Is there a reason why both are right? Is it merely a regional or historical difference? Both pronunciation appears to be used in UK and US English. How do I pick which pronunciation to use?

Edit 1: Thank you so much for all the answers.
So in short “Va-let” or “Va-lit” is at times used for manservants, even in today’s speech, especially in British English. (Someone also told me a valet is not to be confused with a butler. Thank you!)

There was then mention that the aristocracy typically pronounces/d the “T” whereas it seems a silent “T” is more common in general.

People are pointing out that a va-lay is usually a person who parks your car, as opposed to the manservant of a household, which is often referred to as va-let/lit.
(Edit 2: But also that they’re the same word, referring to a person who performs services.)

I also got some historical/etymological tidbits that seem to clash, and I can’t figure that out. 😭

(Edit 4: People say the word was borrowed from France. There’s someone mentioning the word was borrowed during a period when the French still pronounced the “T” and it wasn’t silent. I also get accounts where it should in general be pronounced the way the French do now, which is with a silent “T”. I also get accounts where people pronounce “Fillet” both with the T and a silent T. I’m so confused.)

Anyway, I still don’t know for certain how I would pronounce the word. I’m okay with people correcting me if they want to in future. 🤣

Edit 3: I think I’m more confused now than when I asked the question.

I used ‘the’ because I thought it would be adaquate for a limited demographic (people in the UK), which is still an iffy matter for me - was I correct?

Like a month ago I made a comment on a post about Spanglish saying something along the lines of:

"As a linguist I hate when someone says "carpeta" meaning "carpet"" What I meant to say was, because I am a linguist I overanalyze speech a don't like when people use false friends.

My comment was deeply misunderstood by someone and they replied with "You can be a linguist and dislike "carpeta" but you’re not a linguist BECAUSE of that" so I was really confused by how my comment could've been read like that.

As far as I know "as" is used to express someone's POV, not really the reason or cause for their opinion. So I thought, maybe there're certain cases were "as" can mean "because" and I just wasn't aware of it.

Participants Needed for University Research on English Accents 🎧

Hi everyone!

I’m conducting a university research study exploring how people perceive different English accents and how accents may influence impressions of speakers, stereotypes, and social interactions.

The questionnaire involves listening to two short audio clips and answering some open-ended questions about your impressions and experiences.

Who can participate?

• Native English speakers
• Non-native English speakers
• Anyone who uses English as a first or additional language

The questionnaire takes approximately 10–15 minutes.

There are no right or wrong answers — I’m interested in your genuine first impressions and experiences. Your responses will be treated confidentially and used for academic research purposes.

🔗 Questionnaire:https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdMXusojJ36AKjks0P4HOsiIwxOEpAIRLG8JzIS2SFf034sZA/viewform?usp=header

I’d really appreciate your participation, and please feel free to share the questionnaire with others who might be interested.

Thank you! 🙏

1- If you want to do it, go ahead, by all means.

2- If you want to do it, by all means, go ahead.

“I don’t have class on Thursdays.”

“I don’t have classes on Thursdays”

I was viewing a court live stream replay today (Judge Middleton for those who know). The attorney on the feed said, "Since she's not working it's kind of a mute point." You'd think that if anyone would know the difference between "mute" and "moot" it would be a lawyer.

Hello all, I recently moved to Ireland and the accent for me is quite difficult to understand at first. Now I am able to understand their accent, but again when it time to say something I go blank and doesn't know what to say. I my english is at C1, I can comprehend what I read and listen, but when it's come to speaking or writing I struggle. Could please share some advice on how can I overcome this.

Thank you very much!

Some speakers (Chomsky f.ex.) have a unique diphthong in really (different from reel-y or rill-y). Some speakers have a unique vowel in gonna (similar to the "o" of German or Italian). I seem to have a unique vowel in because so that the famous rhyme of Oz : because : does actually doesn't work, and so on. I am interested in first of all other speakers who have any of these (esp.the latter two because the first one is well documented) and second in still more such unique sounds. I have a feeling I have a couple more myself, but I am not actually a native speaker (I learned at English at 10/11/12) so I don't count, tho presumably I picked up my vowels from SOMEONE. Consonants too of course if any.

Ok, long story short I want to take the TESL in a few years and am wondering how to review. English is my first language, its how I think, how I talk, and the language I consume the majority of my media. Thing is i'm shit at testing grammar. A good example would be the college writing class I took where the prof gave us a 100 pt college level english grammar quiz I absolutely tanked it.

I'm asking here for either textbook or app recs that dont start from the absolute beggining cuz that's all i'm getting from searching google.

So my questions are:

Best way to brush up on grammar? (As cheap as possible)

How to review for the TEFL? (as someone who already knows english)

I'm having trouble remembering. It wasn't algospeak.

My spouse is Canadian and I've learned it's very common in the region for people to skip "with" in a sentence when referring to someone's actions. Things like, "When are you done work today?" or, "After we're done dinner, let's...". Servers even come to the table and say "Are you done that?". They'll still use "with" in other contexts, like "Bring that with you". Is this valid? It sounds so wrong to my ear but they all insist it's correct, my in-laws insist they were even taught that way in school, though they're 8th grade dropouts and I have other reasons to doubt their memory of curricula.

Edit: Wow, this blew up! It looks like this is indeed a hot topic. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences!

Hi native English speakers, can I have your opinion on the following sentence as to whether this sounds ok to your ears. Tks a lot :)

“My friend wanted to buy the Mercedes, but I suggested he not”

Just curious when y’all pronounce ‘route’ which rhymes with ‘root’ vs when you’d rhyme it with ‘out.’ Or if you do at all.

It came up the other day when I saw a bus labeled as ‘Blue Route.’ It struck me I’d generally rhyme that with ‘root.’ (Maybe just because blue and roo-t flow well.) Alternately when I’m planning a way to go somewhere, I rhyme route with ‘out.’

hey everyone! for worldbuilding purposes, I'm looking for a term that can describe a mirror by assuming this is an Alternative Universe where the English word derived from *spēgl (from Latin speculum), whence German Spiegel, Swedish spegel, etc.

Does anyone know what a likely phonological evolution would be for that word for it to arrive into modern English? I thought about speegel /spiːɡəl/, or maybe speel /spiːl/ (not sure if that middle consonant would drop) but I would appreciate input from someone more well-versed in the topic than me. thank you!

You are not going to do anything. In fact, I believe that at the time of any threat you will slither back into your hole.

hey

i recently got to reconnect and catch up with one of my old teachers. She's American, also used to be my coach. i think she's being more of a friend or a mentor than a teacher now (she let me call her by her first name, she called herself my friend, etc). In my culture, teacher-student relationship is strictly limited to a relationship where i have to pay a lot of respect and use a very different kind of langauge when talking to her (east asia). Treating an ex-teacher with casual language would be considered extremely rude. So i'm not really used to this kind of situation or context. The last time i met her the sentence 'i'm trying to get my shit together' crossed my mind and i had to find ways to rephrase it. But then I was wondering if that'd actually be okay.

I'm fluent and I know how to speak to actual teachers or friends around my age. But this time it's an ex-teacher, she's significantly older than me and i do thank her and stuff, but i really don't know what to do with my language. I feel like being 'too polite' might be also kinda off, considering how friendly she is. I might text her occasionally from time to time and I wanna make sure I'm not throwing an attitude since she really is a mentor figure in my life. How should I speak? Can you give me some advice or some examples?

Imprint-can refer to any mark of figure impressed or printed on something(l i.e. stamping a grade onto a sheet of paper)

Engrave-Carve something into a hard rock surface.(i.e carving your initials into a ring)

Emblazon-Decorate or display a design, symbol, words on a surface so people can see it(i.e your boss emblazoning his car with the company logo)

you’re using the wrong ___

do i use the your that they used

or the correct your?

Hopenthis makes sense kinda high