I learned today that a “fricative” is what happens when you make a sort of transitive consonant sound between two mashed-together sounds, even though the actual consonant sound you’re making doesn’t appear in either of the two “main” sounds.
Huh?
Okay, if I say, “Whatchy’all doing,” you understand that I was saying “what are you all doing” but with a heavy accent. But where is the “ch” sound coming from? There’s no such sound in any of those words! But in hastily moving from the end of “what” to the beginning of “y’all” and sort of glossing over the “are,” your tongue just makes a quick stop at the part of your mouth that makes the “ch” sound. That’s a fricative.
Why am I telling you about this? Because it’s cool! And because I love that I still learn cool new things all the time, because life is amazing, and there’s so much treasure just lying around. How could anyone be bored? I mean, whatchy’all doing out here?
The Opportunity Machine 