Akeem Lasisi; [email protected]; 08163939335
Yes. Almost all of us – If not all – pronounce this common word wrongly. This is in spite of (not inspite of) the fact that millions or even billions of people like the notorious sport called wrestling. It may not be too bad to describe it so – notorious. This is based on the fact that some believe there is too much drama in it. They say, unlike in football or boxing, there is too much stimulation in wrestling.
Well, those who say so are entitled to their opinion. All I know is that it is not in all matches (not marches), or not every time that the wrestlers ‘act’ the fights. If it were, there wouldn’t have been the occasional bone-breaking and blood-spilling that we witness.
Anyway, the politics of wrestling is not our business in this lesson. Leave all the Undertakers and Roman Reigns to their passions. What matters most is that a lot of us, including many who follow the game piously, do not pronounce wrestler well. This is as a result of a tricky letter it contains. The letter is a silent one but when many of us pronounce the noun; we erroneously allow it to sound. The letter is t!
The word, wrestler, is supposed to be pronounced as RESLER, not resTler. This should not sound strange because, in English, many words feature silent letters. We are familiar with a good number of them, and do not bother to articulate the silent elements. Indeed, despite the pervasive deficiency in the pronunciation of wrestler, the word serves as a good example of a word in which many of us have been obeying the rule of the silent letter; the only problem is that we obey it on one letter, but we don’t on the other affected one.
This is what I mean: In wrestler, no one bothers to pronounce the w that begins it! Or have you heard anyone say W-restler, with the W sounding like what we have in Window? No, there is a w at the beginning of the word, but all of us know it is phonologically useless because it is eternally silent. Now, as we keep it silent, so must we also keep the t in the word mute: WRESLER, not resTler.
Of course, you should know that what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. (And you, by now, know that the expression is not What is good for the goose is good for the gander, based on last week’s lesson on this page.) Whatever happens to the t in wrestler also obtains in wrestling. While w is silent in it too, the t must also remain dumb: WRESLING, not wresTling.
I remember that we have treated some words with the silent t on this platform. That could be about two years ago. How time flies! Punch English is already counting its age in years and no more in months. We are over three years old now. As a Yoruba idiom goes, some people born at the inception of the page are now preparing for marriage! What figure of speech is involved here? Hyperbole. And how do we pronounce it? HY-PER-BO-LEE, not HY-PER-BOL! You may need to (re)visit the lessons in which we discussed these: figures of speech and how to pronounce hyperbole.
As t is silent in wrestling, so is it in whistle, listen, jostle and even apostle. This means that you don’t say whisTle, but just WISLE (/wisl/); you don’t say lisTen, but LISEN (/lisn); just as the right thing to say is APOSLE, not aposTe. Note that even if the words are in the past tense, the t is still silent, as in whistled, wrestled and jostled. You should still not pronounce the t in them.
You should also similarly watch hasten and nestle because the t in them is silent. But this is not to say that it is every time you see t in a word that you must kill it. If you do so, you will be charged to the court of the same English language. The words identified above only exhibit a peculiar case. Letter t is alive in writing and pronunciation of many other words. Consider to, tight, tattoo, attitude, waste, wrist, tadpole, tithe, attire, list, justice, just, apostrophe, apart, appetite and so on and so forth. The tees in all the words are NOT silent. You must always pronounce them loud and clear.
Answers to last week’s assignment
- When the couple were preparing for their wedding, the
counsellor advised them to cut their coat according to their
… (a) gowns (b) lengths (c) sizes (d) CLOTH
- I learnt that both officers are involved in smuggling. I
am not surprised because birds of … (a) like feathers fly
together (b) a feathers flock together (c) the same feathers
flock together (d) A FEATHER FLOCK TOGETHER
- Kelvin, together with Nuhu, … to see you.
(a) WANTS (b) want (c) wanting (d) are wanting
Those who got all the answers right
Umar Hykmat, Osanyintuyi Tosin, Tosin Oyewoga, Shola M, Modupe Oladipupo, A.B. Adejumo, Dr Richard Charles, Mikairu G.Y, Olaide Owomoyela, Akin Gandonu, Yemi Olaniyi, Ademola Adedokun, James Azibato, Chris Thompson, Segun Odesanya, Olawale Ayodeji, Michael Abimbolu, A.T. Perepou, Peter Inyang, E.C. Porbeni, Olugbenga Adu, Okeke Esther, Ifeanyichukwu Ibekwe, Rotimi Oyedele, Timothy Olufayo, Akinola Ilesanmi, Douglas Missang, Alabi Mariam, Blessing Aghojare, Ndidi Ihekwoaba, Fiyin Olusesi, Eyindiya Ekeleme, Amoo Ganiyu, Festus Obi, Janet Osho, Adefolalu Babatunde, Eyo Ndiyo, Leziga Mitee, Olayinka Hamidat, Ayisa Olayinka, Tomi Joseph, Olunusi Samuel, Moyo Juyi, Ilesanmi Omowole, Raphael Daramola, Ikechukwu Gabriel, Josiah Abu, Johnbull Biakinogho, and Chukwudi Uruakpa.
Others who also did well
Lawrence Okwe, Okunade Olisa, Pius Uhuhirinwa, M.S. Adelugba, Halimat Awonuga, Alozie Ironkwe, Ishola Oluwatoyin, Aaron Grace, Agbakwuru Chidiebere, Ayoade Adeola, Muhammed Uthman, Adeola Adedire, Onyiwe Chukwuebuka, Bayo Omodara, Kolawale Kareem, Onyiwe Chika, Godwin Akpoghome, Japhlet B.V, Olasinde Festus, Ayomuiyiwa Ayoade, Onyiwe Chinasa, Elijah Johnson and Raheem Jimoh.
- In which of these words is ‘t’ silent when you pronounce it?
(a) wrist (b) listened (c) list (d) shatter
- In which of these is ‘p’ silent?
(a) please (b) happy (c) psalm (d) import
- The room was … cleaned when I entered.
(a)to been (b) being (c) to being (d) been
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.
Contact: the[email protected]