[ethbr1]

As an American South(east)ern kid, I was convinced either my ears were broken or I was dumb, because I couldn't understand how to count syllables in a word.

I understood the method the teacher explained...

... but I would always come up with the wrong number when listening in testing.

I finally asked my mother, who informed me that it's just the southern accent throwing me off, and the word 'that' shouldn't actually be pronounced the way my teacher was ('tha-yat').

So I feel childish academic bewilderment through no fault of their own. :(

[freeopinion]

In recent years I have seen a number of arguments break out in a game that requires single syllable answers. It is fascinating to see the disagreement over words like "orange" and several others I never would have imagined.

[thimkerbell]

I still remember confidently explaining to our teacher that the grammatical choice was always the one that sounded right, and being taken aback when she said other kids grew up where that rule of thumb wouldn't work.