Welcome to twenty-ten or two-thousand ten
How do we pronouce this new year?
This is how we pronounce years past:
1899 eighteen ninety-nine
1900 nineteen hundred
1902 nineteen oh-two
1910 nineteen ten
1999 nineteen ninety-nine
Then it became more cumbersome:
2000 two-thousand, not twenty hundred like nineteen hundred
2002 two-thousand two, not twenty oh-two like nineteen oh-two
What pattern should we follow for 2010?
twenty-ten, like nineteen-ten?
two-thousand ten like two-thousand nine?
Some say twenty-ten and there is even a site promoting that but not everyone agrees.
Daylight Saving Time is the proper term
It is incorrect to use savings in the description.
Here is a portion of the history taken from the U. S. Naval Observatory site. It should be very accurate since “[they are] charged with maintaining the DoD reference for Precise Time and Time Interval.” … Although standard time in time zones was instituted in the U.S. and Canada by the railroads in 1883, it was not established in U.S. law until the Act of March 19, 1918, sometimes called the Standard Time Act. The act also established daylight saving time, a contentious idea then. … Beginning in 2007, daylight time starts on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November.
This is the link if you would like to read the complete history.
Words that sound alike or are spelled alike
Homonyms are words that sound alike but have different meanings.
(the county fair, they received fair treatment )
Homophones are a subset of homonyms but have different spellings.
(a pear is a fruit, two shoes make a pair)
Homographs are words that are spelled the same but have different meanings.
(he told a lie, he told the dog to lie down)
Heteronyms are a subset of homographs but have different sounds.
(tear in the eye, tear the paper)
Coupon: coo-pon or Q-pon?
According to my research, either pronunciation is acceptable.
I guess I tend to use coo-pon.
We could also discuss whether it is a crick or a creek.
I also discovered that either of those is acceptable.
I find that I use both.
Mispronounced then misspelled
perseveres, not perserveres
verbiage, not verbage
Words beginning with a silent letter H
There are only a few words that begin with a silent H in American English.
Hour (‘our): An hour passed hourly.
Honor (‘onor): It is an honor to meet an honorable person.
Herb (‘erb): An herb is used in an herbal remedy.
Heir (‘eir): An heir might own an heirloom.
Honest (‘onest): An honest person has honesty.
Since they start with a vowel sound, they use an instead of a.