I’ve always thought that mold is the fungus, and to mould is to shape. When talking about it with my colleagues yesterday, I was surprised that this isn’t common. Most people use one of the two spellings to refer to both.
Doing a quick search on duckduckgo also confirms that:
- mould is the British spelling referring both meanings.
- mold is the american spelling referring to both meanings.
In my quest to prove them wrong, I was surprised at how wrong I was… until I discovered a few people on the internet who said the same thing:
- https://english.stackexchange.com/a/169920
- https://english.stackexchange.com/a/172089
- https://english.stackexchange.com/a/139605
- https://old.reddit.com/r/confidentlyincorrect/comments/18sx2l0/mold_vs_mould_doubled_down/kfaa6nj/
- https://old.reddit.com/r/confidentlyincorrect/comments/18sx2l0/mold_vs_mould_doubled_down/kfcio12/
- https://old.reddit.com/r/confidentlyincorrect/comments/18sx2l0/mold_vs_mould_doubled_down/kfet3jz/
I’m not looking for what’s correct or incorrect anymore, I just find it very fascinating that there are some people who use the words similarly to me, but the vast majority of others who use it in a different way.
So: what’s the difference between mould and mold according to you?
I say mould because I’m English and that’s just how it’s spelled here (we also pronounce it with a U, pronouncing it without the U as mold would be…strange).
Not an overly exciting response I know, but there you go :P
How do you pronounce the U? Do you pronounce mould like should, would, or could? Is your pronunciation of mould then closer to mud than old with an M in front?
It’s pronounced ‘moeoueieueld’. You really need to emphasise the ‘a’ sound to get it right.
I bit my tongue, thanks
Now I’m realizing, I don’t pronounce the L in those words… Maybe they pronounce it liked mulled?
In honesty (my last comment was clearly not legit), you likely do pronounce the ‘L’; most accents will include this in my experience.
Does the tip of your tongue touch the roof of your mouth just on or behind the ridge before your front teeth? If you release your tongue before pronouncing the ‘D’ is there a release of air? If you do position your tongue here and there is no release of air before pronouncing the ‘D’ (which does release air), then you are pronouncing the ‘L’.
I could see some accents not pronouncing the L. It may colour the vowel, but not be a distinct sound on its own.