## hpr4002 :: Today I learnt - 2023-11-24

 
What's this?
I enjoy finding out about things. Now I'm retired (I have been for 14
years), I have time to research subjects I find interesting. So I
do!
The HPR project is going through a phase where the queue can get very
low, so I thought having a subject where I could fire off short shows
from time to time would help with this. Maybe we can make a series where
others who like the idea can contribute when the mood takes them!
My plan is to keep details to a minimum and provide links to sources
of more information if you're someone who likes to dig deeper!
TIL 1 - is it learnt
or learned?
I discovered that both are acceptable. Both are the past tense (and
past participle) of the verb "to learn":

learnt is an older form which is more common in British
English
learned is more common in US English, and is becoming more
popular in the UK

Links

Grammarist:
Learned vs. learnt
BBC
Ask About English

TIL 2 - the French word
for piggy bank
I watch a YouTube channel from a Canadian woodworker who produces
English and French versions of his episodes. His latest one is about
making a wooden piggy bank, or tirelire in French.
I learnt French at school (though I wasn't much good at it), but have
never come across this word. My questions are:

Where does it come from?
How do you say it?

The Wiktionary page below has answers to both.

It's of onomatopoeic origin (representing the rattling of
coins).
There's audio on the page showing how to say it (as well as the IPA
version [International Phonetic Alphabet], see below).

Links

YouTube channel - The Woodpecker:

L'gosseux
d'bois EP 305 - Une tirelire en bois
The Woodpecker
EP 305 - A wooden piggybank

Wiktionary:
tirelire

TIL 3 - how to
pronounce IPA coded words
I actually learnt about this a while ago, but I thought now would be
a good time to share.
The IPA form of tirelire is /tiʁ.liʁ/ (I
included the enclosing slash delimiters which aren't part of the IPA but
have significance; see the IPA Wikipedia page for details). I have seen
these symbols for years but have never managed to decode them
reliably.
A few months ago I wondered how to deal with them reliably (and
easily). There are many sites offering to transcribe English (and other
languages) to IPA, a few of which are free. I only found one that would
attempt to speak IPA, and that is IPA
Reader.
Paste the IPA into the form, select a reader voice, and click "Read".
Some of the voices seem a bit odd. I settled on "Brian" for British
English, and it seems fine.
Links

International
Phonetic Association - creators of the International
Phonetic Alphabet
IPA Reader


