XPost: alt.english.usage, alt.usage.english, nl.taal   
   From: vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid   
      
   Le 16/12/2025 à 17:55, Ruud Harmsen a écrit :   
   >   
   > As a non-native speaker, can you hear, and make, the difference   
   > between “We built this city on rock and roll” (not one of my favourite   
   > songs by the way; don’t know why) and the present tense variant ‘We   
   > build this city …’?   
   >   
   > I can.   
   >   
   > Not hard, is it? Easier than ‘Henry VI’s throne’, anyway.   
   >   
   > Source: https://rudhar.com/fonetics/build.htm   
      
      
   I think pronunciation is often hit and miss in songs, and it's easy to   
   mishear the words either accidentally or deliberately. Here's an example   
   appropriate to the season:   
      
      While shepherds washed their socks by night,   
      All seated round the tub,   
      The Angel of the Lord came down   
      And helped them all to scrub....   
      
   These are majestic sentiments when backed by a church organ, and there   
   are many variants of them:   
      
      
      
      
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)