this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2024
978 points (99.4% liked)
People Twitter
5300 readers
105 users here now
People tweeting stuff. We allow tweets from anyone.
RULES:
- Mark NSFW content.
- No doxxing people.
- Must be a tweet or similar
- No bullying or international politcs
- Be excellent to each other.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
"Taxi" comes from the French word "taximètre" and its shortened form "taxi," which itself comes from the Latin "taxa," meaning charge or rate. In this case, the "i" at the end of "taxi" is pronounced as a short vowel sound (/ɪ/), like the "i" in "sit," rather than a long "eye" sound (/aɪ/). English has phonetic rules where an "i" at the end of a word is pronounced as a short vowel when preceded by a consonant, especially when the word has a foreign language origin. This contrasts with words like "alibi" or "butterfly," where the "i" is part of a longer syllable or a diphthong. Therefore, "Taxi" is pronounced "tak-see" following these conventions.
Wym? This is an English community and the thread is about English initialisms, acronyms and words. Why would I not reference English grammatical rules?
I bet you pronounced midi as mid eye
The final "i" follows the convention of being pronounced as a short vowel (/ɪ/), like in "mini" or "city." This contrasts with words like "pie" or "die," where the "i" is part of a diphthong (/aɪ/). Also, "MIDI" is an acronym where the letters form a pronounceable word without modification, and in such cases, a short "i" is more common when it's in the middle or at the end of the word. Hence, "mid-ee" sticks to these phonetic rules