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Pooh-Bah
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In an article on the TV show The Middle in this week’s TV Guide, the cast answered the question “Did you guys immediately click?”
Neil [Flynn]: It’s strange. You’re barely introduced to someone, then you’re on camera and have to pretend to be in love and that you’ve known them all your life. Now we spend so much time together, we have developed relationships.
Patricia [Heaton]: Like the last shot we did yesterday. We were in the car together, and I forgot that everyone could hear us. We were talking about people who pronounce the “l” in “almond,” “palm,” “calm” … and just laughing our heads off. We concluded that you shouldn’t pronounce it, much to Neil’s chagrin, since he’s been pronouncing it all his life. That’s probably why he’s not married.
Neil: I didn’t realize how much I was turning off prospective wives. Who knew?
... Q: “What bugs you about each other?”:
Patricia: Well, Neil pronounces the “l” in “almond” …
Neil: I used to not pronounce the “l” in ‘wolf.” I was 25 when I learned about that. “The boy who cried woof.”
Patricia: My woof likes alllmonds!
This conversation puzzled me, since I pronounce the “l” in almond (and, calm and palm). And what do the cast members say? “Ah-mond?” “Aw-mond?” “ Pecan?” So, I asked a couple of people to say “almond”, and they pronounced the “l”, too. Is it a regional variation?, I wondered, and if so, where are the cast members of The Middle from? Well, a little poking around the net got me this: http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_29.html59.68% of those surveyed pronounce the “l”. 18.69% pronounce it “ah-mond” 5.65% pronounce it “aw-mond” 13.53% say something between “l” and nothing 2.45% say “other”, which is quite the leap from “almond” :p Look at the map in the link. The variation isn’t regional. It looks like all versions of the pronunciation of “almond” occur all over the country. It was just Neil Flynn’s bad luck to be stuck in a car with the 18% and/or 5% who distain the twelfth letter of the alphabet. A shame, really, since he has been misled on his matrimonial failure, and “L” is one of my favorite letters. So, how do *you* say “almond”?
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Carpal Tunnel
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I say something in between l and nothing, because this is just the sort of thing that I worry about getting wrong.
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Boy howdy! Now I'm all self conscious about it and I don't know if I pronounce the L or not. I kinda think I'm with tsuwm here and sort of almost maybe pronounce it. It's probably one of those words like salmon where the L was added back in when we discovered it was from the Latin, which did have the L. The L was lost in Old French before we got the word salmon. We called the fish leax before the French word came in and muscled that word out.
A quick check of my Random House Dictionary shows that the L was there in OFr when we got almond from them so I guess there's no reason not to pronounce it.
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I don't keep the L out of it.
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Lots of red where I am: we say the "l".
----please, draw me a sheep----
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Pooh-Bah
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Great story...and subject  I had to say it out loud to hear wither I do or not. And I don't...well that is to say I kinda say 'ar mond' No way can I insert the 'L' sound. Same as Salmon. With that word though there is no 'sound' between 'sa' and 'mon' but if the L was deleted, wouldn't the word look silly!
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old hand
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Ahlmund. I think that for calm (and palm) my pronunciation varies, depending on…I don't know what it depends on, but it runs from kahm to kawlm, with stops in kahlm and kawm and all point between. When the L is there, it's just hinted at. Obviously, I, of all people, should know better than to criticize or laugh at how people pronounce things!
Peter
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We called the fish leax before the French word came in and muscled that word out.Thank you Faldage , now I know where the Swedish gravadlax comes from. I know it survives in German - Lachs, but I didn't know the leax part. I pronounce the l in salmon and almond, it prolonges the a-sound and somehow that makes me want to have both treats right now! Love those maps. 13.53% say something between “l” and nothing
2.45% say “other”, which is quite the leap from “almond” :p Laugh!
Last edited by BranShea; 02/27/2011 1:11 PM.
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Yeah. Lox comes from the PIE laks-, 'salmon'.
Now the first L in salmonella is a whole nother thing. That salmon is from a guy's name and is pronounced.
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Yeah. Lox comes from the PIE laks-, 'salmon'.
Now the first L in salmonella is a whole nother thing. That salmon is from a guy's name and is pronounced. I was just thinking about that guy and the trouble he got into.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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L in almond, not in salmon.
formerly known as etaoin...
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old hand
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Pooh-Bah
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I'm with you Avy.
I have tried and tried and I cant say almond by pronouncing the L
When I try to use the L the A disappears.....
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It is amazing how we can try some words and they don't come out as we desire. So many people have trouble with
"spaghetti"(spusgetti). As a child I could not say "unless"
and it came out "un-else".
----please, draw me a sheep----
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old hand
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I can say al-mond if I want to, but if I do people will think I am crazy.
Nobody pronounces it al-mond here.
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However you say it, I love to put them and raisins in oatmeal.
Yum.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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Pooh-Bah
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I'll give that a go next time I make porridge, Luke. Meanwhile...I did a little survey at work today.....and nobody pronounces the L in almond, in fact most thought I was mad for suggesting it. 100% against the L sound 
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And what were your "controls" for the test? Did you give
placebos and all that????
When we try it here without the"L" it sounds like
making "amends" for some wrong.
Interesting: "Porridge" is not a word used here.
Last edited by LukeJavan8; 03/01/2011 4:12 PM.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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For controls I would suggest several alternate texts for people to read out loud. Some sprinkled with words that have unpronounced Ls in similar positions and some with pronounced Ls and some with a mixture of each kind of L. In each case have the L words come before the almond in the text.
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Interesting: "Porridge" is not a word used here. We always use the word porridge...what do you use? I have always pronounced almond (much to my mother's chagrin) as or(l)munds
----The next sentence is true. The previous sentence is false----
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For controls I would suggest several alternate texts for people to read out loud. Some sprinkled with words that have unpronounced Ls in similar positions and some with pronounced Ls and some with a mixture of each kind of L. In each case have the L words come before the almond in the text. I like that! Candy????
----please, draw me a sheep----
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Interesting: "Porridge" is not a word used here. We always use the word porridge...what do you use? I have always pronounced almond (much to my mother's chagrin) as or(l)munds "Or(l)munds" {whew} I find that somewhat convoluted. But what do I know? Porridge; We have different cereals, different grains. Oatmeal, made from oats, Cream of Wheat, wheat. In the South they have what they call "grits", which I cannot abide. They put various things on it, like pepper and butter. All of these might qualify as porridge, as I understand the term. There is also Farina, of which I don't know what it is made without looking it up. So.....what is the content of UK porridge?
----please, draw me a sheep----
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I have always pronounced almond (much to my mother's chagrin) as
or(l)munds
Are you non-rhotic? What do you mean by that R in there?
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what is the content of UK porridge? err oats and milk/water sometimes a combination of the two...some people put fruits and/or nuts on top once made. It is always hot. We have cereals (cold) with milk (or yoghurt (yeuch)) on and those have various brandnames, Cornflakes, Special K, Coco pops, Rice Krispies, Sugar Puffs etc etc. I remember, when learning German, how horrified I was to learn that they had one word for breakfast cereal - Cornflakes - that was it...it did lead to an interesting discussion about how, if you visit someone else, they know which "Cornflakes" you wanted... Are you non-rhotic? What do you mean by that R in there? It was my feeble attempt at spelling my sounding out... the or sound is kind of a more o like sounding of aw (as in awk) and the (l) was me trying to put the subtle l that happens (rather than a harsh l sound)
----The next sentence is true. The previous sentence is false----
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Pooh-Bah
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For controls I would suggest several alternate texts for people to read out loud. Some sprinkled with words that have unpronounced Ls in similar positions and some with pronounced Ls and some with a mixture of each kind of L. In each case have the L words come before the almond in the text. I like that! Candy???? Now if you had given me this advice before, I could have made a more accurate scientific survey, but I fear 'the subjects' now know what I'm after.....so its too late for me to do.
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Pooh-Bah
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I have always pronounced almond (much to my mother's chagrin) as
or(l)munds
At least I would understand what you meant Bex...more than some of the 'other' verbalisations that pronounce the 'L' (and I still have no idea how they do that, my tongue gets all tied in a knot).
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... feeble attempt at spelling my sounding out...) That's the problem with ad hoc pronunciation guides. The references are themselves undefined. If you say you pronounce "not" to rhyme with "cot", great. Do you pronounce "cot" and "caught" the same way? And, if so, do you pronounce them the way I would pronounce "cot" or the way I would pronounce "caught"? And how do you know how I would pronounce those two words? In an unrelated issue, those of y'all who don't pronounce the L in "almond" do you pronounce the LL in Allman Brothers?
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Pooh-Bah
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I have never heard that name....but I'd either say,
all man or L man, but not L L man
good question...I guess it's a matter of where you grow up or learn how to say it!
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>I have never heard that name.. The Allman Brothers Band
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Pooh-Bah
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Thanks TS...but what I should have said was...I've not heard their name said.
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what is the content of UK porridge? err oats and milk/water sometimes a combination of the two...some people put fruits and/or nuts on top once made. It is always hot. We have cereals (cold) with milk (or yoghurt (yeuch)) on and those have various brandnames, Cornflakes, Special K, Coco pops, Rice Krispies, Sugar Puffs etc etc. I remember, when learning German, how horrified I was to learn that they had one word for breakfast cereal - Cornflakes - that was it...it did lead to an interesting discussion about how, if you visit someone else, they know which "Cornflakes" you wanted... Are you non-rhotic? What do you mean by that R in there? It was my feeble attempt at spelling my sounding out... the or sound is kind of a more o like sounding of aw (as in awk) and the (l) was me trying to put the subtle l that happens (rather than a harsh l sound) We have all those cereals as well. I think cornflakes was the first produced by Kelloggs, but I stand to be corrected on that as well. Sugar Crisp, Cocoa Puffs,etc. all cereals made from various grains or combinations thereof. Oatmeal must be the same a porridge. Here where I live it has water or milk, cooked on stove or nuke-able in Microwave for a minute or two. Mixed with various fruits as well. I put in raisins, almonds; or mix with brown sugar and cinnamon and dash of maple extract; or cranberries in their raisin state, or cherries, etc.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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Pooh-Bah
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So I did say it right then  re-Gregg Allman..... gorgeous hair, wish mine was that nice! and RUSH, thats one movie I've missed, must look out for it now. Thx again.
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Pooh-Bah
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............Oatmeal must be the same a porridge. Here where I live
it has water or milk, cooked on stove or nuke-able in
Microwave for a minute or two. Mixed with various fruits
as well. I put in raisins, almonds; or mix with brown sugar
and cinnamon and dash of maple extract; or cranberries
in their raisin state, or cherries, etc.
.....how do you pronounce that word?
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aL-monds: definite L sound.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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old hand
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My last breakfast (at this hour, it was yesterday) I had oatmeal with molasses. Or was it porridge with treacle? Alas, no almonds.
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So, how do *you* say “almond”?
/'ɑmənd/
For the record, I do not pronounce the l in talk, walk, or psalm, but do in calm and palm.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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I don't pronounce the l in any of those! How can you pronounce the l in calm and palm?!?
And was it actually treacle or was it golden syrup?
----The next sentence is true. The previous sentence is false----
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How can you pronounce the l in calm and palm?!?You mean physically or morally? It's a dark l (aka velarized alveolar lateral approximant, link) for sure. And you all are aware that not everybody in the world pronounces English the same, right? For more information see the delightful IPA chart for the various, major regional forms of English and how they differ in pronunciation ( link). Oh, and I do not pronounce the t in often either.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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old hand
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I think he means morally. I thought so too, "How *could* he?"
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