>>James Silverton wrote, in <k69dtn$n...@dont-email.me>
>> on Wed, 24 Oct 2012 15:01:18 -0400:

>>> On 10/24/2012 2:21 PM, Glenn Knickerbocker wrote:
>>> > On 10/24/2012 10:46 AM, Jerry Friedman wrote:
>>> >> I've heard two people pronounce the "t" in "pestle", though I don't
>>> >> think they would in "nestle", "castle", etc.  One insisted that
>>> >> dropping the "t" was wrong.  She also insisted that the "w" in
>>> >> "sword" (another one we missed) should be pronounced.

>>> > I've heard "pestle" with the T more often than not, in both New York and
>>> > Texas.  "Sword" pronounced as "sward" seems to to be something that
>>> > arises from self-consciousness when people first start using the word
>>> > much more often--newcomers to fantasy games, Renaissance fairs, etc.

>>> I wonder how many Western kitchens actually have mortars and pestles? I
>>> don't have one and would usually use a blender so a source of argument
>>> is disappearing. Let me admit that I do not pronounce the "t" is
>>> "pestle", "nestle" or "castle".

>>I have something that looks just like one but it is wooden and for
>>crushing garlic!

>They're very popular in the demographic that prefers children's toys
>made of wood. I have two porcelain ones, a brass one, and three wooden
>ones - the smallest of the wooden ones cleverly has a captive pestle.
>I grind things in an electric coffee-grinder. The mortars are handy
>places to put nuts and bolts, paper-clips, lucky pebbles, broken
>fridge magnets, and stuff like that.