No, you generally do not pronounce the 't' in 'moisten'; it's a silent 't', pronounced as "MOY-sun," similar to words like listen, soften, and hasten, where the 't' sound becomes difficult after the 's' and is dropped in common speech.
Besides that, the silent T appears in a random assortment of other words, such as asthma, mortgage, tsunami, soften, listen, fasten, glisten, and moisten.
Silent Medial T's
Similarly, the medial t in words like soften, hasten, and fasten was originally pronounced, as the -en was added to base words that were recognizable (soft, haste, fast).
If you live in Australia and you're unsure how to pronounce often, you're definitely not alone. The good news is that both are correct in Aussie English. (IPA transcriptions sourced from @macquariedictionary, Australia's national dictionary)
Another classic case of Australians shortening everything. Meaning 'thank you', ta is usually used for the times when you are in a rush or want to send a quick text to show your appreciation for something.
An Australian classic, “no worries” is often said instead of “that's alright” or “it was no trouble”. Similarly, you might hear “no dramas”, which means the same thing. If you thank someone for helping you and they say “no worries” or “no dramas” it means it was no problem for them to assist you.
Sound it Out: Break down the word 'soften' into its individual sounds "sof" + "uhn". Say these sounds out loud, exaggerating them at first. Practice until you can consistently produce them clearly.
The conspiracy in the title refers to two very different processes in the speech of some younger Americans which 'conspire' (in phonological jargon) to manifest the consonant T as a glottal stop [ʔ] before vowels. Pre-vowel T-glottaling is something traditionally associated far more with British accents.
The /t/ sound after fricative sounds like /f/ and /s/ was lost when in between vowels a few hundred years ago. This is the same sound change that led to the silent /t/ in castle and listen. Because of spelling pronunciations , the sound has often been brought back in words like often or soften.
With these words, the T is silent. Words that end in: STEN, FTEN, or STLE. STEN: fasten, listen, moisten, glisten.
In the 1500s. the N was added to form often, and at first the t was pronounced often, and also for words like soften and hasen. the t was pronounced. Then slowly these t's were eliminated.
Twenty tricky English words often trip people up due to spelling, pronunciation, or meaning, including Accommodate, Aisle, Buoy, Choir, Colonel, Embarrassed, Garrulous, Heard, Irregardless, Literally, Necessary, Nauseous, Nonplussed, Occasion, Phenomenon, Rhythm, Separate, Silhouette, Stationary, There, To, Were, Whom, You (common sight words), and words with tricky homophones like Affect/Effect or Compliment/Complement. These words challenge spelling (e.g., necessary), pronunciation (e.g., colonel, choir), or usage (e.g., imply/infer, literally).
The terms pommy, pommie, and pom used in Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand usually denote a British person. Newspapers in Australia were using the term by 1912, with it appearing first in Western Australia, and was said to be short for pomegranate, with the terms "jimmy" and "jimmigrant" also in use.
Woop Woop is used to refer to a place in the middle of nowhere. People use it to signify that a location is far away, unfamiliar to them, and difficult to get to.
"Ozzy, Ozzy, Ozzy, Oi, Oi, Oi!" is a popular Australian sports chant, a variation of the British "Oggy, Oggy, Oggy" cheer, used to express national pride and support for Australian teams, with "Ozzy" being slang for "Australian" and "Oi, Oi, Oi" a general interjection for enthusiasm or attention, much like "USA!". The chant involves one group shouting "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!" and the crowd responding "Oi, Oi, Oi!".
According to Stephen Alomes, a professor of Australian studies at Deakin University, the chant represents "enthusiasm for the tribe" and a "celebration of 'us' ", but at the extreme may act as a symbol of aggressive nationalism and xenophobia.
No, Australia is not 90% white; while a large majority identify with European ancestry (around 76-80% in recent years), a significant and growing portion identifies as Asian, African, Middle Eastern, or Indigenous, making it a highly multicultural nation with diverse ethnic backgrounds, not overwhelmingly white. Recent census data shows European ancestry (English, Irish, etc.) makes up a large chunk, but Asian ancestries are also substantial, with over 17% Asian population and around 3.8% identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, per the 2021 census data from Wikipedia.
It is pronounced one letter at a time, though the band are colloquially known as Acca Dacca in Australia. The AC/DC band name is stylised with a lightning bolt separating the AC from DC and has been used on all studio albums, except the international version of Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.
Dropping that t sound is an example of what linguists call glottalization: the sudden coming together of the vocal cords to block the flow of air, and then opening again. In other words, replacing a sound with a pause in the vocal cords.
Most commonly mispronounced words
We don't pronounce the t, instead we say these words with a d sound. It's a lot easier to pronounce these words with a D sound. It takes less energy for our lips, tongue, throat, and mouth to say “waDer” as opposed to “waTer.”