Comments on: To “B” or Not to “B”

By: David

David — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 13:42:03 +0000

It’s interesting that the pronunciations for some longer words built off of these words *do* have the “b” sound, as in limber, crumble, or bombastic.

By: owl omen

owl omen — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 15:36:48 +0000

From the listing for crumb:
“The -b may have got into the act . . ”

Should this not be:
“The -b may have GOTTEN into the act . . .” ?

We are losing our participles.

By: Maeve

Maeve — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 14:09:06 +0000

A reader named Will has reminded me of another, less common -mb word: succumb. The sense of "to give in, to sink under pressure" is first recorded in 1604. One succumbs to an illness or to a wound. The past form is succumbed.

By: Maeve

Maeve — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:56:04 +0000

Richard,
You have an interesting view of English. Are you a native speaker?

Even if English speakers recognized some authority with the power to alter spellings by mandate, I don’t see why such a thing would be done to “cause less confusion to non -english speakers.”

Do German or French authorities worry about altering their languages for the benefit of non-native speakers?

A language, like Everest, is there–to be cherished by its native speakers and to be learned with varying degrees of difficulty by those not born to it.

Please continue your list. I’d like to add any other -mb words you can think of to mine.

By: richard

richard — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 02:19:28 +0000

Please forgive my mistakes…….ist should be list…..were should be was