Got to English 399 twenty minutes late, but with my homework, marking the first time this semester I've handed it in two consecutive times. Stay tuned for the drive for three on Thursday.

Having a number of things to do in the area, I decided to do them all in one grand tour. I answered some e-mail first, then went to the bank, a pizza shop (being very hungry), a ritual bath (where I finally immersed that saucepan I got a couple of weeks ago, so I can use the thing now), and finally, the game room on campus, arriving there at almost 4 PM.

Turns out that the person I needed to speak to -- the supervisor -- is only there from 9 AM to 2 PM. Oh. I wish he'd have mentioned that in his message... but, okay, I'll see him tomorrow.

During this time, she mentioned in passing that "often" is properly pronounced "offen," and that pronouncing the "t" is, in fact, incorrect.

Now, I pronounce it "offen" myself, but I've always thought that I was wrong in doing so. So this came as something of a surprise, which is to say that I was openly skeptical. But, no, she insisted that she'd looked into this. So I said I'd look it up when I got home, and e-mail her either way.

Well, here are the results, direct from my e-mail:

<drumroll>

Starting with the American Heritage, 'cause it's pretty cool, we find... (translating from phonetic symbols into regular letters)

* AW-fen, AHF-en, AWF-ten, AHF-ten.

So "offen" IS the primary pronunciation, but "off-ten" is legal, too.

On to the Merriam-Webster, 'cause it's next in line, alphabetically...

* AW-fen, [division sign] AWF-ten.

Hmmm. What does that notation mean? <flip to front>

The obelus, or division sign, is placed before a pronunciation variant that appears in educated speech but that is considered by some to be questionable or unacceptable. This symbol is used sparingly and primarily for variants that have been objected to over a period of time in print by commentators on usage, in schools by teachers, or in correspondance that has come to the Merriam-Webster editorial department...

Umm, well, just for the sake of completeness, let's go to the Random House...

* AW-fen, AHF-en, AWF-ten, AHF-ten.

But, wait! The plot thickens! There's a note here!

Pronunciation. OFTEN was pronounced with a t-sound until the 17th century, when a pronunciation without the (t) came to predominate in the speech of both North America and Great Britain, and the earlier pronunciation fell into disfavor. Common use of a spelling pronunciation has since restored the (t) for many speakers, and today ([AW-fen]) and ([AWF-ten]) [or ([AH-fen]) and ([AHF-ten])] exist side by side. Although it is still sometimes criticized, OFTEN with a (t) is now so widely heard from educated speakers that it has become fully standard once again.

Interesting. Thanks. :-)