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 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.

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?

“I don’t have class on Thursdays.”

“I don’t have classes on Thursdays”

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.

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.

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.