Date:  Sun, 30 Nov 1997 16:05:32 -0500
From:  "Virginia P. Clark" <Virginia.Clark[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UVM.EDU>
Subject: of(t)en

    My impression is that often (with the /t/) is increasing in use, at
least among college students. I've considered it a spelling pronunciation,
given that for several hundred years (no OED handy) the standard pronuncia-
tion was without the /t/. But then, I'm still trying to figure out why one
of my own children pronounces the /l/ in calm and palm.

Virginia