CONTRACTIONS: THE SILENT ERA

"FRANKLY, MY DEAR, I DO NOT GIVE A 

THOUGHT TO CONTRACTIONS"

I digress. In every movie I have commented on, not one actor had a problem pronouncing contractions. The apostrophe was recognized as having a reason. It eliminates a letter. That letter is silent because, not surprisingly, it is missing. The contraction was pronounced as it was spelled. They never invented a word to override the apostrophe, which defeats the purpose of a contracted word in the first place. I am not a grammarian. It is as simple as right and wrong. 

"OF ALL THE WORDS IN ALL THE TOWNS IN ALL 

THE WORLD, SHE PRONOUNCES 

CONTRACTIONS LIKE THAT"

Oddly, most contracted words are not mispronounced. The annoying habit typically contains the ending “d” of the first non-contracted word. Two common examples are the words “didn’t” (did not) and “wouldn’t” (would not). They are not pronounced “dident” or “wouldent.” Nowhere is the word “dent” included in the spelling of the contracted word. Jane Greer “dident” say it. Sterling Hayden “wouldent” say it. Claire Trevor “couldent” say it. The fabricated word is common among some young females. Regardless of which sex dominates its usage, this “affliction” only seems to affect those under forty. 

Thankfully, only a portion of Millennials, Generation  X, and Y make up the majority of offenders. Logically, we assume they have no idea why an apostrophe is in a contraction or have never seen the word in print. I suspect technology and societal change can be rightfully blamed, given the increase in non-verbal communication. It takes "time" to search for an apostrophe on a smartphone. Just spell it in a letter arrangement of one's choosing. Like, "Your great!" instead of correctly spelling it, "You're great!" Their point is clear, finding no need for such punctuation. 

Unintelligible, rapid speech does gloss over the contractions.

"WHAT WE'VE GOT HERE IS FAILURE 

OF COMMUNICATION"

When attempting to advise them on the proper pronunciation, their response is similar to a "deer in headlights." I have accepted the combining of two words to make a confusing one, as in “Online,” “Linkedin” or “Login.” One can imagine the time I have saved by doing this. Also, using a global mindset, many younger generations often hear certain foreign residents mispronounce contractions when using English. This is understandable. It is not their native language. Maybe it is confirmation that this is proper English worldwide. The lack of educational discipline has to share the blame, or maybe a parent with the same anomaly. These offenders have never been taught how to correctly pronounce certain common words at an early age. Teachers will no longer correct a student's “preference” for mispronouncing a word, fearing a lawsuit or defamation of character.  

There is no shortage of grammar guidelines on the Internet. Yet, they must be very hard to find. I suspect this speech malady will not correct itself. One generation will screw it up for the next one.  Abandoning the contraction altogether would solve these grating, airhead errors, but I suspect mispronunciation may be due to one fact. It is physically easier. One needs the innate ability to place the tip of the tongue behind the front teeth, near the roof of the mouth, for that apostrophe. “That’s hard, dude. You can't make me do that!”

Note: One lame excuse would be to blame the sometimes illogical American way of spelling. To illustrate, the “t” in “often” is silent, and preferred as is the second “d” in “hidden.” It is never two words, “hid den.” Though there is nothing odd about the spelling of "important," the curse of the "Ds" continues. One cannot replace the first "t" or the "a" in the word with a "d" and an "e." This is very "impordent."