The Mandela Effect: Then v Than.

0  2017-02-08 by thetruthful

In my opinion this is an example of the Mandela Effect that is quite ubiquitous almost to the point where on reddit it seems they are reversed almost as often as they are used properly. There are several possible explanations for this that exclude the Mandela Effect.

  1. They look very similar when written and people therefore think they are the same word.
  2. People know they are different words but don't know the difference so just go with one in hopes it's the correct one.
  3. There is another language where the words are reversed and the people in that language use their native language version when speaking English online. This gaslights native english speakers online into questioning their own knowledge of these words and therefore exacerbates the problem through the pressure of group conformity.
  4. Some people pronounce these words the same in real life and therefore don't realize they are two different words and use one or the other 100% of the time.

My objection to all of these is that I haven't seen a single instance of similar words being misused on anywhere near the scale that these words are. Examples of similar words would be: Pen v Pan, End v And, Send v Sand, Men v Man. None of these words are more dissimilar than then and than in objective meaning, and they're all 100% identical in pronunciation of the 'en" v "an" sounds. So if either point 1 or 2 was the reason behind the confusion then these words should be confused equally as often. Point 3 is possible but unlikely. I welcome anyone who knows of a language that reverses these two words from their English meanings to point it out. Point 4 is possible but as a person living in the US I've never heard anyone confuse these words when speaking. Not even in movies or online, but if you are from a region where these words are interchangeable when speaking then feel free to chime in.

38 comments

n/a  bubblegutsyndrome 2017-02-08

or it could just be our failed education system.
This is now a post about our failed education system.

n/a  thetruthful 2017-02-08

If it's failed education why don't people mistake the other very similar examples I listed?

n/a  thekinglywe 2017-02-08

those other ones are not the same though, than and then are pronounced exactly the same(at least in the dialect of english i speak) while the words you listed are different i think better examples would of been here and hear steer and stear steak and stake son and sun

n/a  bubblegutsyndrome 2017-02-08

lose loose (REE)

n/a  thetruthful 2017-02-08

Where are you from?

Question: If I told you while speaking "I would rather walk home then go to the store".

Would you A. Think I would rather walk home and not go to the store or B. Think I would rather walk home then go to the store?

n/a  bubblegutsyndrome 2017-02-08

  1. b
  2. a

n/a  thekinglywe 2017-02-08

i just deleted my comment because i think i was missing the guys point, but ill answer your questions 1. B walk home, then after go to the store 2. A.

im from california, but i know certain places on the east coast and in the south, the words would be pronounced a little differently... im not sure(not a linguist) but i think it has to do with the caught/cot merger

n/a  bubblegutsyndrome 2017-02-08

when did caught/cot get merged? caught is like to catch
cot is like a bed/oldschool condom

n/a  thekinglywe 2017-02-08

i dont mean merged in meaning, but in pronunciation... do you pronounce them different or the same?

n/a  bubblegutsyndrome 2017-02-08

I pronounce them differently caught is long a where cot is short o (they do sound incredibly similar tho)

n/a  thekinglywe 2017-02-08

cool, so east coast? or maybe england? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_merger

n/a  bubblegutsyndrome 2017-02-08

thanks for the link.

n/a  thekinglywe 2017-02-08

no problem, i find this stuff interesting

n/a  thekinglywe 2017-02-08

re-reading the wiki page, and i think im mistaken, i dont think it has to do with caught/cot merger... still interesting though

n/a  bubblegutsyndrome 2017-02-08

I think the reason why then vs than is because most people don't actually think about what they're saying when they speak. If you're going to use then than you have to be addressing time or causality. If you're going to be using than you then need to be comparing something.

n/a  thetruthful 2017-02-08

If the problem was not thinking about similar words then all the other examples would be mistaken equally as often which is a point I made in the original post.

n/a  bubblegutsyndrome 2017-02-08

The reason why I cite abstraction of concept as a reasoning is because a pen and a pan are two very different things with very distinct pronunciations. End and and same thing. send is a verb sand is a noun. men man plurality and distinct pronunciations of a common word.
like i said in the other post to too two their there they're

n/a  88HH88HH88 2017-02-08

Exactly.

n/a  88HH88HH88 2017-02-08

Are you joking right now?

None of those examples are similar.

Then doesn't have to deal with a material object - it only exists within context of another object.

Send is a word used to describe another object, Sand is an object. Furthermore, you state these sound the exact same...they don't. Those are two very different and easy to differentiate words.

Pen is an object, Pan is an object.

Men and man actually does confuse non-native English speakers - sometimes. However, it is entirely different to Than vs Then.

End vs And is easily distinguishable because they sound different. "Eh" vs "Ay".

If you can't hear the difference between the words, it's likely a hearing problem, or you live in the south. The reason "than" and "then" get mixed up so much, is because the vowel is half way through the word, and we tend to rmeember the frsit and lsat lteter of each wrod.

I bet you could very easily read the "rmeemebr the frsit and lsat lteter of each wrod." because the first and last letters were in the correct spots. This matters more than the middle letters.

Hlel, I culod witre a wohle snetnece lkie tihs and you wluod sitll udnresnatd it.

n/a  thetruthful 2017-02-08

End vs And is easily distinguishable because they sound different. "Eh" vs "Ay".

In all of the words I listed the "...en..." and "...an.." portions are pronounced identically.

n/a  88HH88HH88 2017-02-08

No, they aren't.

n/a  thetruthful 2017-02-08

Then you're mispronouncing them.

n/a  88HH88HH88 2017-02-08

No, I'm not.

Send and Sand are pronounced differently. End and And are pronounced differently. This is not arguable, those are 100% pronounced differently. The only exception is if you live in the south, and in that case, you are saying them wrong due to an accent.

n/a  thetruthful 2017-02-08

Than Then

n/a  corn_of_action 2017-02-08

Maybe before 9/11 it was Bernstein. I truly believe we entered bizarro-world that day

n/a  bubblegutsyndrome 2017-02-08

no doubt the question is how many degrees away from the original timeline do we have to get for it to be catastrophic

n/a  Juan__Lennon 2017-02-08

There is only one reality. A pity you haven't been mentally present for most of this.

Unbelievable how many rooms buy into this blatant "Mandela Effect" psyop

n/a  TheMadQuixotician 2017-02-08

Gonna have to call bull puckey on this one

n/a  thetruthful 2017-02-08

Why?

n/a  Juan__Lennon 2017-02-08

Because it's beyond idiotic. Keep on believing the psyop, buddy.

n/a  Ninjakick666 2017-02-08

You're and Your and There and Their get swapped all the time... Effect and Affect are more analogous to the confusion with Then and Than.

n/a  thetruthful 2017-02-08

Those words have identical pronunciation. Then and than are as similar as Men and Man.

n/a  TheMadQuixotician 2017-02-08

I'm well aware of the Mandela Effect and don't even necessarily discount it, but this is a common mistake in grammar and always has been. I apologize for refuting without evidence but this was posted without evidence. The implications of the Mandela would be so completely amazing, but this seems like a stretch.

n/a  bubblegutsyndrome 2017-02-08

agreed this is fun to bs about tho.

n/a  TheMadQuixotician 2017-02-08

It takes away from actual discussion about conspiracies and if OP believes it I feel bad :/

n/a  thetruthful 2017-02-08

Can you give me any evidence to support other examples of the Mandela Effect? The only evidence for any of them is the fact that so many people have divergent views on them. Obviously this subject has a lot of divergent views as shown in the comment section.

n/a  TheMadQuixotician 2017-02-08

I can't because the very basis of the "effect" is that it alters the fabric of space time to change things. If that doesn't seem far fetched I don't know what would. You posted about it, wouldn't the burden of proof fall on you?

n/a  thetruthful 2017-02-08

Project Stargate seems far fetched too, but apparently psychics are real.

n/a  elcad 2017-02-08

I felt fuzzy between the two, but I always remembered it was always "if then", then I'd remember which one to write. And yes everyone here says "then" for both.

n/a  thetruthful 2017-02-08

Why?

n/a  bubblegutsyndrome 2017-02-08

I pronounce them differently caught is long a where cot is short o (they do sound incredibly similar tho)

n/a  88HH88HH88 2017-02-08

No, I'm not.

Send and Sand are pronounced differently. End and And are pronounced differently. This is not arguable, those are 100% pronounced differently. The only exception is if you live in the south, and in that case, you are saying them wrong due to an accent.