xkcd #2942: Fluid Speech

https://xkcd.com/2942

explainxkcd.com for #2942

Alt text:

Thank you to linguist Gretchen McCulloch for teaching me about phonetic assimilation, and for teaching me that if you stand around in public reading texts from a linguist and murmuring example phrases to yourself, people will eventually ask if you’re okay.

  • GTG3000English
    2•20 days ago

    Yeah. If I try going faster, it turns into “ht’ptayto”. Like a hard stop with tongue against the roof of the mouth before the teeth.

    Although admittedly, this is self-reporting.

    • DeebsterOPEnglish
      1•20 days ago

      I’m sitting here trying to replicate what that sounds like from your description and I’ve only succeeding in sounding like a madman.

      • GTG3000English
        1•19 days ago

        Different accents, then.