4 ms·
If you think castle is bad, wait till you hear forecastle (“fok-sul”)
by lelandfe 1y ago
If you think castle is bad, wait till you hear forecastle (“fok-sul”)
- germandiago 1y agoHahaha. I was not aware of that one. Yes, looks like undecipherable.
- stockresearcher 1y agoA lot of nautical terms have unusual pronunciations. English sailors primarily came from coastal regions, and were very happy to have a lingo that was incomprehensible to the landsman. All of this carried over to North America as well.
- throaway955 1y agoits just elision. "four-cassle" vs "fo'k'sul."
- int_19h 1y agoAt least that's often spelled "fo'c'sle" these days, which gives you a good idea of the actual pronunciation. My personal favorite in English is "colonel" being pronounced the same as "kernel". Which is insane even from an etymological perspective because the word is a derivative of "column" (as in, a colonel is someone who commands/leads a column of soldiers).
- lelandfe 1y agoYes, an incredibly rare use of double apostrophes in English! More uncommonly you'll see bo's'n as well, for boatswain.