Pronunciation of "often"



How should often be pronounced in formal speech? "off-ten" or "of-fen"?



Answer



"Should" is inappropriate in the question. Both pronunciations occur.


In the 19th century /ɔ:fn/ ("aufn") was the normal pronunciation, so in The Pirates of Penzance, there is an elaborate joke on the confusion of 'often' and 'orphan'.


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