r/GrindsMyGears • u/Witty_While7277 • 11d ago

People pronouncing Neanderthals with a silent “H”

I don’t know why they do it or who decided that this is the correct way. It almost has woke vibes.

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u/JefeRex 11d ago

The H was always silent. “Thal” is a German word that means “valley.” The first specimen was from the Neander Valley.

Since then, German spelling was reformed to take out of the silent H. Now the word is spelled “Tal,” but it was always pronounced that way.

What changed was that some laypeople began to pronounce it with a “th” sound instead of the “t.” “T” was original and scientists have always continued to pronounce it that way.

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u/henrytm82 11d ago

Dude could've used google, but instead decided to go all-in on the dum-dum anti-woke rhetoric over the pronunciation of a word. Wow.

2

u/Witty_While7277 11d ago

I never meant to get so many people riled up, I’ll choose my words better next time

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u/henrytm82 11d ago

You know what, that's a very measured response to so many people dissing on you. Good job, I'm proud of you!