing it with "t" is also correct..