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>cache, knowledge, repertoire Tbf English is quite consistent on 'kn' having a silent k. The other 2 are french imports.

mkingston 3y ago
You and I know that, but it's not important or useful to a non-French speaker learning English. To those people, those are merely English words. And indeed, they are English, even if they're French imports. I think even a lot of English speakers don't realise the depth of this: "cul de sac" is a fun example that a lot of people I ask don't realise comes from French (or another language, for that matter).
- dfawcus 3y ago
  I always preferred "Dead End", but "Cul-de-sac" seems to have taken over with the road sign planning departments since the 70s.
  - dragonwriter 3y ago
    I've seen both, with an apparent fairly-consistent consistent semantic distinction: a “cul-de-sac” has a rounded turnaround at the end which is convenient for reversing direction without entering any driveway off the road, a “dead end” has a straight end which doesn't provide that affordance.
- Scoundreller 3y ago
  Meanwhile in France they generally don’t call it a “cul de sac” anymore but rather an “impasse”. You’ll see a mix of the two in Quebec. That red octagon sign in France will say “STOP”, but in Quebec, “Arrête”.
  - Izkata 3y ago
    In English (or at least the US), a cul-de-sac doesn't end with the red stop signs. Those are dead ends. Cul-de-sacs are where a street ends in a pseudo-roundabout like the image here: https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/cul-de-sac-pros-cons-36972433 https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/cul-de-sac-pros-cons-369724...
dragonwriter 3y ago
> Tbf English is quite consistent on 'kn' having a silent k initial “kn” consistently has a silent “k”. “kn” in the middle of a word, is less consistent: “unknown” has a silent “k”, “pyknotic” does not.
- benj111 3y ago
  >pyknotic If you're coming up with words I have to Google, I'll stick with my "quite consistent"
  - dragonwriter 3y ago
    meekness banknote ... there's a lot of “kn” words where the “k” is pronounced. Most are compounds where the “k” and “n” come from separate component words, or cases where the “k” is from the root word and the “n” from a suffix, or cases where the “k” is part of a “ck”...
    - benj111 3y ago
      As you say, they're compound words. English is a mongrel of a language with more special cases than most of my code. But I don't think the silent k in kn is an example of that. Flammable/inflammable Foxes/oxen. Tomato/potato (one thing I will begrudgingly admit the Americans got right) Where/were/here. Those are actual rough edges.

mkingston 3y ago

You and I know that, but it's not important or useful to a non-French speaker learning English. To those people, those are merely English words. And indeed, they are English, even if they're French imports. I think even a lot of English speakers don't realise the depth of this: "cul de sac" is a fun example that a lot of people I ask don't realise comes from French (or another language, for that matter).

dfawcus 3y ago
I always preferred "Dead End", but "Cul-de-sac" seems to have taken over with the road sign planning departments since the 70s.
- dragonwriter 3y ago
  I've seen both, with an apparent fairly-consistent consistent semantic distinction: a “cul-de-sac” has a rounded turnaround at the end which is convenient for reversing direction without entering any driveway off the road, a “dead end” has a straight end which doesn't provide that affordance.
Scoundreller 3y ago
Meanwhile in France they generally don’t call it a “cul de sac” anymore but rather an “impasse”. You’ll see a mix of the two in Quebec. That red octagon sign in France will say “STOP”, but in Quebec, “Arrête”.
- Izkata 3y ago
  In English (or at least the US), a cul-de-sac doesn't end with the red stop signs. Those are dead ends. Cul-de-sacs are where a street ends in a pseudo-roundabout like the image here: https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/cul-de-sac-pros-cons-36972433 https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/cul-de-sac-pros-cons-369724...

dragonwriter 3y ago

> Tbf English is quite consistent on 'kn' having a silent k initial “kn” consistently has a silent “k”. “kn” in the middle of a word, is less consistent: “unknown” has a silent “k”, “pyknotic” does not.

benj111 3y ago
>pyknotic If you're coming up with words I have to Google, I'll stick with my "quite consistent"
- dragonwriter 3y ago
  meekness banknote ... there's a lot of “kn” words where the “k” is pronounced. Most are compounds where the “k” and “n” come from separate component words, or cases where the “k” is from the root word and the “n” from a suffix, or cases where the “k” is part of a “ck”...
  - benj111 3y ago
    As you say, they're compound words. English is a mongrel of a language with more special cases than most of my code. But I don't think the silent k in kn is an example of that. Flammable/inflammable Foxes/oxen. Tomato/potato (one thing I will begrudgingly admit the Americans got right) Where/were/here. Those are actual rough edges.