@Felthry@Roxy depending on region, "mastodon" is pronounced somewhere between /ˈmæstədɑn/, /ˈmæstədən/, and /ˈmæs.tə.dɒn/ - h/t https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mastodon - and in all three cases the middle vowel is reduced to a schwa - an "uhh" sound. and "a" is the letter that best represents that "uhh" sound.
so yeah, they're spelling it phonetically. like "definate".
@packbat@Roxy it still just kinda bugs us, possibly because we know the etymology and that -o- is always the linking vowel used in this context, but i dunno
it just bugs us! i don't want to be prescriptivist about it but it bugs us -F
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literal answer about spelling mastodon
@Felthry @Roxy depending on region, "mastodon" is pronounced somewhere between /ˈmæstədɑn/, /ˈmæstədən/, and /ˈmæs.tə.dɒn/ - h/t https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mastodon - and in all three cases the middle vowel is reduced to a schwa - an "uhh" sound. and "a" is the letter that best represents that "uhh" sound.
so yeah, they're spelling it phonetically. like "definate".
- Packbats 🎒