I was talking with a couple of the other teachers today and the word 'lozenges' came up because the teacher from Canadia had never heard it before. Apparently in Canadia they call them 'throat candies' for some stupid reason. Anyway, the other Australian teacher asked me how I pronounced the singular of the plural word 'lozenges', so I said 'lozenge', which is correct (I know I'm correct because I always am). She agreed with my pronunciation but said that she has heard native speakers pronounce it as something like 'lozenger'. (The difference being an extra syllable - allocating three syllables to the singular instead of two because the plural has got three syllables.)
So, my question is, have you ever heard someone say 'lozenger' as the singular form of the word? It's not something that I remember ever hearing.
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3 comments:
Yes, and you often hear people adding an r to the plural too so it becomes lozengers. I suspect they just can't spell.
I've not heard either, but they sound equally natural to me.
Angie - Perhaps people can't spell, perhaps people are just plain stupid. You know me well enough to know which opinion I have.
David - The difference in pronunciation is minor, but it's there, and the version with the 'r' is definitely not acceptable, nor natural. :-)
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