I promised myself that I wouldn’t mention Sisqo’s 1999 hit “Thong Song” in this article, but I’ve already done it. Avid Grammar Guy reader and fellow word nerd Dan sent me the following message: ...

Do you say car-a-mel or car-mel? Is your “fire” closer to fah-yer or fayr? There is a group of words in English that can be pronounced with two different syllable structures, depending on dialect, ...

"Gherkin" — I like saying it. It's vaguely Indian sounding. "Kerfuffle." That's just fun, with so many F's packed into three syllables. "Diphthong" is sly because it's hiding a silent H, the H right ...

Explore diphthong "oi" with Anna Scretching-Cole. Explore diphthong "oi" with Anna Scretching-Cole. A dipthong combines two vowels into a single syllable. Practice reading, blending, and writing words ...

The great vowel shift did not involve the shortening or the forward movement of vowels, as Michael Erard says (29 March, p 28). Only the long vowels shifted – upwards – or became diphthongs (two ...