Please settle an office debate.  Find me a definitive style guide or
voice of authority for spoken English to answer this:  In the U.S. is
the word "often," with the "t" pronounced (as in of-ten), considered
proper English?  Some say it's simply a regional choice, others that
it's simply wrong.

Dictionary.com says
"Usage Note: During the 15th century English experienced a widespread
loss of certain consonant sounds within consonant clusters, as the (d)
in handsome and handkerchief, the (p) in consumption and raspberry,
and the (t) in chestnut and often. In this way the consonant clusters
were simplified and made easier to articulate. With the rise of public
education and literacy and, consequently, people's awareness of
spelling in the 19th century, sounds that had become silent sometimes
were restored, as is the case with the t in often, which is now
frequently pronounced. In other similar words, such as soften and
listen, the t generally remains silent."

Is there a definitive pronunciation for newsreading or announcers? 
(not interested in how it might be pronounced by a character in a
movie or TV series.)

Hello Cryptica,

Columnist William Safire is considered an authority on language. He 
writes a Sunday New York Times column, On Language, which covers
grammar, usage, and etymology.
http://www.nytimes.com/ref/opinion/SAFIRE-BIO.html

Mr Safire addressed this subject in a 1991 "On Language" column.  He
wrote:

'... Many a time and oft we pronounced the t in often, until most of
us dropped it in the 17th century; about 50 years ago, it began to
reappear in the speech of la-di-da types. So is it ""correct" to put
the t in often? Because of that archaic usage, it is not as incorrect
as putting it in soften, listen or moisten, but it still sounds like
an affectation to most listeners...'
source: On Language
William Safire
The New York Times, March 3, 1991, Section 6, p. 16.

I read the article in a public library database.  If you need a copy,
it's available from Lexis-Nexis.
Here are instructions on retrieving the article: 
(1) Go to this Lexis page: 
https://web.lexis.com/LNE/ServiceSelection_en.asp 
(2) Select the $2.50 per document rate.
Click on "continue" to bring up the search page. 
(3) In the "search terms" box, enter: offen
(4) In the "additional terms" box, enter: safire
(5) Press the "search" button.


search strategy:
often pronounced offen

I hope this helps.

---

Request for Answer Clarification by cryptica-ga on 26 Sep 2003 15:57 PDT

Thanks, Juggler.  Safire's a perfect source.  I'm surprised by the "la
di da" reference, though.  When we were debating this at the office,
some people thought the pronunciation was used among less educated
people.  I thought it might be a regional dialect thing.

Free-associating, I'm now thinking of that rhyme...it's not the cough
that carried him off, it's the coffin they carried him off in.   I
think it's time to lie down.

---

Clarification of Answer by juggler-ga on 26 Sep 2003 17:14 PDT

Thanks for the tip and kind words.

It's kind of funny how people have different perceptions of
pronunciation. Like Safire, I really wouldn't consider someone who
pronounced the "t" in often as wrong in the same way that I would view
someone who said "liss-ten" instead of "lissen."  Like you, though, I
wouldn't perceive the person as affected or pretentious.

Thanks again.
-juggler

More "often" than not, Juggler knows the answer!

"When we were debating this at the office,some people thought the
pronunciation was used among less educated people." That's always been
my impression, too. Perhaps they are la-di-dah wannabes.

nautico-ga

I was taught to pronounce it "off-en". When someone pronounces it
"oft-en" I thought they were simply wrong. Not la di la or less
educated in a formal sense but perhaps lazy in speech. Like when Ricky
Schroeder would always say "I've got an idear!" on the show Silver
Spoons. I was just a little kid then but it grated on my nerves like
nobody's business. Where did that extra "R" come from?

These days I've also noticed people saying "He hung himself". I was
taught that when referring to an execution or suicide by hanging it is
always "He hanged himself/You will be hanged from the neck until
dead."

Yet in Pirates of the Carribean, we hear a judge say "You will be hung
by the neck..." I don't know if the term hanged was being used in that
century so I have to check but these days it's common to just say
"hung". I never will, though. "Hanged" is what I was taught was
correct and that is what I will continue to say.


I won't even bother talking about the rampant misuse of quotation
marks, the excessive punctuation (!!!!???) and the mindless slaughter
of adverbs happening in our country today.

mindless slaughter of adverbs happening in our country today.

Assault or killing? Please give examples of this crime?

A few random thoughts: 
1. When people try to sound "la-di-da" they often "hypercorrect" their
grammar and pronunciation; by trying to sound correct, they actually
violate the "rules of English."
http://www.bartleby.com/61/72/H0357260.html defines "hypercorrection" as follows: 
"A construction or pronunciation produced by mistaken analogy with
standard usage out of a desire to be correct, as in the substitution
of I for me in on behalf of my parents and I. 2. The production of
such a construction or pronunciation."

2. There has been a tendency since the first American dictionaries
appeared for US pronunciation to adhere more closely to spelling than
English pronunciation. This dovetails with hypercorrection.

3. The great success of English around the world has something to do
with English speakers' pragmatic attitude: "We don't care if you don't
speak too good, as long as we can do business with you." Some English
speakers, anyway. FWIW.