Comments on: “Forte” or “Fortë,” “Cache” or “Cachet”?

By: jerome

jerome — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 22:04:53 +0000

As ashamed as I am to have been pronouncing that incorrectly for so long, I’m equally excited to use it correctly in the future

By: Matt

Matt — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 00:24:24 +0000

Another great French word that is commonly mispronounced by English speakers is “repetoire.” How many baseball announcers have you describing a pitcher’s “Rep Er Twar”? I agree with Venqax and previous posters…just because a French word has been adopted by English speakers and mispronounced does not mean we should accept it or adopt it.

By: venqax

venqax — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 19:13:43 +0000

To say for-tay is simply indefensible. It is pronounced fort in French and the spelling forte would be pronounced fort by any English standard. There is absolutley no English spelling-pronunciation convention which would have the spelling F-O-R-T-E be said “for-tay”. So by either standard– anglicize the french or keep it– for-tay is flatly wrong. Who cares how many people say it that way or would look at you funny if you said it correctly? Many people say excape and expecially and pervent and prevert, too. Don’t be afraid to be correct. FGS, when does this relativism stop?

By: SteveG

SteveG — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 22:43:29 +0000

This is just another case of “if enough of us are wrong, we’re right.” By the way, I fall into the “fort” category, but am accepting (grudgingly) of “fortay.” Not the case with cache (“cash”), having grown up near the Cache la Poudre river in Colorado…

By: Jim

Jim — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 02:49:47 +0000

Pls. ignore my own grammatical errors above (comma, “longtime” etc.). Sticky keyboard.