Originally Posted by Fastskiguy (Post 2209562)

It’s now pronounced “ki’’en” no need to bother with the T’s anymore. You know, when talking about a baby cat.

Originally Posted by MandoMan (Post 2209550)

Your final peeve is related to the “glottal stop,” a sort of gulp in the middle of a word in place of double T, as in ba’ul instead of battle and bo’ul instead of bottle. For some reason, it is becoming more common in the U.S., especially in Florida (I read recently). In the UK, it is a feature of many local accents, especially lower class ones. I find glottal stops offensive, but they are beyond my control. I’ve heard that the Lipton Company gathers these dropped Ts, rebottles them, and resells them as new or gently used Ts. Another organization gathers Ts for Tots around Christmas. In Nashville, a group of singers comments on T for Texas. In Boston, as well as in the non-rhotic parts of the UK, people save the Rs they drop in jars. (Or perhaps in Jaws—it’s hard to tell from the way they speak.) They can be recycled.

Glottal stops are an important part of Arabic, Hebrew, and other Semitic languages. Learning to use them properly is not easy. But in English, glottal stops are like smoking: a filthy habit that is hard to break.