Forte or For-tay: Is Pronunciation Your Strong Suit? (minicast) - 24 June 2010

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A Way with Words

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🗓️ 24 June 2010

⏱️ 7 minutes

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Summary

How do you pronounce this word that means someone's "strong suit"? And what does it have to do with fencing?--A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: [email protected]: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donateSite: http://waywordradio.org/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2010, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:23.8	Engineered to do it all. That's a laptop evolved with Intel Evo Platform. Welcome to another mini-cast from Away with Words. I'm Martha Barnett.
0:39.6	Here's a question we get from time to time. That word F-O-R-T-E. Is it Fort or Forte? Well Jim from Waterbury, Connecticut
0:50.1	wanted to know, so he called us and he got in your full.
0:54.3	Okay here we go. I know I'm fighting a losing battle on this one but I am refusing to give up.
1:00.7	And my family and friends have maneuvered me into agreeing that if you and Grant tell me to give up this fight, I will hang up my guns forever on this line.
1:10.0	Oh my God, Jim's last stand right here on away with words.
1:13.6	Yes, it is.
1:14.6	Oh boy.
1:15.6	And the issue is the pronunciation of the word F-O-R-T-E.
1:20.6	Ah. In English. In English. In English. Oh boy.
1:27.0	See I'm pronouncing it Fort and everyone in the common usage seems to be forte which is actually an Italian musical term which means to play loudly
1:40.8	So check about correcting everybody?
1:44.0	Well, let me ask you, what is F-O-R-T-E then if it's not an Italian musical term?
1:49.0	I believe it is French for strength or strong point.
1:55.0	Okay, so this is where we run into the difficulty.
2:00.0	In French though, it would be F-O-R-T and the T would not be pronounced, so it wouldn't be pronounced for it either.
	...

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