"Copy editors? Who needs copy editors?" — part 325

From Mark Swofford in Taiwan:

In sympathy with the poor sign-makers, I would have to say that the spelling of "government" is not exactly transparent, especially if we're going by how it sounds.

But wait a minute!  Some dictionaries put the "n" in the pronunciation key for this word.

Most people I know pronounce "government" with the "r" but not the first "n".

Selected readings

• "Why you shouldn't use spellcheckers" (4/7/09)
• "In defense of spell-checking" (4/11/09)