Kashi Mayan Harvest Bake for lunch.

So if you were saying "Cat tree" you'd only say the 't' sound once. For some reason this realization really bothered me. But after experimenting I realized that saying the 't' twice sounds really weird.

I pronounce both "t"s. (Most annoying phrase for me to say? "Edited it." Try it. [This is not a prank, like making someone say "My dixie wrecked."])

There's a Chinese tongue twister, "Forty four is forty four". In Chinese it becomes "Sì shí sì shì sì shí sì". The shifting tones make it particularly tricky.

Lunch is the chicken soup i decided not to have for dinner yesterday. I think I made the right call.

For those of you who have been taking these online courses what services have you found to be the best? I'd really like to find a good foundational accounting class to take. Coursera has one that looks good but it's not currently in session and there was no information about when it would be offered again.

Most annoying phrase for me to say? "Edited it." Try it.

That reminds me of "lead us not into temptation," which I always think I'm pronouncing much more vigorously that other people around me.

I had a rigourous speech coach in drama school, whose aim it was for speech to be understood, unmiked, from the back of the theater. We were instructed, no matter how it sounded *to us*, to hit every pronounced consonant, and further, to elide words ending in vowels into the beginning consonant of the next. We thought he was barking, but when we listened to each other, we quickly understood the method behind his madness. Ending and beginning consonants in proximity would both be pronounced, "cat tree." and a phrase like "cannot allow" would be "cannotallow," the only separation being one of inflection, rather than actual pause.

The chorus teacher in high school had much the same approach. Apparently, one should be punctillious about one's consonants.

Consonants get swallowed in a chorus, especially bigger ones. You have to overpronounce like an idiot to get them to come across.

So interesting, Bev. How much did/does that training affect the way you speak? Reading the last few posts makes me realize that I'm pretty lazy, but if you'd asked, I probably would have said I have good diction. I mean, I do just fine, but I talk pretty fast, so a lot runs together and consonants drop out.

Huh.

omg all I want to do is look at pinterest or just leave work. I keep forcing myself to do things, so the day has not been a complete waste, but I am tired and sluggish and do not want to work.