A few years ago, there was a word here was defined as that tendency of a writer or scribe to drop letters from the words they are writing. As in: dropping the 'r' from "celebrate" to now have the word (mispelled) "celebate". Or, as I often do, leaving the first letter off the next word if it repeats the last letter of the previous word. example: "at he" should be "at the".

I would like to be reminded what that word is that labels this condition.

The omission of a letter in pronunciation is called elision.
The omission of one of a double letter (or word) by a scribe is called haplography (its opposite is dittography). I think haplography might also do service for the simple omission of any letter, but not sure without looking it up which I can't be bothered doing.

"I can't be bothered. I can't be bothered to ride, the motion is too violent; I can't be bothered to walk, it's strenuous; I can't be bothered to lie down, for either I'd have to stay lying down and that I can't be bothered with, or I'd have to get up again, and I can't be bothered with that either. In short: I just can't be bothered." - Søren Kierkegaard

"I ain't bovvered." - Lauren Cooper

"Bother!" said Pooh(k)

Is that a c(l)ue?

...as in pool?

Or as in poo(l).



For a legitimate example of a dropped R we have the missing R in 'speak'. This was likely a pronunciation driven phenomenon rather than a scribal error. We see the same thing happening today with 'Febuary', 'liberry', and 'infastructure'.

It remains in 'spruick'.
Actually to correct what I said earlier, I think from memory that elision only refers to vowels disappearing. I can't remember the word for consonants going.

The OED online does not make that distinction:

1. The action of dropping out or suppressing: a. a letter or syllable in pronunciation; b. a passage in a book or connecting links in discourse. Also, an instance of either of these. Also fig.

and is it still elision when whole chunks of words fall out?

i think of chitterlings(spoken: chittlins) or the town in the UK (lots of letters)- (spoken:) chumley.

(i recognize the bunch of letters that has is now called Chumley, but i can't remember at all how its spelled)

Well there ya go, as is so often the case, the only time I'm wrong is when I think I was wrong but I was right all along!

That would be Chalmondely. It's a boy's name also. Yes, pronounced Chumley.

Reminds me of my cousin's name, St. John. We've never, ever called him that; it's "Sinjin". Brits! ;0)

Re: Singin

Oh yes, lots of words morph like that

waistcoat (Long A/long O-> morphs to weskit (schwa/short i!)
(in US there are 2 words-waistcoat (said as spelled), and weskit, a synonym!)

grindstone (pronounces as spelled in much of the US, but in UK grinstin.. (short i/short i)

same with Hempstead (in much of US Hemp (like the fiber) and stead (like Instead)
In UK hemp it morphs into something i recognize when said.. but (i forget!) how those guys over there say it!

I've also seen Cholmondeley and even Chalmondesleigh.

Not to mention forecastle (focsle); boatswain (bosun); rowlock (rollock); forward (forr'd) and other nautical contractions.

Americans often pronounce forehead as fore head, but most of the rest of the English speaking world probably says "forrid."

And cupboard is pronounced cubb'rd, but, with the possible exception of fo'csle none of the spellings have changed.

Actually I've seen bosun spelled that way often.

Whilst on different pronunciations, it's interesting that North Americans say Lootenn't for Lieutenant whilst English people say Leftenant. I would say Lyewtenant or L'tenant.

I've always wondered why we have bosun but not coxsun (coxun?).
Rowlock is "pronounced" oarlock in the US, but do you mean rollock more like ralick? I'm not sure from your spelling what is meant. In my speech, I can barely distinguish between row lock, rollock, and roll lock.

Don't the English pronounce it one way for Navy lieutenants and the other for Army lieutenants?

From wikipedia:
"British naval tradition preserved an intermediate pronunciation: /lə'tɛnənt/. This is not recognized as current by the OED, however, and by 1954 the Royal Canadian Navy, at least, regarded it as "obsolescent" even while regarding "the army's 'LEF-tenant'" to be "a corruption of the worst sort"."

There is no certainty as to where the labial 'f' or 'v' ending variants on the first syllable came from. OED rejects the idea that it was in Middle English from a French variant on lieu, loef. It seems more likely that it was a spelling pronunciation because 'u' and 'v' used to be interchangeable, but there is no consensus on that either.

I would say roll'ck (rɔlək). You would probably pronounce that rahl'ck.

I always set the other letters down before I try to write another.