Sharp Words

The word of the day, thanks to Merriam-Webster:

haplology   \hap-LAH-luh-jee\   noun
        : contraction of a word by omission of one or more similar sounds or syllables

Try to say “pierced-ear earrings” three times fast. That exercise will demonstrate why haplology happens: sometimes it’s just easier to drop a syllable and leave yourself with something that’s easier to say (such as “pierced earrings”). American philologist Maurice Bloomfield recognized the tendency to drop one of a pair of similar syllables a little over a hundred years ago. He has been credited with joining the combining form “hapl-” or “haplo-” (meaning “single”) with “-logy” (meaning “oral or written expression”) to create “haplology” as a name for the phenomenon. Haplology is quite common in English, and often the contracted forms it generates spread into the written language. In fact, haplology played a role in naming the nation that is the cradle of English: “England” was condensed via haplology from “Engla land.”

Can anyone think of any more examples of this? I’d never really considered the phenomenon before (or know it had a name) but it makes sense. The example given was that people sometimes say probly instead of probably – I suppose libry instead of library is another case.