# Pronunciation of "months" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 5, 2010, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-months/562992 "2010-12-05T02:35:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-months/562992/1 "2010-12-05T02:35:50Z")
Yeah, so I know that posting drunk is supposed to be a bad thing, but I think I can pull that shit off. How come the spelling and pronunciation of the word “months” hasn’t changed? Everybody I know pretty much pronounces it “munts”, unless they’re intentionally elucidating clearly. Elucidating? I think I mean enunciating. Is it because we learn the spelling so young? Or do those types of common words resist change? Thanks, guys! ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-months/562992/2 "2010-12-05T02:44:56Z")
I’m from Virginia, and I pronounce it “muns”, without the t. The “s” is unvoiced. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-months/562992/3 "2010-12-05T02:46:56Z")
I’ve often wondered this too. I figure it’s a leftover from when we actually pronounced words correctly. In written english, munts doesn’t look good. We still write and pronounce month the right way, but two months looks correct on the written page, even though in our heads we usually hear “munts”. I still try to say months (as in 5 \*\*months \*\*from now), and it takes a conscious effort. Whipping through and saying munts is easy… and lazy. I think it fits into the same lazy speech that gives us such gems as “Boaf” (for both) and “axe” (for ask). I don’t think spelling for lazy speech actually changes to mimic the speech. Boaf is still spelled both, and axe is still spelled ask when written. Unfortunately, munts has made it into the mainstream, and is used by just about everyone. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-months/562992/4 "2010-12-05T02:49:55Z")
I pronounce it with a “th.” ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-months/562992/5 "2010-12-05T02:52:07Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > I pronounce it with a “th.” Same here. Ever since I was a yute. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-months/562992/6 "2010-12-05T02:53:36Z")
> [@SoulFrost](#): > > Everybody I know pretty much pronounces it “munts” Travel more, or talk to more different kinds of people. Just off the top of my head, I can recall half a dozen clearly distinct pronunciations, and probably many more shadings if I’d been paying particular attention. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-months/562992/7 "2010-12-05T02:56:22Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > I’ve often wondered this too. I figure it’s a leftover from when we actually pronounced words correctly. In written english, munts doesn’t look good. We still write and pronounce month the right way, but two months looks correct on the written page, even though in our heads we usually hear “munts”. > > I still try to say months (as in 5 \*\*months \*\*from now), and it takes a conscious effort. Whipping through and saying munts is easy… and lazy. > > I think it fits into the same lazy speech that gives us such gems as “Boaf” (for both) and “axe” (for ask). I don’t think spelling for lazy speech actually changes to mimic the speech. Boaf is still spelled both, and axe is still spelled ask when written. > > Unfortunately, munts has made it into the mainstream, and is used by just about everyone. Um, I’m pretty sure that “axe” as variant of “ask” is not of modern origin. [http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19991216](http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19991216) ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-months/562992/8 "2010-12-05T02:57:07Z")
i love you guys! I like to say “teef” when I’m doing my backwoods impersonation… as in, “I have three teef! More’n anybody else in my fam’ly!” Oh, my mama’ll kick my ass if she reads that. YOu guys need to tell me where you’re from, cuz i"m sure it’s a regional thing. Most of my experience has been drawn from Texas and Missouri. I highly recommend an official “Post while fucking drunk day” here at the Dope. ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-months/562992/9 "2010-12-05T03:06:04Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > I’ve often wondered this too. I figure it’s a leftover from when we actually pronounced words correctly. In written english, munts doesn’t look good. We still write and pronounce month the right way, but two months looks correct on the written page, even though in our heads we usually hear “munts”. > > I still try to say months (as in 5 \*\*months \*\*from now), and it takes a conscious effort. Whipping through and saying munts is easy… and lazy. > > I think it fits into the same lazy speech that gives us such gems as “Boaf” (for both) and “axe” (for ask). I don’t think spelling for lazy speech actually changes to mimic the speech. Boaf is still spelled both, and axe is still spelled ask when written. > > Unfortunately, munts has made it into the mainstream, and is used by just about everyone. Oh my God, where do I fucking start? I like your post, though–you rock, **Stinky**! Still, though, I must take issue. Correctly? Right? Correctly and right according to whom? I think it only looks bad because we’re accustiomed to looking at something else. I think that we can change the spelling of words to match the way they’re pronounced, without waiting on any dictionary to do so first. Why can’t we say “Boaf”, if that’s how most people in our area say the word? I say “ask”, personally, but maybe some people have to re-shape the word to wrap their tongues around it. And that’s cool, too. ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-months/562992/10 "2010-12-05T03:32:24Z")
Ok. so I’m cookin g eggs and I don’t know if I’m fucking done with them or not. Aw crap. ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-months/562992/11 "2010-12-05T03:33:49Z")
Oh I burned em like a motherufcker ---
**Author:** ![Sinisterniik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/51bf81/32.png) [@Sinisterniik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinisterniik)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-months/562992/12 "2010-12-05T03:39:20Z")
I used to have a speech impediment as a child, but eventually it was corrected and I said “months” very properly. But I’m a saxophonist, among other things, and a correct embouchure pushes my tongue further up and back than it would otherwise be. As a result, I sometimes say “munts” out of muscle memory habit. When I speak after I just finish playing, I speak with a bit of a lisp sometimes and sort of eat my words. One left over speech impediment: I have to focus to say “museum”. ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-months/562992/13 "2010-12-05T03:40:35Z")
Aww… cmon… wtf is embouchure? You sound cute… want xome eggs? ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-months/562992/14 "2010-12-05T05:36:23Z")
I pronounce it mon **th** s, with the th clearly heard, and everyone I know says it the same way. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-months/562992/15 "2010-12-05T06:52:50Z")
I’m with the OP. I definitely say something like “munce”/“munts” unless I’m really enunciating. Of course, I do have a bit of a Chicago accent, so that would explain lopping off "th"s. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-months/562992/16 "2010-12-05T07:30:06Z")
I pronounce it with a “th” (“munths”) to the point where my tongue protrudes past my teeth for the “th”; if I try to pronounce it as “munts” my tongue stays behind my teeth, and it feels really unnatural. I guess I’m comfortable with “nth” in words. Out of curiosity, how do people who say “munts” pronounce “Corinthian”? ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-months/562992/17 "2010-12-05T09:10:09Z")
I’ve been muttering ‘months’ under my breath the last few minutes, thanks. Now my coworker thinks I’m insane. I guess I do say it “munths”. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-months/562992/18 "2010-12-05T12:38:51Z")
I actually turn it into an affricate. In other words, I pronounce the th and the s at the same time. Also, there’s a brief pause between the n and the ths. ---
**Author:** ![Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fake_Tales_of_San_Francisco)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-months/562992/19 "2010-12-05T13:31:04Z")
There is a wide variation of accepted pronunciation for practically every single word in English. None are more correct, neither are they necessarily ‘wrong’. Within certain sentence contexts I, and pretty much everybody I listen to, will pronounce ‘months’ without the ‘th’, sometimes with, sometimes with a glottal stop, or unvoiced ‘t’. There is rarely any helpful correlation between spelling and pronunciation either. Once upon a time, writers would spell things however they wanted to anyway, up until when we saw the sense in standardising things. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-months/562992/20 "2010-12-05T14:22:07Z")
> [@Student\_Driver](#): > > I pronounce it with a “th” (“munths”) to the point where my tongue protrudes past my teeth for the “th”; if I try to pronounce it as “munts” my tongue stays behind my teeth, and it feels really unnatural. I guess I’m comfortable with “nth” in words. Out of curiosity, how do people who say “munts” pronounce “Corinthian”? With a “th” here. I don’t see the connection between those two words. It’s the “ths” string that gets “simplified” to a “ts.” It’s not the “th” alone that is a problem. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-months/562992.md?page=2)