Merriam-Webster doesn't say chalk the way I do either.

[conuly]

I can only imagine that this is due to the same sort of linguistic process that makes us in New York the only people to correctly pronounce words like "coffee", right?

Comments

[thornleaf.livejournal.com]

I pronounce chaulk so that it rhymes with auk (au, not o; it's a longer vowel sound) but the l is definitely silent.

Same goes for caulk/caulking.

Do you ever watch "How It's Made"? I don't know if the US voice-over is the same as it is in Canada (I know it's different in a lot of countries) but in Canada, the French-Canadian narrators tend to pronounce "soldering" exactly as it is spelled... which is definitely not correct. Again... silent l. Should be pronounced "soddering". It makes me twitch every time, but not as much as the constant puns.

[conuly]

I do tend to say soldering myself, but that's because I've rarely heard the word spoken, but instead know it mostly through reading. I know how it should be pronounced, but I forget.

This is why I have very good spelling, by the way - all my life after the age of three, I learned new words first through reading, THEN through listening, instead of the other way around.