calumny

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William Hupy
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calumny

Postby William Hupy » Thu Nov 21, 2013 10:06 am

I am not certain how to pronounce this. Regardless, it seems to be more commonly used in the plural: calumnies. Which brings another question. When an "m" and an "n" appear in that order next to one another in English isn't there a tendency to drop the "n" sound altogether, as in column; or the "m" as in mnemonic?
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Slava
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Re: calumny

Postby Slava » Thu Nov 21, 2013 10:41 am

KAL-um-knee.

My guess here is that the mn is pronounced because of the y. Column's n does become evident in the form columnated. Not that I can see why one would use that form instead of columned.

As to plural v singular, I can easily imagine both, but I can't recall actually having seen either in recent times.
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Perry Lassiter
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Re: calumny

Postby Perry Lassiter » Thu Nov 21, 2013 7:53 pm

Hmmn...mnemoic is a nice touch. When you guys are discussing theological matters, do you pronounce the n in damn or damned? I think Lady Macbeth made dam-ned two syllables for the iambics. Possibly because I was taught by the phonics method and tend to subconsciously verbalize when I read, I often select words for how they sound in the sentence as much as their specific meaning. So usually I would say the columned form but sometimes depending on how the sentence rolls, I might indeed say columnated.
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Re: calumny

Postby Philip Hudson » Mon Nov 25, 2013 4:15 am

I don't recall Lady Macbeth having pronounced damned with two syllables in any performance of Macbeth that I have seen.

That reminds me of a story. A man and his wife were watching a movie of Macbeth on TV. Their little dog was at their feet. During Lady Macbeth's sleepwalk scene she shouted, "Out, damned spot! Out, I say". So the little dog got up and left the room.
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