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Ace Linguist
January 24, 2020
The PIN-PEN Merger
The PIN-PEN merger, where words like pen , Lenin , and hem sound like pin, linen, and him, is one of the most ubiquitous mergers in American English - but it only started spreading a century ago. Its expansion has been silent, as entire regions of the United States acquire the merger while avoiding societal scrutiny.
Today we ll be taking a look at this common merger and the history behind its appearance, its spread, and how it s regarded.
What is the PIN-PEN merger?
Most dialects of English pronounce words spelled with in differently from word spelled en . This means that pin and pen aren t homophones, and ten and in don t rhyme.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times file
SPRINGFIELD For more than half a century, anyone in Illinois who wanted to own a gun needed to first apply for a special state identification card.
But now the state’s top court is being asked to decide whether the Firearm Owner’s Identification cards popularly called FOID cards are a necessary safeguard or a violation of the U.S. Constitution.
Last week, a downstate judge ruled the FOID card system was unconstitutional, reducing residents’ Second Amendment rights to bear arms to a “façade.”
Gun control advocates denounced the ruling as “frightening and radical,” and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul quickly appealed the decision to the Illinois Supreme Court.
The governor’s office unveiled a 900-page energy overhaul bill Wednesday, accelerating a yearslong process which advocates hope will end in a comprehensive clean energy platform as the session nears its final month.
The stated goal of the bill is to drive Illinois to 100 percent “clean” energy by 2050. That, Deputy Gov. Christian Mitchell said in an interview Wednesday, would include nuclear power as a major contributor. Another goal is to bring Illinois to 40 percent of its utility scale energy produced by renewables, such as wind and solar, by 2030. Right now, that number is around 8 percent.
The bill contains some of the provisions put forth in other legislation, raising the rate cap on ratepayer bills for renewable projects from about 2 percent to 3.75 percent; ending formulaic rate increases for utilities immediately; and prohibiting natural gas companies from assessing a surcharge on bills starting January 2022.