A Scourge on Them!

Good morning, and I trust that all of your essays have been emailed as required. I will begin reading them today.

[faint voice from somewhere in Nebraska]

How sad for you that your computer crashed again. Ten points off for late work.

Today we are going to discuss the pronunciation of certain words, rather than their usage or etymology. You know, of course, that pronunciations change over time. A recent example is the word harass which was, in my youth, pronounced with the stress on the first syllable. Since the word is connected etymologically with the verbs harry and harrow, this makes sense. Today, however, possibly owing to protests from people named Harris, the preferred pronunciation stresses the second syllable. I find this somewhat interesting, but not terribly significant, since harass today has a fairly limited legal and political meaning.

[faint voice from somewhere in the nation's capital]

No, I am not using that statement as a means to harass you.

Of more concern is a group of words that seem to have become the victims of what I call "ignorant snob over-correction syndrome." This syndrome leads those with inadequate understanding of language to pronounce words in an artificially "correct" manner: sounding the t in often is an example.

[faint voice from somewhere in New Hampshire]

No, the t in often is silent.
[repeated voice from New Hampshire]

Yes, my congressman also pronounces it that way. He is incorrect.

[repeated voice from New Hampshire, with some insistence]

There are many silent letters in English. I do not pretend that English is a phonetically spelled language. That does not, however, give one free rein to pronounce words as illogically as they are spelled.

[repeated voice from New Hampshire]

That is quite enough from you in New Hampshire.

In any event, our lesson today is on neither harass nor often but on the words nourish, flourish, scourge, and courage. In each of these words, the our is pronounced the same way, more or less the same as the er in merge. While this would be impossible in say, French or Spanish, I remind you again that English is not written phonetically; hence, the words purge, merge, dirge, and scourge rhyme.

[faint voice from somewhere in Indiana]

Yes, I am quite serious.

[voice from Indiana again]

I assure you that we will eventually discuss the reasons for the illogical spelling of English, but if you protest that your language is "unfair," you are not yet ready to study it with any hope of comprehension.

To return to the pronunciation shift that concerns me, I have recently, and often (please note that I did not pronounce the t in that word) heard scourge pronounced with the our to rhyme with four. I have no explanation for this except the previously mentioned "ignorant snob over-correction syndrome." This errant pronunciation, I'm sorry to say, has been heard on local television news programs. My inference is that many newscasters are hired more for their physical than their intellectual characteristics. It is true that scourge is an infrequently used word in English and perhaps someone like Boopsie Ballard of Channel 9 has not previously encountered it. If that is the case, she should study her copy more carefully before the broadcast and, when necessary, make inquiries about unfamiliar vocabulary. The word flourish has also undergone this pronunciation shift, resulting in a word that sounds as if it should mean "having the characteristics of a floor." The shift is creeping into the much more familiar word nourish and, although I have yet to hear it applied to courage, I fear that it is only a matter of time.
Since we have already learned that language is in a constant state of flux, why should this change of pronunciation be of any concern? At what point does a particular pronunciation stop being designated "incorrect" and become acceptable, as it did with harass? Finally, whose pronunciation is to be emulated; that is, am I a more reliable authority than Boopsie Ballard?

[faint voice from somewhere in Iowa]

No, I am not going to answer those questions. That is your next essay assignment which will be due next Wednesday.