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Grammar Girl here. I'm in

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Jan Fogerty. Your friendly guide

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to the English language. Today

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we're going to talk about

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when the letter L is

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silent and qualifying words like

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always and most. But first

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I have a couple of

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extras from recent

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episodes. First, after the

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piece about the origin of corn

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and how corned a beef got

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its name, Robert wrote in to

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tell me that corn isn't a

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vegetable. It's actually a fruit. I

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had no idea. And corn isn't

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the only food to surprise me.

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Robert also said botanists classify tomatoes,

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green peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, and other

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squashes as fruits. And it checks

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out. And I did some other

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searching, and it turns out that

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olives and avocados are also

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fruits. Technically, fruit develops from

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the flower or ovary of

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the plant after it's fertilized.

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Pea pods are fruits, and

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the peas themselves are seeds.

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Same with green beans. And

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again, botanically, a banana is

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actually a berry. You learn

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something every day. Thanks, Robert.

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And then people had follow-up questions

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about how to write the word

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OK when it's two letters. Today,

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it's written as the capital letters

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O and K without any periods.

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But for many years, it was

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written as capital letters with periods.

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And originally, in the Boston Morning

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Post, in 1836, when it first

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appeared, it was written as lower-case

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letters with periods. So it's changed

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a lot over the years, and

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it's entirely possible that it can

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change again. A couple of people

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commented that they write it all

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lower case without periods right now,

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and maybe someday that'll catch on

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enough that dictionaries and style guides

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will include it. But for now,

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in professional writing, stick with

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OK, upper case with no

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periods, or spelled out as

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lower case, OKAY. Today we're

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answering an intriguing

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question from a listener

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named Michael, who asks, why

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do we drop the L

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in words like almond and

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chalk? This is one of

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those language mysteries that

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reveals how words evolve over

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time. You might not have

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noticed, but those of us

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who speak English, treat the

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letter L in some interesting

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ways. Sometimes we say it,

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sometimes we don't, and sometimes

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it depends entirely on where

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you grew up. So let's start with

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a quick experiment. Listen to

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me say these words, walk, talk, and

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half. Did you notice that even though

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all these words have an L

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in their spelling, I didn't pronounce

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them. Most of us don't pronounce

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it at all in these words.

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But here's where things get

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really interesting. Words like calm,

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palm, and almond create a

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divide among English speakers. If

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you're from Britain, you probably

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don't pronounce the L in

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calm or palm. But if

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you're American or Canadian, you

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might find yourself emphasizing that

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L sound. And almond... Well, that

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depends not just on your country,

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but often on your specific region.

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Some Americans give it a soft

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L sound, while others skip it

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entirely. I happen to be one

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of the speakers who pronounces the

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L, Almond, which is why I

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might have sounded awkward trying not

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to pronounce it when I read

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Michael's question. Now let's

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get a little more technical.

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In English, we actually have

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two different types of L

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sounds. What linguists call a

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light L and a dark

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L. Think of them as

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linguistic siblings. with very different

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personalities. The light L is what

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you hear at the beginning of

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words like light or leaf.

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Your tongue touches right behind your

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top teeth and the sound feels

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bright and crisp. But the dark

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L is the sound you hear at

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the end of words like ball or

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feel. Your tongue still touches the

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same spot, but it also bunches

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up in the back of your

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mouth, giving the sound a deeper,

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more hollow quality. If you say

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leaf and then ball slowly,

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you can actually feel the

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difference. And here's where our

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story takes an unexpected turn.

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That dark L sound is

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pretty unusual in the world's

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languages. It's actually one of

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the trickier sounds for non-native

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English speakers to master. And

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because it's such an unstable

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sound, that is when it's

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difficult to pronounce the same

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way, consistently, it tends to

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transform over time. Think of

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it like a linguistic game

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of telephone. As the sound

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gets passed from generation to

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generation, it gradually shifts into

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something easier to pronounce. This

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is exactly what happened with

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words like walk and talk.

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That dark L started transforming

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into a vowel sound, like

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a subtle oo or into

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W. Linguists call it L

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vocalization. And you can hear

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it in action when someone

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says milk, more like milk,

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or bell, more like bell. This is

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especially common in certain

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accents, like cockney English

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in London, or some

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dialects in Philadelphia. So why

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do we have all these silent

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Ls hanging around in our spelling?

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Well, the answer takes us back

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to the 1400s. Around this time

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English speakers started changing how they

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pronounced L's that came after vowels.

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Some of these L sounds turned

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into something more like a W's.

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and others disappeared completely, but

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the spelling stayed the same.

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Think of it like a

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linguistic family photo album. The

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spelling preserves how these words

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used to sound, even though

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our pronunciation has moved on.

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It's similar to how we

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still write night with a

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K&GH, even though we stopped

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pronouncing those sounds centuries ago.

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But there's another twist in

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our story. Remember how I

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mention that some Americans pronounce

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the L in calm and

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palm? That's actually a relatively

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recent development. Linguists call this

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a spelling pronunciation. When people

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see a letter in the

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written word and start pronouncing

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it, even though it was

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traditionally silent. It's like linguistic

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peer pressure from the written

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word. So the next time

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you're listening to different English

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dialects, you can think about

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how you're hearing living proof

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that languages evolve. These sound

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changes aren't mistakes or lazy

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speech. Their windows into the

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fascinating ways our brains and

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mouths work together to make

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language easier to use. That

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segment was written by Karen Lundy,

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a former Quick and Dirty Tips

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editor and digital pioneer who's been

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spinning words into gold since before

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cat videos ruled the internet. She

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created one of the first online

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writing workshops and she's published thousands

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of articles on the art of

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writing. These days, she leads personal

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narrative writing retreats and helps writers

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find their voice. Visit her at

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Chantarel Story studio.com. Next,

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we'll talk about words you should

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never use and words you should

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always avoid or something like that.

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As many of you know, before

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I was grammar girl, I was

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a science and technology. writer. Even

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as an undergrad my instructor said

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I was especially good at that

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kind of writing and my secret

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was that I hedged everything I

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wrote. I wouldn't write anything as

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definitive as scientists found life on

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Mars. I would write scientists appear

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to have found life on Mars

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or scientists report that they found

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signs of life on Mars. In

8:23

scientific writing, those kinds of distinctions

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are important because knowledge changes as

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new data comes in. What looks

8:30

like life on Mars today could

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turn out to be an instrument

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malfunction tomorrow. Coffee seems good for

8:37

you in one study, but bad

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for you in the next study

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that looked at different populations or

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at different parameters. But keeping absolute

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statements under control can also keep

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your everyday writing honest. Some of

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the most dangerous words you can

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throw around are always and never.

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They almost beg people to ask,

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really? Never? Not even if aliens

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take over the world and change

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the laws of physics with their

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super advanced technology? If I were

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to write, always use quotation marks

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around dialogue, I'm sure that within

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12 hours, someone would remind me

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that some literary writers like Kormik

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McCarthy don't use them. If I

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said never start a sentence with

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a lowercase letter, someone would remind

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me that the P in pH

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must be lower case when referring

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to the acidity or alkalinity of

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a solution, whether it's at the

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beginning of a sentence or not,

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and that the Chicago manual of

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styles is to keep the eye

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in iPhone lower case even if

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the word is at the beginning

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of a sentence. If you go

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out on a limb and use

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always or never, you should be

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darn certain there are any exceptions.

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So what about fudgy words such

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as usually? Often. They aren't horrible.

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When you're tempted to write always,

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usually can be a safer choice.

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In English, we usually capitalize the

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word at the beginning of a

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sentence. The problem is that sometimes

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people use these words without any

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real knowledge of whether something happens

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often or usually. I could have

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said people often use these words

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without any real knowledge, but really,

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is it often? I know I

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see it done, but when I

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think about it carefully, I'm not

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willing to commit to often. Sometimes

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is more accurate. And people have

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asked about the difference between most

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and many. Okay, it was only

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one person, so it wasn't really

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people. It should have been someone.

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Both many and most indicate a

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large indefinite amount. Technically, most is

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more than many. Most is a

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superlative that means in the greatest

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degree or in the majority of

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instances. You could argue that it's

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technically correct to use most if

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you're talking about more than half

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of something, but in practice I

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suspect most people, get it, most

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people don't strictly adhere to that

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definition. And if I hear someone

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say most, I'm imagining far more

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than 51 percent of something. My

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advice is to avoid using most

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and many, unless you have evidence

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that what you're talking about is

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a lot. A lot of people

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are far more than half the

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time, for example. It shouldn't just

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be your opinion. And if you

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can cite actual numbers. The thought,

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I believe snails are adorable and

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make great mascots. floating through your

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head should not lead you to

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write, many people believe snails are

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adorable and make great mascots. Going

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back to my opening paragraph, how

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did I know that many of

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you know that I used to

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be a science writer? I didn't.

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Although I've mentioned it in a

11:56

bunch of interviews, I have no

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idea how many of you already

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knew I was a science writer.

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So I shouldn't have started out

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with, as many of you know,

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it's pure speculation and unnecessarily wordy.

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As an aside, you can learn

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more about more and most in

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episode 930, in which we talk

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about using more to compare two

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things. This painting is more spectacular

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than the last. and most when

12:24

something is the best of more

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than two things. This painting is

12:29

the most spectacular painting we've seen

12:31

all day. Finally I have a

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familect and friend-elect from Annette. Hey

12:36

grandma girl this is Annette Lion.

12:38

I've got two quick familex. One

12:40

is an update from last year

12:43

and another is with a friend

12:45

of mine. So I guess a

12:47

friend of a like. And they're

12:50

both from typos. The first was...

12:52

When my husband and I had

12:54

the acronym PAPST, which came from

12:57

a line from Gilmore Girls, people

12:59

are particularly stupid today, PAPST. Recently,

13:01

he texted it to me only

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instead of PAPST, it was PABST,

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and I looked at it for

13:08

a second and thought, that works.

13:10

Instead of people are particularly stupid

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today, we have a new level.

13:15

People are beyond stupid today. So

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now we have. both. The other

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ones with my friend Louisa, she's

13:22

best friend and accountability partner for

13:24

coming on 20 years now. We

13:27

email each other on weekdays with

13:29

updates and our to do lists

13:31

our goals for the day and

13:34

then we text each other back

13:36

and forth our progress as we

13:38

go along. And we always sign

13:41

off our emails exo-o-xo-o-o-o-o-o-o- corrected before

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I hit send and I didn't

13:45

notice until she replied and then

13:47

I saw my email. but it

13:50

actually gone out. Did it exo,

13:52

exo, exo, so suddenly read Coco?

13:54

So I replied to clarify. I

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kind of like said, okay, that

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was auto-correct. I meant, of course,

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X, O, X, O, X, but,

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you know, Koko, that works, too.

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So now it's about a 50-50

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odds that our emails will sign

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off with either X, X, O,

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X, O, X, or K, but

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you might appreciate both of those.

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Have a great one. Thanks, for

14:20

the call. If you want to

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share the story of your family,

14:24

a word or phrase that you

14:27

use only with your friends or

14:29

family, leave a message on the

14:31

voicemail line at 833.3214 Girl, or

14:34

leave a voice message on WhatsApp.

14:36

And if you want that number

14:38

or link later, you can always

14:41

find them in the show notes.

14:43

Grammar Girl is a quick and

14:45

dirty tips podcast. Thanks to Divina

14:48

Tomlin and Nat Hoops in marketing,

14:50

Dan Fire opened and audio, Brandon

14:52

Getchus, director of podcasts, Holly Hutchings

14:55

in Digital Operations, and Morgan Christensen

14:57

in advertising, who says she'd love

14:59

to learn surface design. And I'm

15:02

in Jan Fogerie, better known as

15:04

Grammar Girl and author of the

15:06

Tip of Day book, the Grammar

15:08

Daily. That's all. Thanks for listening.