# What decisions do English speakers make subconsciously?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-decisions-do-english-speakers-make-subconsciously/973655>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 23, 2022, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-decisions-do-english-speakers-make-subconsciously/973655 "2022-10-23T02:49:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 9

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**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2022, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-decisions-do-english-speakers-make-subconsciously/973655/161 "2022-11-06T00:35:03Z")

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> [@eschrodinger](#):
>
> Some others: loath (and loathe), mouth (as a verb), betroth.

There is a pattern of voiced/unvoiced pairs where the voiced is a noun and the unvoiced is a verb. bath-\>bathe, mouth(n)-\>mouth(v), cloth-\>clothe, sooth-\>soothe, breath-\>breathe, teeth-\>teethe. Loath-\>loathe follows a similar pattern although loath is an adjective. I suspect lath and lathe are a pair, although both are nouns in modern use.

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**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2022, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-decisions-do-english-speakers-make-subconsciously/973655/162 "2022-11-18T05:50:12Z")

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[quote=“Novelty\_Bobble, post:113, topic:973655”]…  
I’m looking round my room now and things that catch my eye with three syllables

television  
…  
[/quote]  
Excuse me?

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**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2022, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-decisions-do-english-speakers-make-subconsciously/973655/163 "2022-11-18T08:01:09Z")

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> [@garygnu](#):
>
> Excuse me?

I missed out “or more” after “three” which was the original point I was responding to

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**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2022, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-decisions-do-english-speakers-make-subconsciously/973655/164 "2022-11-18T09:37:03Z")

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Another one I had to have pointed out to me:

When used positively, “I must” and “I have to” are very similar:

“My doctor says I must take this tablet”  
“My doctor says I have to take this tablet”

But used with a negative, they’re very different indeed:

“My doctor said I don’t have to take this tablet”  
“My doctor said I must not take this tablet”

Confusing for the non-native speaker.

Obviously there’s a form of the negation (“My doctor says I have to not take this table”) which makes sense logically, but it’s incredibly clumsy to the native ear.

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