<article>
<h2 id="whats-this">What's this?</h2>
<p>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!</p>
<p>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!</p>
<p>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!</p>
<h2 id="til-1---is-it-learnt-or-learned">TIL 1 - is it <em>learnt</em>
or <em>learned</em>?</h2>
<p>I discovered that both are acceptable. Both are the past tense (and
past participle) of the verb "to learn":</p>
<ul>
<li><em>learnt</em> is an older form which is more common in British
English</li>
<li><em>learned</em> is more common in US English, and is becoming more
popular in the UK</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="links">Links</h3>
<ul>
<li><a
href="https://grammarist.com/spelling/learned-learnt/">Grammarist:
Learned vs. learnt</a></li>
<li><a
href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1535_questionanswer/page50.shtml">BBC
Ask About English</a></li>
</ul>
<h2 id="til-2---the-french-word-for-piggy-bank">TIL 2 - the French word
for <em>piggy bank</em></h2>
<p>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 <em>tirelire</em> in French.</p>
<p>I learnt French at school (though I wasn't much good at it), but have
never come across this word. My questions are:</p>
<ul>
<li>Where does it come from?</li>
<li>How do you say it?</li>
</ul>
<p>The Wiktionary page below has answers to both.</p>
<ul>
<li>It's of <em>onomatopoeic origin (representing the rattling of
coins)</em>.</li>
<li>There's audio on the page showing how to say it (as well as the IPA
version [International Phonetic Alphabet], see below).</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="links-1">Links</h3>
<ul>
<li>YouTube channel - <em>The Woodpecker</em>:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nsla1NB-Q40">L'gosseux
d'bois EP 305 - Une tirelire en bois</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2r739TM_ru8">The Woodpecker
EP 305 - A wooden piggybank</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tirelire">Wiktionary:
tirelire</a></li>
</ul>
<h2 id="til-3---how-to-pronounce-ipa-coded-words">TIL 3 - how to
pronounce IPA coded words</h2>
<p>I actually learnt about this a while ago, but I thought now would be
a good time to share.</p>
<p>The IPA form of <em>tirelire</em> is <code>/tiʁ.liʁ/</code> (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.</p>
<p>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 <a href="http://ipa-reader.xyz">IPA
Reader</a>.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<h3 id="links-2">Links</h3>
<ul>
<li><a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Association">International
Phonetic Association</a> - creators of the <a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet">International
Phonetic Alphabet</a></li>
<li><a href="http://ipa-reader.xyz">IPA Reader</a></li>
</ul>
</article>
