interezzzzting.

When did people start thinking that making the s sound into a z would be nice? I think they do it because it seems aristocratic or erudite. "Cashmere" became "cazhmere" years ago, maybe even in the 80s — but back then it was only done by upward strivers mistakenly trying to sound classy. These days, it almost doesn't matter; so many people pronounce it with the voiced zh that soon that will be standard.

"Discern," however, is a different issue. I've now heard several people say "dizzern" or "dizzernment" or some variant. Why? It's not sloppiness: they're quite obviously doing it on purpose. And "rezource" is rampant. Some guy will say something about "checking our rezources," and no one blanches. Have you noticed this? What's going on?

Tomorrow's topic: people who covet your prayers.