The Mysterious Disappearing T

I realize in the grand scheme of things, the Mysterious Disappearing T falls way down on the list, but I can't be the only one who has noticed, can I? English, along with all the grammar rules that accompany it, is admittedly not the easiest or most logical language on the planet, I realize. But Ts can't really be THAT hard to pronounce.

At first, I chalked it up to being a regional pronunciation thing.  Take, for instance, "impor'ant."  Could be regional, right?

Then I start noticing other selective missing Ts. Especially with the younger generation trying to "be cool." Or whatever the 2011 version of cool might be.  They be si'in in the back seat, ge'in busy.  Um, WHAT?

(For a horribly bad song that is a good example of this, just YouTube the song Friday. Or "worst song ever." And yes, I DID just use YouTube as a verb.)

I'm as guilty as the next person of dropping the g from my present participles/gerunds in an informal setting, though I am retentive enough to add the apostrophe in its place when writing. But the Ts?  Did someone vote and decide some of them weren't trendy?  And who decides which ones? Were some of them bad Ts in need of punishment?  Well at least the T in WTF hasn't been banished because I have a feeling I'm going to need that one.

Just as I think maybe I might be starting, erm...I mean star'in, to understand a little - all kids need to rebel against something, right? -  that's when they hit me with the word often. One of the few words with a silent (in my opinion) T. And they PRONOUNCE THE FLIPPIN' T!

#headsmack #igiveup