Forte
You say fort-ay, I say fort.. what the heck is going on???
Previous Post
← CalendarNext Post
Kobe Magic The Gathering Card →Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Subscribe to HotForWords and impress your friends with your sesquipedality!
Latest Video
ByteRecently Active Members
Recent Comments
TwitPics
It is forte
You are soul bright; it must run in the family. My fort is old and is filled with forte. Kulaks make hay before the thunder walzed; many times passed and order filled the organized promise of all faith of love.
I did the “Fathers and Sons”…I cry for Bazarov and all his “Forte’”
Forte, pronounced “fort,” means one’s strength. It comes from a fencing term describing the blade or shaft of the epee. The part from the base or handle to the midpoint is the forte, or strong part of the blade. The flimsier part from the midpoint to the tip is the foible, or weak part of the blade. We use forte (fort) to describe our strong characteristics just as we describe the strong part of the epee. By the way, our foible is also the weak part of our character. Foible also gives us feeble.
Forte, pronounced “for-tay,” is a musical term meaning to play loudly. It is the opposite of piano which means to play softly. The musical instrument, the piano, got its name from being able to play both softly and loudly; it was called the piano forte, later shortened to piano. These terms like so many in the music lexicon are Italian. Before the piano other keyboard instruments like the harpsichord could only play at one level of volume.
Dear Marina,
I wanted to post to your “My Strong Point” lesson but I could not find it here.
Forgive me but while there may be words that you can find in the OED, like “nounize,” the support for the origin of such words often comes down to poetic license. See, e.g., the reference to Shakespeare’s Henry IV. I guess I am something of purist when it comes to regular discourse or prose, and I do not easily accept poetic fabrications in the these contexts, especially when there are other normal words that can do the job. Otherwise any clever person can just come up with a new fancy shmancy word and say it’s a word. Like so — I want to express a woman’s beautiful blue eyes and how they make me feel so I say they are “celestially” or that I dive into their “bleauty.”
Just to add one thing to Cunnivore ( I prefere not to translate from french to enlish your name…) It is “FORT” but in french you do not pronounce the T.
In other words it means that you are strong in a discipline …as in french: “tu es fort en..” or when you say in french ” les abdominos c’est le fort de Marina”…
byee
Marina,
I hate to correct the teacher, but I just watched this wonderful work on the word Forte and I noticed that you posted the word “Situps” while you were actually doing “crunches”…
Normally I wouldn’t say anything, but as this is a class about the meaning of words, I had to mention it….
All the best
-j
No doubt “fortay” arose (a) to show off that you know it’s French, and (b) to distinguish forte from fort — although it’s hard to think of too many sentences in which the two words might be confused. (Here’s one: Apache was his fort ie “He was stationed at Fort Apache”; Apache was his forte ie “His expertise in the Apache language was his strong point”.)
I’ve even seen it spelled “forté” once or twice, which is sad.
So I think the deal is this: If you want to impress people who don’t know French, then say “fortay”. But if you want to impress people who do know French, then say “fort”.
In a similar way, most Americans now pronounce route the same as rout — presumably to distinguish it from root, which is a commoner word than rout.
We can even see the same thing in words that have nothing to do with French:
Lie (“recline”) and lay (“set down”) have been two different words for a thousand years; but over the last generation or two, most Americans have begun saying lay (as in, “he was laying on the floor”) when they mean lie.
Why is this? Well my guess is that they’re trying to distinguish lie (“recline”) from lie (“tell an untruth”), which is another word entirely. (And no, I’m not casting aspersions on Americans. For all I know, this may be going on in England as well, and I just don’t know about it.)
“Fortáy” reminds me of valet. I have always pronounced this word so that it rhymes with mallet or palate. I don’t know why: I guess that’s just how I learned it; and anyway my 1984 dictionary agrees. But now I only hear “valláy” — and people look at me funny when I say “vállet”.
So why is this? Well, I suspect it’s because it sounds fancier to have a “valláy” than than “vállet”. Just a guess.
and again my birthday is coming up this month on the 27th will i get a card?
i useally do not comment on how good you look becouse it is obvious but your yellow out fit while you were doing your workout wow you are really in shape and very beutifull sorry i have been gone for a few day but that damn hurricain past hear and we are going to have an other one wish me luck i would hat to die in one of those horrible storms
Marina on the carpet… yeah, babay!
Exercising alone like that can be dangerous…
I’d love to be your personal trainer
“Work it! Push harder!” LOL!
I have only ever heard it pronounced “fortay”. I don’t know where this “fort” business comes from.
Nick
I think that it might be fort, because, in french you would pronounce forte more like fort. Anyway I like your videos
For me, pronouncing forte as fort-ay would be easier. Mainly because if you’re trying to describe your forte and pronounce it as fort, people might confuse it for a castle or something
Jya mata ne
fort-ay, isn’t it? Eight sit ups there M, dam, and you look so hot for so little work out
its pronnounced fort
fort-ay is a term in music meaning loud
If you want to be a purist, then go for “fOrt,” “fOr,” or even “fOr-tis,” but I say languages change over time, so deal with it and just go with whatever’s most popular (as long as it doesn’t lower your standing in society). So, catch the wave and say for-TAY (obviously, I caught the one from the 80′s).
Hello Marina,
I would like to know the origins of the word “Boondoggle”. In some ways this tem appears to be a lifestyle choice for some people
I think you are adorable and keep up the good work. I could not agree more, Intelligence is sexy.
Howard56
Good Day My Hot Teacher Lady , I think your right, it’s forte’ duh
Becaues fort is where you go for protection from your enemies. 
For a word how bout – forkitover – You know like ; Hey you, if you have my dictionary you better forkitover 
Hello Everyone else also, JonX0X0
hotforwords please investigate the word GEEZER and why does it refer to an old person?
Hotforwords, i would like to know the origin of the word “bologna”. Please Investigate! =]
I’ve only ever heard it pronounced “for-TAY”.
Anyways, welcome to my first post on your sight, Marina!
I would like to request that you enlighten us on the word “allelomimetic”, as in the “allelomimetic behavior”.
I also want to thank you for teaching me the word floccinaucinihilipilification. Antidisestablishmentarianism was previously the longest word I knew, and I’m always pretty psyched to upgrade.
Woot! (Actually, that’s another good word to investigate.)
Ok this is so weird. For the past day, Rick and I are chatting about our experience in Karate. This is just weird that Marina did a video on the subject at the same time we where talking about it. Rick even mentioned that Marina talked about Karate in an earlier post. Well gang I have to go to class. I can’t wait any longer.
Yep me too, out to play basketball! Someone save me a comment spot!
Oh,boy!!
you suck. go away.
You must know karate! ‘Cause your body is kicking! (bad pickup lines!)
My dear, you must been half awake when you replied to my comment.
No part of my comment was even close to a pickup line. My comment was directed to the students. Which in not way I was trying to pickup on. 
I’ll try harder at making my comments in Runglish language for you to better understand my thinking. 
Or maybe my Engrish or Taglish confused you.
http://www.hotforwords.com/2008/01/23/beat-your-wife-legally-huh/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmCA6apZ3vY
My personal debt collector http://www.spanamwar.com/texas.htm
What the hell Stokes? Are you drunk?
cappy this is his m.o. that and using sock puppets. must make sense on his side of the looking glass.
No cap just waterlogged.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmCA6apZ3vY
http://www.hotforwords.com/2008/01/23/beat-your-wife-legally-huh/
My personal debt collector http://www.spanamwar.com/texas.htm
Sometimes you have to do them twice to get them to settle.
Uhm, Wha?
Heck, if the video isn’t up here yet, I’ll start the homework already for extra credit.
Homework: My favorite martial arts is muai thai because I like using my elbows and knees during a fight.
Everyone is waiting for this karate video like new pair of shoes coming out.
You kidding me? Like I really care about shoes. Oh wait. I guess I do. Now I sound like a girl. My manliness is eroding away. Oh what was the word? Pussysomethingorrather. “Damn it Jim Im doctor not brick layer!” McCoy.
Uhm McCoy? Sorry I like to stay in style.
McCoy from Star Trek. With Captain Kirk. Kirk would always call him bones.
Marina what are you doing to me
When I go on your channel it says video not avalible then it messes everything on youtube for youtube. I can’t do anything at all. for about 10 mins
YT is having lots of trouble today. I can’t even comment on my own page.
You Tube
comments work just fine …
marina is still at her karate class
Bruce Lee is turnin in his grave.
brandon.
thank you alx
Partnership turned down again
4th application
What where you thinking.
Of course they did. Did you read the instructions? 
They said I don’t have enough views.. Buggers there are partners with half the views of my videos.. And I am always on the honours list.
Do you have the power to put the new vid up
That and about 100 video uploads. The reason is no advertiser is going to spend big buck if you only have a few viewers. Also if they where to pay you right now you would get about .00000001 cents from the hits. Its just not worth their time. Wait until you break 1,000 views a month on one of your videos and resubmit your application. Advertisers want traffic. It took Marina some time for her app to be accepted.
Hum.. let me think about that. Oh yep I do.. heheh Wow.. I didn’t think about that. Well if she wanted me to she could have called me or emailed me to do so. She will get it up soon. I myself have my comments all type out and ready to post. I have class in about 20 minutes so I might not be able to comment until after 10:30 pm PST.
can u plz find out where the word shampoo originated. thx =)
That should be interesting.
When Is The New Video Coming Up
its no you tube
Its been on there for a while.. Wonder when it will be posted here
on
Im wondering the same thing. Must be a technical issue or Marina had to step out of the office.
YT has messed up for me.
Hi Marina sweetheart. You are the sweetest sexiest russian babe i know.
how many do you know?
0
Well there’s Anna Kournikova, she basically made Tennis have the “No-Sexy” rule. Haha. Of course Marina would then instate many other rules if she were in Tennis let alone any other sport.
There is Oksana Baiul in her younger days. She was pretty
I live near brighton beach, you do the math!
I would love to see the word, Vodka!
Here you go Walnutridgeproductions. It is listed in the Word / Lesson videos that she has already done.
Vodka
This F5- ing is Ka-Razy! I’m off to work and I waited sooo long to be first on the Karate show. Dang it.
HotForWords must have a new secret rule.
No more lessons till we all do 10 crunches.
Grrrrrunt 1
Grrrrrunt 2 …
Grrrrrunt 10
OK for the new lesson, after my recovery nap…
Get those perfect pushups, those really cut you.
Hey Marina, I was wondering what’s so anal about an analysis?
Is youtube down for anyone else ATM?
no.
It seems to work ok for me in opera
Hey,,,,, Cheep skates
Has anyone send Teacher
Thats not very nice..
Why?
I sent her some LA perfume. Crystal
The site I put in my earlier post is a great all in one site to buy and send perfume. I am curious if anyone did? That’s all..
Hey Marina have you checked out the new link on my site to your site?.Look Here
Look in my News page. Hope you like the picture I used, Let me know if not.
What exactly do you do on your website?
i would like to request colonization, also i was wondering if it had any ties to columbus who’s name pronounced in spanish is colonbus.
i would like to request these words:
pickle
conch
If you could tell us the origins that would be awesome =)
What is the Origin For the Word: Theorem???
I’d like to share my all-time favourite, from when I was a paramedic- often when asked “What’s the good word?” I would reply, “bezoar-a calcification found in the intestinal tractsof ruminant animale used by primitive peoples as a talisman to ward off evil spirits and promote health.”
I have no idea of the etymology and would be most pleased to have you to teach me the origins of my favourite word. Please
Thank you very much, and keep up the tremendous work:-)
Ciao,
Fianchetto
What’s your gravatar?
Looks like two people kissing
It’s an image of me kissing a girlfriend. Probably too small to tell….me on the right, she on the left, I was holding the camera in my outstretched arm while we kissed
Cute.
Forte’? Marina, you don’t look a day over 39!
OW! You are a very bad man – LOL!
Remember she is a vampire. She is 300 years old.
Heyyy
Will Forte: “Live, from New York, it’s SATURDAY NIGHT!”
I think it says FortE, because it is not an english word.. Well, I am brazilian and we say the same word: “This is not my forte” – translating, “Este não é o meu forte”. Forte in portuguese means strong, as in this is not my “ponto forte”, literally “strong point”, slang term for my “best quality”.
Hmm. What happened to the rest of the coloured border crew? It seems like its only me alx capman and buzzword have them and I swear there were more people than that.
WOO HOO! I have gone global
#98 – Most Viewed (Today) – Comedians – Global
i’m killing them off james, regrettably for you, i’m afraid your little observation has hastened my plans. tonight as the mocking bird mourns the loss of your laughter, you shall sleep where the red roses grow.
I will sleep in a flowerpot my back garden??
you need to be close to home. well at least your heart will, the rest will be incorporated into the biblical diorama in my basement.
Don’t bother. I have stomach.
Put the lotion on the skin, put the lotion on the skin
I want one.
No that is all that had them James. Remember she stopped it after Foxbow asked for one and she said it was getting out of hand. Just us 4 plus Jack.
Hi Marina. i have been watching your videos for quite a while now so i finally subscribed today. and made an account on your website. well first of all id like to say that ur beautiful and im pretty sure a russian billionaire will fall in love with u pretty soon. ur dog is really cute too. i do have a request for a word. i checked ur lists and this word is not on there. the word is WARRANT. like you know when the cops say we have a warrant for your arrest. and i guess u can tie in the word WARRANTY with that too if its possible. thanks for reading and i hope you full fill my word request.
your trustee Hamad Zafar lol
Warrant has another meaning used in finance. This is a category of financial products which are linked to the price of stocks, for example.
thanks for the reply but i also want to know where the word originated from and the meaning for the other warrant (cops) also how the heck do i get my avatar. i signed up on the gravatar website and did everything but its still not here
nice…got the avatar
Hi Hhamadzafar, and welcome to the site. I am glad you joined. Miss M will see your request and add it to her list she has. Just give her a little time as she has word requests coming in all the time. If you need any help with anything don’t hesitate to ask Captain Jack or myself. We are the TA’s and assist Miss M with her site sometimes. Or you can just put out general message an anyone will help you. Have fun and enjoy.
hello!
It can be pronounced both ways, I looked it up on my dictionary.com widget on my mac computer.
Marina,
I’m crying corcodile tears because without rhyme or reason, none of my request are ever used. I don’t want to make bones about the matter but I’m mad as a hatter and thinking of throwing in the towel if you don’t promulgate at least one of my requests.
Boo hoo! So, it’s instant gratification
or none at all?? hmmm…. I didn’t get
a request answered for six monthes…
…and it was not even the ones I was
really pushing for (dirt, flirt, etc.).
I consider myself extremely fortunate
that Marina selected “spoon”, else
I’d still be waiting, patiently. Give the
girl a break – maybe come up with
some decent word requests. Spend
some time actually reading comments
to see if your requests have merit, or
are just adding to the clutter. PEACE
Hi mittheman, I’ve been on here for ten years and never had a request used. — OK, just kidding.
Anyway, from Marina’s past comments here is the deal. Maybe Marina can add to this or correct me if I’m wrong.
From user’s requests, Marina picks those that make for an interesting video. Some etymologies just don’t. She also tries to use words that that fit into current events (movies, news, geek stuff, etc)
Also, some word requests take more research than others, and despite all of her efforts, there is always some tiny detail that could be added after the release of the video.
I had requested the word Cologne a few months ago. She just did it, but not from my request as the context of the way she did the video was much funnier and more enlightening. She did a great job on that video which I would have never expected. She is brilliant. So, expect the unexpected.
Besides that, she gets a ton of requests. Your’s will eventually come.
Have lots of patience. Or, poetically speaking, “… we suffer in silence”.
By the way, I had requested the origin of “April’s Fool” which she didn’t do. Why? I made the request on March 31, or was it Apr 1. So, that means I’ll have to wait for one year to see that request. Of course, she could do that video at any time. With Marina, there is always a surprise and keeps me on my toes.
2657 votes
#2 1642
If every subscriber voted just one time
it would be no contest
YIPPEE! I finally got my new avatar
MUCH!!!!!!!! better than the former default mutant alien that was there before:-)
HEY! your Gravater of your picture was cool!!
Just an opinion, but you should go with that
which one?
I think it can be pronounced either way.
Il y a de fortes raisons pour justifier cette remarque.
Tout comme il existe divers griefs à son encontre
IMHO, I am quite certain that /fort/ is correct, HOWEVER, like many other corruptions of the origional words that become misused often enough to become more frequently used than the original, I think this may be a word in transition. See our Dear Teacher’s lessons on “Goodbye” and “Mayday”. Just as these words evolved by contraction/mispronunciation, I believe forte is doing the same. Several nautical terms come to mind as captains picked up non-native-English speaking crewmen when in a foreign port to replace original crew lost on the way, and who adapted their languages to lust enough english to “get by” (intermediate languages like this are called “Pidgin” languages, and often have parts borrowed from both original languages), “Forecastle” became “Foc’sul”, “Boatswain” became “Bosun”, and “Gunwhale” became “Gunn’l”
Sorry, Marina for my Freudian slip……I must have been thinking of you when I typed “lust” instead of “just”…..you know how we men become idiots in the presence of such a beautiful woman as yourself
Also must admit theat I failed to consider the possible Italian “forte /for-tay/” and may stand corrected by Dez’s post a page or two previous….Thanks, Dez I learned something new today
Ciao,
Fianchetto1
So, if it came from French, forte would be /fort/ (no acute accent on the final ‘e’)
but if from the Italian, forte would be /for-tay/
Well, it’s not pronounced like 40, anyway.
Hello Marina. My mother used to serve me a “hotty-toddy” when I had a bad cough. It was lemon juice, honey, whiskey all heated up into a nice syrup. If it didn’t solve the cough, I least I felt better. Can you look into the origin of the word? I’ve had my suspicion that it relates to the Dutch and an obscure African tribe.
My best regards,
Louie
P.S. Your Maltese is adorable.
HELLO MARINA.
I AM FROM COLOMBIA IN SOUTH AMERICA…
AND RECENTLY I HAVE FOUND YOUR YOUTUBE SITE AND THIS WEBPAGE….
IN SPANISH, WE CALL “PALINDROMO” OR “CAPICUA” TO SPECIAL WORDS OR PHRASES…
IN ENGLISH ARE CALLED PALINDROME…
I`M LEARNING ENGLISH AND NOW YOU ARE MY SECOND TEACHER (THE OTHER ONE IS MALE AND ISN´T AS SEXY AS YOU)
SO… WOULD YOU DO A SPECIAL VIDEO JUST FOR PALINDROMES?
THANKS FOR HELPING ME LEARNING ENGLISH IN YOUR SEXY WAY…
YOURS:
David torrecillas (my surename in english would be: little-towers).
thnks
Buenos dias, mi amigo:-)
At the top of this page, there are the title “Words/Lessons”
Click there with your mouse.
You will find an alphabetical list of all our Dear Teacher’s past lessons.
Beneath “R” is RACECAR…
Click there with your mouse and you will be certain to enjoy her wonderful lessons on palindromes
sorry, no Espaniol, but she does give Latin, English and Greek examples:-)
Ciao,
Fianchetto1
thanks amigo,….
My apologies amigo…correct place to look is under “P” for Palindrome…the title at the top of the video will say “RACECAR” ( a palindrome itself
mea culpa
Ciao,
Fianchetto1
I, I, I…
When they turn on the hadron collider, if we all die I want you to know…..
ZOWIE!!! Hi Marina! I noticed you haven’t done any lessons on those zany Z words like:
Zoo
Zebra
Zipper
Zap
Zig-Zag etc….
And what about the letter Z who invented it? CraZy!!!
or… zeugma
or the German Zeitgeist
Zany is s great word for a word request.
As in Bill Zany, or Billy Zane?
@ 2640 (That’s a good margin)
#2 @ 1642 (Good number for violating the rules)
#3 @ 1102 (Whacha doin back der?)
Still gonna bust the thermometer!
you are correct its fort-ay
or if not the wisdom tooth, maybe the everybody-loves-to-do sweet act — the famous French kiss
. why is it with the word “French”? were the French the ones who coined it because they had too many lovers?? or is there really an official fact about it?? because i dont think kisses have nationalities. i would never say american kiss, or japanese kiss, right? but why French kiss?it’s very much specific compared to other forms of kisses.
take care..
We can also hear “Inuit kiss”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB4P0B5gT0U
and “Russian kiss” (sorry I didn’t find that video in English):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK9r7UwGUuQ
Another mystery: why do we say “French frites” in English? This is a Belgian invention, not French…
hey marina! i just would like to know why the last molars that grow in our gums are called wisdom teeth? is it because we are getting old and have wisdom? i’d be more than glad if you discuss this. thanks and Godbless!
Is a very special word.
In spanish we call to those molars, something like: “the sense teeth”,
(muelas del juicio).
mothers of south amreica call it: “youth teeth”.
Whatever, in both languages, that molars have the same point: when it appear, it hurts and are the sign that you are not a child.
Maybe the comparisson between languages could help you…
is the same historical root.
Despite a significant 933 vote lead, my friends and I are still voting. Marina’s video now has 2575 votes.
Hi Marina,
I would know the meaning of the title of a song By Led Zeppelin: “whola lotta love”.
P.s. :sorry for my bad english but I’m italian.
In italian “forte” means strong but i think u allready knew this…
wth…this video is allready at 21 most viewed today…that was quik
In about 17 hours it did 64,866 views.
No you are looking at global… Not the blank one..
Miss M is way past posting the vid now. She is on the first page. I hope everything is alright with her
she logged in recently, so don’t worry
.
I guess that explains why we all show up for your lessons?
Nah! We’d be here anyway – it’s about Marina’s hotnesss..
Hello Marina, I just noticed on YT, your Forte video had an advertisement about an upcoming movie, “How To Lose Friends”. They are having a video contest called “Most Embarrassing Office Blunders”.
There is no voting as such, and the popularity YT views count for 30% of the judging. There are 5 videos uploaded so far and they are all bad. One of them is already disqualified as it is longer than 2 minutes.
Humor counts for 35% and originality counts for the other 35%.
I think you should enter. I can just imagine some embarrassing moment in a teachers life of etymology.
http://www.youtube.com/user/LoseFriends
Get a coach…like Bob I was under the impression that one should not do sit-ups or crunches with the hands or an object held behind the neck…One should, apparently, hold the hands or object over the chest… and a progressively bigger ball to throw to Kobe & you too, can look like Lisa Nova. Kobe, with a haircut & a california tan, may also beef up a little.
Dang what a dog Billy.
I like to take him for a walk or let him take me for a walk. 
The dog’s name is Wendy, from our city, Victoria. She is a Whippet with a myostatin deficiency. She has a normal friendly disposition, just scary looking. Check out the kid on the linked page, doing olympic style “Iron cross” moves at 5 months
Is that really Lisa Nova? WOW, I’ll be right back
Fort…… Forte One is derived from the other. The Pronunciation is differrent, They mean 2 different things. Websters, remember Them? It’s a Dictionary….. Not Wiki whatever
I would agree that Wikipedia is not the most scholarly source of info. However, inside Webster’s dictionary, you should be able to find an etymological guide after every word entry in that dictionary (If not, find another dictionary). You may be able to observe that all definitions of forte have the same etymological source and the same root meaning. All of the definitions of forte are synonyms of each other, further exemplifying their common root meaning. The substantive difference is the pronunciation, which is the point of this exercise.
juxta-position
Hey darknight! Before You start calling People Ignorant! WHY don’t You learn how to Spell? Next time I’m Bored Silly. I will not stop Here. Sorry Marina:):):)
I thought your Maxim show only comes on every other Friday?
Yes, only every other Friday
Ohhhh nevermind, It said 1 more day yesterday but now its going by hours. Also, how can I play guess the word origin game with you if I don’t got satellite radio? I live in San Francisco though.=\
Thanks Marina.
Is every thing ok Miss M. Your running a little late today.
I change my mind. For-tay is okay enough to be crowned “correct”, on the grounds we all should bow to common usage of the incorrect pronunciation. Besides, it is a practical mispronunciation because it differentiates between fort and forte.
(BTW- I think my long suppressed teenage foot fetish is starting to surface again after Marina’s video lesson on forte.) Which reminds me of a story…
An old construction worker I was learning from many, many moons ago, was from Nevada (stop me if I told this before), and he told me about what he said to his girlfriend when they visited his hometown in Nevada. It was
Gene Autry’s (the cowboy crooner) old hometown. And he had a twin brother who had as good a singing voice as Gene, but he had a stutter when he talked. It was a small town and the old construction dude knew Gene’s brother and waved him over. He told his girlfriend that whole story as he walked towards them, and he added: Watch his eyes when I introduce you to him. His gaze will wonder down to your shoes. He has a foot fetish and everybody in town knows it.
You bring up a good point, Muggins… when context isn’t enough to provide meaning, pronunciation can give the needed clue. It is possible for one to be confused between a fort, as in a fortification, or a forte, as in a personal strength, without differentiating between the two through pronunciation.
“Survival is this warrior’s fort.” – refers to where the warrior is stationed (Fort Survival).
“Survival is this warrior’s forte.” – refers to the particular skill of the warrior.
Without the Italian pronunciation of “for-tay”, one may get bogus info from the statement.
Precisely, dezdkado, why risk a possible confusion? Even if the mind
has to ponder for only a second to guess at the best meaning within the context, it’s much smoother not have to work that out and instead continue listening to the conversation. I might just add that the Italian word, forte, means ‘loud’, and so we are choosing to lay a small burden on the Italians who speak English to have to hash out which is which…’loud’ or ‘strong point’?…that is the task we lay on our Italian friends. Maybe we can spread the word not to use ‘forte’ when there are Italians involved. It’s the least we can do.
Perhaps this is not a request for a word as much as “why isn’t this a word?”
My 5 year old son started using the word “fastly” since this seems to be the opposite of “slowly”
For the life of me, I can’t figure out why this should be incorrect!
Help!
Hello. Although it has nothing to do with ‘forte,’ I would like to request a lesson. I have become interested in the term ‘host’ and wonder if there is a connection between host-parasite ‘host’ and eucharist ‘host.’ Can you help?
I mispronounce forte as for-tay,
the same way I mispronounce zoology as zoo-ology
- “The study of zoos”
Your not wrong Kb, its like Alx said who is to say which one is the right or wrong spelling. As long as the word is understood and people know what you are saying.
whooow…lot of ignorant people on youtube…
so.if it’s still necessary: Forte comes from the latin word “fortis” meaning strength…it was used to compose other words like fortification(french), fortificatione(italian), fortificatie(romanian),all neo-latin languages.the problem seems to appear in the french area,because they blame the accent.the accent on “E” looks like this / or like this \ (they are on top of E) and they determine either the E letter is pronounced or not (YES,if the accent is / “aiguu” meaning sharp and NOT if the accent is \ “grave” meaning serious-short”…anyway, in the case brought up by Marina, we shall use ['fort] as in “je suis fort en…”=”i’m skilled/good at…” the therm forte where you pronounce the E or ey or tey is use in music.still,today,more and more institutions accept both forms as correct
1) The correct spelling of your word in Italian was “fortificaZione”.
2) The adjective in French is “fort” (the “t” is mute) and not “forte”. “forte” is the female form (with a mute “e” at the end but the “t” pronounced).
3) The adjective “forte” exists also in Italian and all of its letters are pronounced.
yeah..i know it’s with Z in italian…just missed type.i was talking about the accents on E in French language…and you’re wrong,the “T” is not mute
Sorry, but I’M FRENCH and I know how to pronounce French words.
In the word “fort” (the name or the adjective), the final “t” is mute. It is only pronounced when you use the female form of the adjective “forte”. In that case, the “e” is still mute, as I said. Actually, the “e” can be pronounced in the South of France but this is not a standard pronunciation.
To David; Canadians don’t say,( eh ) Only Ignorant People Use slang! That Term was Promoted by 2 Comedians, Bob & Doug Mc. Kensie. Get Off It. Forte, Is Pronounced… Four- tey. Please Everybody Smile!!!! Marina needed a day off, She’s My Hero!!! I Love the site, sometimes Marina, You don’t dig deep enough. I Luv Ya anyways:) Darryl
Hey Darryl,
Are you being just a bit critical? Everybody uses it now and then… even the brightest!
Somebody is a little cranky, and needs a nap… eh?
What’s the origin of “Rosh Hashanah” and who celebrates that holiday?
Rosh HaShanah is a Jewish celebration. It literally means “Head of the Year” and celebrates the beginning of the civil Hebrew calendar. The day is celebrated as Yom Teruah the “Day of (the blowing of) the horn” or “Day of the Trumpet” by the blowing of a shofar (a ram’s horn). Some Rabbis describe this day as the day of judgment, others as a day of remembrance. It is also the first day of the ten “Days of Awe” (Yamim Noraim) that culminates in Yom Kippur (Yom Kippurim) “Day of Atonement(s)”. Rosh HaShanah marks the beginning of the Jewish High Holy Days. If you meet your Jewish friends or neighbors on this day, it is considered polite to wish them a good year with the greeting “Shana Tova.”
Forte? I mean ? who The Frack, does’nt know what that means! It’s what You’re best at. Duh!!!! Also, bestest, strongest part of Sword, Near, Close, To the Hilt! Please Marina, You can do so much Better
Dear Marina,
Everybody has a forte or two or three or more… it comes from inside your core.
I like looking for discarded things and transforming/modifying them into something better and useful… it’s one of my fortes.
See here…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGUxKSd9TrQ
Hello dave,
Good video and great idea.
Thanks Warren!
much over rated, much to do about nothing. I’m good at breathing air and farting and getting loud and louder, but why work?
Hey Maria, kudos for you to keep in shape! And thanks for sharing it with us!
It’s something that I should do more of… wait… what is the origin of Kudos? Seems like an odd word.
Hi Marina,
Forte, as I have heard it… is with the eh! pronunciation on the end of the word … eh! ( the eh! on the end of this sentence shows an idiosyncratic identifier common to Canadians, eh! ).
Hey, Marina, here is your answer. It is both. So if I were you, I would continue to say it how I would like to say it.
1. for·te [ fawrt, fáwr tày ] (plural for·tes)
2. for·te [ fáwr tày, fáwrtee ]
rushman71
Et tu, for-tay?
no I haven’t et nothing yet
I think I found the longest word in the English Language.
Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicavolcanoconiosis (45 letters). And the longest Latin word consists of 52 letters.
Not just trying to find long words, but I do find myself looking at these and trying to break them down part by part. You are rubbing off.
But for a more normal word. Well not so normal. I enjoy peering at the stars at night and I came across this word which I find interesting if not strange. The word is syzygy.
For the life of me, I can’t seem to easily break that one down because it is so freaking short. Wanna give it a shot?
A.K.A WiredSolaris
Student in Training
you are aingnert
for could water
For tay says i
Marina,
I have a word request. “Toehead”
I know what the word means, it is often used to describe a child with blonde hair… but where did it come from?
thanks,
QuinT
It comes from working flax (a fibrous plant from which we make linen)… a toe is a clump of combed and processed flax and it is bright yellow in color. Thus, toe-heads (blonds) have hair the color of worked flax. Flax is a common poetic term for blonds as well (hair of flax, flaxen-haired, etc.)
On a tour of Mt. Vernon I once was able to see and participate in processing flax as it was done in the days of the gentleman farmer, George Washington.
Forté for me, my dear Marina!
Forte is between thirte-nine and forte-one !
BiLL
i think u never looked up “Take A Bow” so if you are kind enough look it up =] ill try to video request it too!
Everyone i have known has said Fort-ay. Can be said either way.
Original meaning is the strong point of a sword. Now it means a persons strong point.
Teacher is always right…Fort-ay
Marina,
It is pronounced both ways. However, the meaning you intend determines the proper pronunciation.
Forte (as a noun) comes from the Middle English word “fort” meaning “strength” which in turn comes from Old French “fort” which comes from Latin “fortis” which comes from Old Latin “forcius” which comes from the Indo-European base “bheregh” meaning “high, elevated, strong.” This English “forte” is properly pronounced as “fort”. This word is the basis for the English words “fortress” and “fortify”. As a noun it has two meanings: (1) a thing that a person does particularly well; special accomplishment or strong point (2) the strongest part of the blade of a sword, between the middle and the hilt (which is contrasted by the “foible” which is the weakest part of the blade of a sword, from the middle to the tip). This second usage began around 1648 as the usage of long and broad swords waned and the usage of sabers, cutlasses, and rapiers waxed.
Forte (in music) is pronounced “for-tay” and comes from Italian “forte” meaning “strong” or “strength” which also comes from Latin “fortis”, etc. Used as an adjective or adverb its meaning is: loud (music); a direction to the performer to play with strength or force, as opposed to “piano” which is “soft”. As a noun its meaning is: a forte note or passage (in music). The direction in music “pianoforte” means to play softly, then loud.
That folks are pronouncing the word as “fort” or “for-tay” does not change the root meaning of “forte.” It is still a strength. One etymological dictionary states that the usage of forte to describe a personal strength in ability or character originates in 1682. This period of time (in Europe and its colonies) is marked with a great focus on music (that we call classical) and opera as well as fashionable swordplay. I suggest that the common pronunciation of “forte” (“for-tay”) is an improper pronunciation that blends the Italian pronunciation of the word with an English usage… which still maintains the root meaning of the word.
I pulled this from the “Word of the Day Archive”
Forte (etymology): From Latin fortis “strong” via French “fort” and Italian “forte,” the word also behind English “fort(ress)” and “fortify.” The ultimate root from which “fortis” derived is probably *bhergh-, the source of German Berg “mountain” and Russian bereg “bank, shore.” It turns up in Old English “burg” that gave modern “borough” and was borrowed into French as bourg “town” from which “bourgeois” and “bourgeoisie” are derived.
My apologies… I had no video of a pretty Russian lass exercising while narrating this explanation.
According to my research both “Fort” and “Fort-ay” are acceptable pronunciations for forte BUT since the word is french in origin I would think that it’s supposed to be pronounced “Fort-ay”
According to my mother, (a french professor) french words that end with any of the letters in the word “careful” get pronounced. SO since forte ends in an “e” it would be pronounced giving forte the second syllable.
The defense rests.
You come a bit fast to your conclusion
Firstly, it appears that the original word was not “forte” but “fort”. The final “e” doesn’t come from French but from Italian, and the pronunciation “fortay” comes from Italian. In French, in the female form of the adjective “fort”, which is “forte”, the final “e” is mute.
Additionally, when English borrow words to another language, they generally changes its pronunciation with the English pronunciation rules. Of course there are exceptions (the word “rendezvous” for example) but they aren’t very numerous compared to the number of transformed words.
Haha cute. Brings up a word request.
Word Request: “Workout” Working out is also my forTE (How I say it) like you, but where does “working out” come from? Do you have do what it literally says and “work” or excersise “out” or outside? If so, then why are gyms built? Of course my ripped, curvy, toned teacher should know the answer, right?
Thanks Marina
Matthew
Hey marina i have a word request!
OK Here goes.
I want to know what the word ‘word’ means. We all know you’re hot for words, but what DOES the word ‘word’ mean. If you could do a video about it that would be great.
Hugs from canada!
Hagan
Marina’s pullin’ them from around the world!
Dictionaricdotcom did a breakdown of nations a day or so ago… she truly does pull them in from across the globe.
Killa Cali, SF
Boooooo L.A! Sorry Marina.
Marina,
Of course you are right!
Forte, with the ‘e’ being pronounced.
It may come from the Italian word “Forte” pronounced “Fortay.” The piano was originally called the “Pianoforte,” meaning it could be played soft (piano) or loud (forte’), as opposed to the harpsichord which has only one volume level.” Forte’ in Italian may also imply strength. I’m afraid my only forte’ is avoiding work.
I’m afraid Kobe stole the show this time. I’m betting no tennis ball is safe within a mile of himl
most people in America say its raining “Cats&Dogs” i want you to investigate where this phrase came from =]
I believe this was already explained bro.
Check the Lessons list link in the upper left of the page for all of the words that have been done like this one.
http://www.hotforwords.com/2007/12/30/cats-and-dogs/
It is definitely “fort-ay.” That’s how it is always said in reference to dynamic level in music, anyway.
Dear professor Marina. I would love for you to tell us the meaning/background of the word “hysteria”. I think it could be your best word ever.
P.S. Thank you for appealing to my geekiest of interests, philology and linguistics are so cool.
Can you feel it?
Quite interesting word. I know that “hysteria” is related to “uterus” (and that explains why we use this word only for women).
Hello, I have a word request
how about the word “WORD” why do we call it this? were did it come from?
Anyway thankyou marina I have learned SO MUCH
Lots of people want this word to be derived. Heck, I’ll hop on the bandwagon too.
Do you mean booger? If so, its been done.
I always have and always will pronounce it ‘fort-ay’. My music major girlfriend agrees ( which is rare ).
If you agree that the purpose of language ( words ) is to communicate, and if you agree that effective communications are better than vague communications, then you should ask yourself if more people would be enlightened by the ‘fort-ay’ pronunciation; and then ask yourself which is more appropriate?
Heck, even my fencing instructor ( a PE major ) called it ‘fort-ay’
( well, even a clock that is stopped is right twice a day ).
Male for female…. Hmmm….
aaaaaaay like the fonz of course!
http://www.nfl.com/players/mattforte/profile?id=FOR645404
I’ll stick with the way Chicago Bears 2nd Round Pick Matt Forte (for-tay) says it. =)
–Nathan
Do the Bears got a good QB yet? Not that much of a football fan. GO NINERS
Hey!! The team is pronounced, “Da-Bears”. Don’t forget it!!
Ehhhhh Devin Hester is FASSSST!
I vote for for-tay as that’s how it has been said to me since Shep’s great great great grampa-dog was a pup. If looking for the americanized pronunciation that’s the one to go with.
I request “shot”,as in “shotglass”,there’s gotta be some drinkers here somewhere that might enjoy knowing too.
Hey Marina,
I wanted to know where the phrase, “the bee’s knees” comes from.
You could investigate this word.. Good luck prononucing it.. I have read that the OED doesnt have much on this word either
Zenzizenzizenzic
Is it a sound made by a stuttering German Buddhist.
That was way too funny.
Good one.
I have always pronounced forte as fort-ay because I have never heard it pronounced any other way, but the O.E.D. says that is wrong and it should have a silent “e” when referring to something at which one excels.
If talking about a pianoforte or how a piece of music should be played loud, the O.E.D. says the accented “e” should be used.
Very confusing! Now I’m getting scared to open my mouth for fear of making a gaffe (silent “e”) and some pedant putting the boot in.
forte can be pronounced either (or is that eye-thur
) way..
from Merriam-Webster’s site (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/forte):
oh, and about the situps…’er…doesn’t the sun shine in California?…
I was under the impression that one should not do sit-ups or crunches with the hands or an object held behind the neck, because it is too easy to injure the neck that way. One should, apparently, hold the hands or object over the chest, and focus the eyes on a spot on the ceiling to avoid curling the head forward during the exercise.
true…somehow i was…’er…distracted. i should’ve mentioned it, as we certainly don’t want Marina wearing a neck brace or doing any harm to herself.
so, Marina, from now on please hold your hands just behind your ears or cross your arms over your chest and stare straight up as Bob suggests…and don’t forget to breathe properly…
That’s what I came up with too–from the SAME source even!!
Although several dictionaries provided the same basic information, I liked the Merriam-Webster best 
So, that means everyone’s right, both are accepted and understood as “strength”, as long as the USA people AREN’T talking about a military building!!
Ya gotta teach ‘em young!
RRR, you’re so politically incorrect when you’re annoyed
Glad the boy is into his sports, though!
Did you notice that Anglo-Saxon surname ending with -E are pronounced as if they had no -E ending :
For the most frequent : MOORE, GREENE, LOWE, STEELE, WOLFE, ROWE, POOLE, CLARKE, HORNE, HOWE, SHARPE, COOKE, CROWE, LOCKE, BYRNE, MEADE, GOODE, THORPE, BROWNE, THORNE, and so on…
Question: If we didn’t have homonyms, would we still be talking about how to pronounce fort vs fort-tay?
I think most people have been impacted in some negative way due to hearing one thing when it was supposed to mean another. To prevent mis-heard speech, some people emphasize certain syllables, or in some cases people use affected speech. Here are examples of emphasized or affected speech, not necessarily homonyms. niner (nine), biatch (bitch), dayum (damn)
How about tort vs torte. We don’t say, “Give the children another piece of tor-tay”.
Many dictionaries have a usage note regarding the pronunciation of forte, pointing to the influence of the music term forte.
On a related note, Marina did a video on the word Colonel vs kernel. That video points out some interesting historical things regarding pronunciation.
http://www.hotforwords.com/2008/01/01/colonel-hotforwords-reporting/
Hey, if we didn’t have all these inconsistencies there might not have been a HotForWords site.
what is the origin of the word east and how did it become associated with a type of direction?
Marina, I have a special request for a special word: Kobe (the name of your lovely but a bit unquiet dog).
Where does it come from (the name of Kobe Bryant, the Japanese town, something else)?
And how should it be pronounced? (Kobay, Koby or Kob)
Funny!
I vote “Ko-bay”.
Marina ! Come on http://www.edufire.com and I will teach you French and you will be FORTE
Marina doing isometrics to keep the six pack?
She should try some leg lifts for that, too…
“four-tay” sounds right, just like “re-zoo-may”
The accent mark above the “e” is often not
used and this may be wherein the confusion lies.
Fort may be thought to be the correct usage
because of words like torte, which has no accent
mark above the (silent) “e”.
Kobe loves his ball!
since it is getting close to Election time.. how about the word debate..
or how about the word Election.
Hi Marina!
At least in my country (Portugal) ‘forte’ is pronounced ‘fort’. But looks like there are many people who read the ‘e’. Anyways if you learned to say ‘fortay’ and you want to say it, I think there’s no problem (if the ones you’re talking to know what you mean, of course).
Keep doing your for… keep doing what u do best!
Oh, yeah. Best video yet!
I was told years ago that ‘Forte’ is used in musical circles to refer to someones musical specialty, and any other time it should be pronounced ‘Fort’.
I have to agree that most people in the US say fort-ay.
Like when we say advertisement and vitamin with long I’s
Really strange “advertisement” with a long I.
With a weak end, the “i” normally becomes diphtongual. Perhaps a confusion or a joke with the word “teese”.
I tried explaining that I wasn’t that good in attack my defence was my fort(e). They wanted to know if it had a moat
Now I think that video would benefit from a little more Cowbell…
http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhSkRHXTKlw
After this week end I will have a moat around my house when the storm hits NC
pow-say.
Here you go Alx I found you sign or smiley face.
Crossbones Smiley Face
never mind the tiny url didn’t work.damit
Try this again
http://tinyurl.com/6owyvx
i’m rather psychotic.
I thought you would enjoy the placements of the smileys.
well, it doesn’t help much when i’m looking in the wrong direction, you know. :/
How do you put in hyperlinks? Sorry I’m not good at this stuff.
see here.
Homework:
I say for-tay. I never met anyone who says ‘fort’ unless they are talking about ‘Fort Harrison’ ‘Fort Dix’ ……
or my favorite Fort Knox
Hello Capman911,
My favorite is “forty winks”.
Forty is plural for for, isn’t it?
oops, forgot the “-ty” on forty
Word request: hey Marina i come from Faroe Islands wich is a small island group in europe.
ive always heard faroe islands (føroyar on faroese) means sheep islands (seyga oyggjar on faoese) so how did sheep islands turn into faroe islands ? is faroe another word for sheep ?
thx
a very hot forte
Who likes my new channel background.. Hope YouTube will like me a bit more now.
I love the background James. Very original
I didn’t know which was better. The sandwhich one or the one now.
hey marina
work it baby work it hehe.
over ere in oz land its pronounced as ”forte”
Marina :
I’ve always pronounced it with an e.
P.S. I see Koby is aggressively pressing forward with your training. I am amazed at how fetching both of you are.
What’s next? Learn as you burn exercise videos. Bodily and mental exertion. Hot For Sweat, next time jumping jacks.
I want to know the meaning and origin of the word Ommision
Omission comes directly from Latin. This is the fact of omitting something (to forget it or to let it aside).
Hello Marina,
Did the earthquake scare you a little? I don’t like that feeling.
Two excercise videos, maybe you can get enough for a complete weekly workout.
Homework: I agree with you with the pronunciation.
Thank you
I agree with your pronunciation not my typing abilities.
That wasn’t an earthquake, Warren… that was your heart pounding while watching Marina do sit-ups
Hello Dez,
Isn’t it funny that Marina thinks that she needs to excercise?
She can lift 50 pounds of books with a thought and move thousands of pounds of men with a smile.
Nitwit <— seems a good one also fort is how i say it
Check out http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Forte.
Good answer Tr77379. That explains it to a tee.
This explanation seems good. We could imagine a third pronunciation to distinguish “fort” and “forte” with a secondary stress on the “e” (which would be a more “academic” pronunciation) but it’s not possible because of the word “forty”. And if we pronounce the final “e” without stress, the result sounds a bit strange.
The word ‘Nitwit’ please!
I THINK YOU HAVE THE
“GIFT OF GAB”
AS YOUR FORTE!
I agree with you on that one Jimhathy. She is gifted.
Can u look up the word SUBSCRIBE?
It literaly means: “to write under” (when you sign up a document, you add your signature below the text).
sub- is a Latin prefix which means “under” and “scribe” comes from the Latin verb “scribere” (to write), which gave scrivere in Italian and écrire in French. We can find also the verb “schreiben” in German but I don’t know if the word has been borrowed by Germans to Latin or if it comes from a more ancient form.
An interesting thing is that the building of the word is exactly the same in the four languages: subscribe (English), souscrire (French), sottoscrivere (Italian) and unterschreiben (German).
I’m with you on this one
“FOR-TAY”
If you want fort, it’s fort!
If you want “for-tay” it’s forte!
Jim
I didn’t know this word in this meaning before today but what I know is that the pronunciation “for-tay” is not logical because in English we can’t have a two syllabic word with both parts accentuated… The only exception I know is when the word was built with two words connected to each other. But clearly it is not the case here : “forte” refers to the French word “fort” and to the Italian word “forte” (meaning “powerful” or “strong”). The Latin root is “fortis”.
So I think the two possible ways to pronounce “forte” in English are fɔː’t or fɔː’ti
If I am wrong, I’d like to have an explanation…
Well I realize that the second possible pronunciation I gave can’t be used because it fits with the word “forty”. We could imagine saying fɔː’tə but it sounds a bit weird. So now with the explanation given by tr77379 I understand why we can find the pronunciation fɔː’te’ : to make a difference with the word “fort”.
IMHO the Sword use of forte is passe
hence “fortay” is the pronunciation. 
Word request: interpret
I say fort as in Fort Bragg. I say forte or fortay as this is my forte or hobby or something I like, or a chore I have to do.
How can alx do a 4th level reply?? Can you do it??
where are you talking about?
test
test
test again
test again
test 1
Look on the practice comment page at the top you will see he did a 4th level reply to me
aLx has special powers… as well as Capman911 (which he may not realize)…. people who help out with the site, TAs and such can comment up to 4 levels deep.. from the dashboard area so that they can answer specific questions by people. I don’t allow everyone as it gets out of control that way.
I think I saw capt do a 6th level comment a while ago……. you could only see one word per line
How many can you do Marina?
Isn’t “Forte’ ” how one might discribe something that he or she is good at? Not just a hobby or a chore but something that they excell at?
Yes your right Dave.
I was being short with my answer on that one. I had to go make water so I just threw down a quick answer. 
Thats odd too.. Marina you have more than 100 million views.. Thats not what yoube thinks though http://www.youtube.com/members?s=mv&t=a&g=5&c=0&to=0&p=2
That’s the public page.. it takes them weeks to update… here are my views from my account page.
That explains it… By the way I know I asked earlier but do you have mac pro or just the normal mac.. My reason for asking is because the screen on the mac is 13 inch and mine is currently 15 inch.. I wondered if you had the normal mac if it sometimes seems a bit too small
Woo hoo! I am on page 1 http://uk.youtube.com/members?t=t&p=1&s=mv&g=2
Great James, your on your way.
Hello James,
Well, how could it go otherwise when you have such a great mentor?
the link didnt work and it wont let me put it in so try these-
http://www. maniacworld.com/f-81.swf
http://www. funlol.com/586/History_of_the_F_Word!.html
http://www. youtube.com/watch?v=AUaWCcDlI5s
without the space of course
Hi,
I recently found one of your videos when I was bored and quite enjoyed it, so for the past few days I have watched ALL of your videos, one by one. There was a word I was sure I would find, and I waited to come across it. To my surprise I never found it! I heard it quite a few times, but it was never the focus word. This surprised me greatly as it is one of the most versatile and controversial word in the English language.
I’m sure someone has suggested it in the past; perhaps you were to shy to use it? (even though I heard you say it before).
I think you already know what the word is and I’m not sure if it has an interesting origin or not. Here is a link to the uses of the word from Monty Python -
http://www.funlol.com/586/History_of_the_F_Word!.html
The legendary Billy Connolly said this about it-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q41eoZXDb64
I hope you consider using it because weather you love it or hate it; EVERYONE has said it at least once in their life. I don’t care if your Mother F*%&ing Teresa.
Also I would like to hear you read out my name
trying to put the links in?-
http://www.maniacworld.com/f-81.swf
http://www.funlol.com/586/History_of_the_F_Word!.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUaWCcDlI5s
I have done the origin of that http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=aVthSNUBre4
Unfortunately you don’t have the cleavage for the job.
All you got is the accent. =\
What accent
I’m saving it for a special video.. I want it to be good
I can’t imagine what the title will be then..
First time f*ck..
Hotforwords gets f*cked..
You set yourself up for some funny comments.
It always starts out innocently enough, but then…
Say my name?? So she says…. My hot lover brett. Over@mywebsite.haha
Why is Bill Connolly, in your mind, “Legendary” & Mother Teresa not even respected? Don’t answer that.
Why is there always some magnanimous jerk, who thinks his opinion is needed when a comment isn’t even directed at him? Duh…Don’t answer that.
I know… And why don’t I have the clevage
As part of a sword it’s “fort”.
But my first exposure to it was in music as “fortay”.
So I willing to have the Rin-Tin-Tin fort be “fort”
And the strengh be “fortay”.
Besides, we use music far more than we use swords today.
HotForWords,
You have to count your crunches in fortissimo.
Or at least mezzo forte.
And Kobe’s message,
Hey everybody just follow the bouncing ball and look at them abs.
And Marina,
Thank you. The other day it was everybody sing along,,, But today you didn’t invite us crunch challenged (or just unpracticed) to join in.
Dictionary.com says it’s pronounced:[fawrt, fohrt or, for 1, fawr-tey].
Did you say http://www.dictionaric.com ?
Ummm, nope.
франтовская Marina, I’ve been a subscriber for two full months, now. You’ve provided wonderful educational videos. I also see the comment boards certainly reveal the quality of character, both good and bad, of people who post remarks. There has been anger, foul language, and Internet bullying. It might be useful to post sites where such threats may be reported.
For your homework, I checked two different sources, and they both use the two-syllable pronunciation first.
From the Free online Dictionary:
for·te 1 (fôrt, fôrt, frt)
n.
1. Something in which a person excels.
2. The strong part of a sword blade, between the middle and the hilt.
for·te
From Answers.com:
forte
(fôr’tā’, fôrt, fōrt)
So, your two-syllable pronunciation is right. So nice to see you exercise your thin, tiny waist!
Your student who double-checked, seesixcm6
hi
hi
haha.. that bit on the side that says the comments now says
“James on Heroin Cough Syrup”
I hope not..
It depends on what definition you’re using this word for. In this case fawr tey
Both way are considered correct but if your want to be understood correctly, (in the USA) without confusion pronounce it fawr-tey.
Marina,
Your web guys are correct with the spelling FORTE;
The
e is silent cause where it is used in the word!
If I am not mistaken I would pronounce that E with a hyphen creating that
eiie into an 
aHH so FORTE’ would have to take the silent letter and say their is a 
symbol here you need to use me and pronounce me correctly.
Obviously we are not in France and the US Justice system is not a boring parliment where a free country gives you that choice cause I can be free as much as you.
Although a group gathering with the lordship would probably be like a state legilators meeting.
Greg
Hey there Hot For Words! You sure are the The cat’s pajamas. Where did that saying come from
Who’s a lucky dog? Kobe are you a lucky dog?
Dear Teacher,
One of the pronunciations is fort and another for-tay. If fort was correct, I would be disappointed! Touche! Say it, for-tay.
Your Dear Student
Really I would say forté but however you like it Marina is how i shall say
I am a bit like your brother then
You couldn’t even install mac on your laptop
Because my laptop isn’t right for mac!!! jokes on you mr I-love-barbed-wire
Accept no imitations.
sit ups suck, crunches rule!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
asdfghjkl;
1ST
What did you just say?
Secret code.. You wouldn’t understand.
I don’t even know wat fort(e) is:S
Because you spend all your time trying to get number 1 and so you don’t get to see the lesson.