Do you say "both" or "bolth"?

Question

It has been called to my attention that some people say the word "both" as "bolth", and even spell it that way as well. Linguists have not been able to pinpoint the origin of this. Do you say "both", or "bolth". Where do you come from? Do your parents say it the same way you do?

Answer 1

i used to say bolth, but i have modified that since living in GA. I was originally from Massachusetts, where I picked up the habit.

My mom says "bolth", my dad says "both", we all spell it "both". My brother and sister have never said "bolth".

I think its a new england thing. .

I hope I helped.

Answer 2

I say and spell "both" as bolth and live in california. My family does not say it. I just started to when I was a kid. I understand it's not proper english, but I think it sounds better. That is really the only factor. An example where I use proper english is salmon. I think it sounds better not to pronounce the l.

Answer 3

I say "bolth" and my fiance never noticed until just now when I asked how to spell it in a text message. She thought I was having a stroke lol. We are both New Englanders but she was born in New York, not New Hampshire and spoke english and spanish growing up, hope this adds to the discussion.

Answer 4

The "bolth" pronunciation comes about because syllable-terminal "l" is articulated in the mouth very close to where "th" is articulated. In North American English it's common for young children, who often have trouble pronouncing or omitting word-terminal "l", to say "bolth", though it also persists into adult speech for some dialects.

I don't know why this happens in North American English but not in other dialects. Certain long vowels that were unaffected by the Great Vowel Shift, namely /o/ and /u/, are markedly more diphthongized in UK Received Pronunciation than they are in most American dialects. In the case of long o as in "both" this probably alters how the following "th" sound influences it. In general, the American long o is somewhat closer to the nearly pure "o" as found in some Continental languages.

Answer 5

I'm a native Texan. I've never heard anyone use "bolth" in my life. Must be some weird regional thing, but apparently not in my region.

Answer 6

I am from Santa Fe, New Mexico born and raised. I say "bolth" and realized it because in New Mexico we also say "sawl" instead of "saw" but only in the instance of "I sawl it the other day". We still say "saw" for the tool. Some people in my family say it and some don't. None of my family is from New England save for my two great-great grand parents whom I never met.

Answer 7

Urban Dictionary says correct usage in some English speaking regions. Also discussion on l addition at WWW.SCCS.SWARTHMORE.EDU
but this is a membership only site the little I could access implied German root ( discussion on L usage by speakers with German sounding last names also Scandinavians in this country tend to add letter and sounds to English to give them a 'homeland sound/spelling) ( forgive me for the guesses but the e-mail seemed blunt and uninformative)

Answer 8

I'm German, so I say "beide", so do my parents. In English class in school I learned "both". Never heard people saying bolth before, weird.

Answer 9

Both

Answer 10

I say both. I'm from California...and so are my parents. My parents say it the same way i do. My mother is from European descent and my father is from Hispanic descent. I hope this helps :)