Why don't we say the L in 'walk'? Never use 'always.' PABST
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Grammar Girl here. I'm Mignon Fogarty, your friendly guide to the English language. Today, we're going to talk about when the letter L is silent and qualifying words like always and most. But first, I have a couple of extras from recent episodes.

First, after the piece about the origin of corn and how corned beef got its name, Robert wrote in to tell me that corn isn't a vegetable. It's actually a fruit. I had no idea. And corn isn't the only food to surprise me. Robert also said botanists classify tomatoes, green peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, and other squashes as fruits. And it checks out.

And I did some other searching and it turns out that olives and avocados are also fruits. Technically, fruit develops from the flower or ovary of the plant after it's fertilized. Pea pods are fruits and the peas themselves are seeds. Same with green beans. And again, botanically, a banana is actually a berry. You learn something every day. Thanks, Robert.

And then people had follow-up questions about how to write the word okay when it's two letters.

Today, it's written as the capital letters O and K without any periods. But for many years, it was written as capital letters with periods. And originally, in the Boston Morning Post in 1836, when it first appeared, it was written as lowercase letters with periods. So it's changed a lot over the years, and it's entirely possible that it could change again.

A couple of people commented that they write it all lowercase without periods right now, and maybe someday that'll catch on enough that dictionaries and style guides will include it. But for now, in professional writing, stick with OK uppercase with no periods, or spelled out as lowercase O-K-A-Y.

Today, we're answering an intriguing question from a listener named Michael, who asks, why do we drop the L in words like almond and chalk? This is one of those language mysteries that reveals how words evolve over time. You might not have noticed, but those of us who speak English treat the letter L in some interesting ways. Sometimes we say it, sometimes we don't, and sometimes it depends entirely on where you grew up.

So let's start with a quick experiment. Listen to me say these words, walk, talk, and half. Did you notice that even though all these words have an L in their spelling, I didn't pronounce them? Most of us don't pronounce it at all in these words. But here's where things get really interesting. Words like calm, palm, and almond create a divide among English speakers.

If you're from Britain, you probably don't pronounce the L in calm or palm. But if you're American or Canadian, you might find yourself emphasizing that L sound. And almond? Well, that depends not just on your country, but often on your specific region. Some Americans give it a soft L sound, while others skip it entirely.

I happen to be one of the speakers who pronounces the L, almond, which is why I might have sounded awkward trying not to pronounce it when I read Michael's question.

Now let's get a little more technical. In English, we actually have two different types of L sounds, what linguists call a light L and a dark L. Think of them as linguistic siblings with very different personalities. The light L is what you hear at the beginning of words like light or leaf. Your tongue touches right behind your top teeth, and the sound feels bright and crisp.

But the dark L is the sound you hear at the end of words like ball or feel. Your tongue still touches the same spot, but it also bunches up in the back of your mouth, giving the sound a deeper, more hollow quality. If you say leaf and then ball slowly, you can actually feel the difference.

And here's where our story takes an unexpected turn. That dark L sound is pretty unusual in the world's languages. It's actually one of the trickier sounds for non-native English speakers to master. And because it's such an unstable sound, that is, one that's difficult to pronounce the same way consistently, it tends to transform over time.

Think of it like a linguistic game of telephone. As the sound gets passed from generation to generation, it gradually shifts into something easier to pronounce.

This is exactly what happened with words like walk and talk. That dark L started transforming into more of a vowel sound, like a subtle OO or into W. Linguists call it L vocalization, and you can hear it in action when someone says milk more like milk or bell more like bell.

This is especially common in certain accents like Cockney English in London or some dialects in Philadelphia.

So, why do we have all these silent Ls hanging around in our spelling? Well, the answer takes us back to the 1400s. Around this time, English speakers started changing how they pronounced Ls that came after vowels. Some of these L sounds turned into something more like a W sound, and others disappeared completely, but the spelling stayed the same.

Think of it like a linguistic family photo album. The spelling preserves how these words used to sound, even though our pronunciation has moved on. It's similar to how we still write night with a K and GH, even though we stopped pronouncing those sounds centuries ago.

But there's another twist in our story. Remember how I mentioned that some Americans pronounce the L in calm and palm? That's actually a relatively recent development. Linguists call this a spelling pronunciation. When people see a letter in the written word and start pronouncing it, even though it was traditionally silent. It's like linguistic peer pressure from the written word.

So the next time you're listening to different English dialects, you can think about how you're hearing living proof that languages evolve. These sound changes aren't mistakes or lazy speech. They're windows into the fascinating ways our brains and mouths work together to make language easier to use.

That segment was written by Karen Lundy, a former Quick and Dirty Tips editor and digital pioneer who's been spinning words into gold since before cat videos ruled the internet. She created one of the first online writing workshops, and she's published thousands of articles on the art of writing. These days, she leads personal narrative writing retreats and helps writers find their voice. Visit her at chanterellestorystudio.com.

At Capella University, learning online doesn't mean learning alone. You'll get dedicated support from people who care about your success. A different future is closer than you think with Capella University. Learn more at capella.edu. Next, we'll talk about words you should never use and words you should always avoid, or something like that. As many of you know, before I was Grammar Girl, I was a science and technology writer.

Even as an undergrad, my instructor said I was especially good at that kind of writing. And my secret was that I hedged everything I wrote. I wouldn't write anything as definitive as scientists found life on Mars. I would write scientists appear to have found life on Mars, or scientists report that they've found signs of life on Mars.

In scientific writing, those kinds of distinctions are important because knowledge changes as new data comes in. What looks like life on Mars today could turn out to be an instrument malfunction tomorrow. Coffee seems good for you in one study, but bad for you in the next study that looked at different populations or at different parameters. But keeping absolute statements under control can also keep your everyday writing honest.

Some of the most dangerous words you can throw around are always and never. They almost beg people to ask, really? Never? Not even if aliens take over the world and change the laws of physics with their super advanced technology? If I were to write, always use quotation marks around dialogue. I'm sure that within 12 hours, someone would remind me that some literary writers like Cormac McCarthy don't use them.

If I said never start a sentence with a lowercase letter, someone would remind me that the P in PH must be lowercase when referring to the acidity or alkalinity of a solution, whether it's at the beginning of a sentence or not, and that the Chicago Manual of Style says to keep the I in iPhone lowercase even if the word is at the beginning of a sentence.

If you go out on a limb and use always or never, you should be darn certain there aren't any exceptions. So what about fudgy words such as usually and often? They aren't horrible. When you're tempted to write always, usually can be a safer choice. In English, we usually capitalize the word at the beginning of a sentence.

The problem is that sometimes people use these words without any real knowledge of whether something happens often or usually. I could have said people often use these words without any real knowledge, but really, is it often? I know I see it done, but when I think about it carefully, I'm not willing to commit to often. Sometimes is more accurate.

And people have asked about the difference between most and many. Okay, it was only one person, so it wasn't really people. It should have been someone. Both many and most indicate a large, indefinite amount. Technically, most is more than many. Most is a superlative that means in the greatest degree or in the majority of instances.

You could argue that it's technically correct to use most if you're talking about more than half of something. But in practice, I suspect most people, get it? Most people don't strictly adhere to that definition. And if I hear someone say most, I'm imagining far more than 51% of something.

My advice is to avoid using most and many unless you have evidence that what you're talking about is a lot. A lot of people are far more than half the time, for example. It shouldn't just be your opinion. And if you can, cite actual numbers. The thought, I believe snails are adorable and make great mascots floating through your head is

should not lead you to write, many people believe snails are adorable and make great mascots.

Going back to my opening paragraph, how did I know that many of you know that I used to be a science writer? I didn't. Although I've mentioned it in a bunch of interviews, I have no idea how many of you already knew I was a science writer. So I shouldn't have started out with, as many of you know. It's pure speculation and unnecessarily wordy.

As an aside, you can learn more about more and most in episode 930, in which we talk about using more to compare two things—this painting is more spectacular than the last—and most when something is the best of more than two things. This painting is the most spectacular painting we've seen all day. Finally, I have a familect and friendilect from Annette.

Hey, Grammar Girl, this is Annette Lyon. I've got two quick familex. One is an update from last year and another is with a friend of mine. So I guess a friend-elect. And they're both from typos. The first was...

When my husband and I had the acronym PAPST, which came from a line from Gilmore Girls, people are particularly stupid today, PAPST. Recently, he texted it to me only instead of P-A-P-S-T, it was P-A-B-S-T. And I looked at it for a second and thought, that works.

Instead of people are particularly stupid today, we have a new level. People are beyond stupid today. So now we have both. The other one is with my friend Louisa. She's best friend and accountability partner for coming on 20 years now. We email each other on weekdays with updates and our to-do lists, our goals for the day. And then we

text each other back and forth our progress as we go along. And we always sign off our emails XOXOXO. Well, recently, I didn't notice that my XOXOXO auto-corrected before I hit send, and I didn't notice until she replied, and then I saw my email.

but it actually gone out. And it XOXOXO suddenly read Coco. So I replied to clarify. I kind of laughed and said, okay, that was autocorrect. I meant, of course, XOXOXO, but you know, Coco, that works too. So now it's about a 50-50 odds that our emails will sign off with either XOXOXO or Coco. Thought you might appreciate both of those. Have a great one.

Thanks, Annette. I remember Pabst. And wow, I love that you have such a dedicated accountability partner. I bet that helps a lot. Thanks for the call. If you want to share the story of your familect, a word or phrase that you use only with your friends or family, leave a message on the voicemail line at 833214GIRL or leave a voice message on WhatsApp. And if you want that number or link later, you can always find them in the show notes.

Grammar Girl is a Quick and Dirty Tips podcast, thanks to Davina Tomlin and Nat Hoops in marketing, Dan Feierabend in audio, Brandon Goetjes, director of podcasts, Holly Hutchings in digital operations, and Morgan Christensen in advertising, who says she'd love to learn surface design. And I'm Mignon Fogarty, better known as Grammar Girl and author of the tip-a-day book, The Grammar Daily. That's all. Thanks for listening.

At Capella University, learning online doesn't mean learning alone. You'll get dedicated support from people who care about your success. A different future is closer than you think with Capella University. Learn more at capella.edu.