• ѕєχυαℓ ρσℓутσρє@lemmy.sdf.org
    4·
    7 days ago

    Fun fact: Ghoti is a (sort of) derogatory term for people with ancestry from West Bengal (a state in India) used by people with ancestry from Bangladesh. (Sort of, because no one really considers it offensive. The modern use is usually limited to signifying cultural differences.)

    • samus12345@lemmy.worldEnglish
      17·
      7 days ago

      How many ways can “ough” be pronounced in English?

      through - oo

      tough - uff

      though - oh

      thought - ah

      cough - off

      bough - ow

      Any others?

      • Zagorath@aussie.zoneEnglish
        13·
        7 days ago

        thought - ah

        ?

        thought - or; if you pronounce it the UK/Aus/NZ way

        thought - o; if you pronounce it with a general American accent

        As for others:

        • thorough - uh (schwa)
        • hiccough - up
        • gramathy@lemmy.ml
          12·
          7 days ago

          Would phoneticizing it as “aw” help? American English pronounces “thought” as if you added a t to ‘thaw’

          Saying it’s “o” makes it sound like you mean it to be pronounced “oh”

          • Zagorath@aussie.zoneEnglish
            5·
            7 days ago

            As far as Latin alphabet approximates, I’d say “aw” is pretty perfect. Because I think most accents will pronounce “thought” as if you add a t to “thaw”. It’s just that what that means in terms of the actual articulation varies a lot.

            So, Americans with the cot-caught merger will pronounce it with the “cot” vowel, which is what I was trying to get across. UK/Aus/NZ don’t all pronounce it the same as each other, but do for the most part pronounce it with the same vowel as they would use for the word “or”. And “thaw”, in our non-rhotic accents, is the same as Thor.

            So “aw” works either way. Nice find!

        • samus12345@lemmy.worldEnglish
          5·
          7 days ago

          I’m referring to American English specifically. “o” would make me think it’s pronounced “thoat”, but it’s the sound I meant.

          “thorough” rhymes with “oh” in Standard American English.

          “Hiccough” is a good one. I always hated that spelling and prefer “hiccup” for that reason.

          • zarkanian@sh.itjust.works
            2·
            6 days ago

            “Hiccough” is a good one. I always hated that spelling and prefer “hiccup” for that reason.

            TIL those are both pronounced the same way. (Gaol/jail is worse, though.)

          • Zagorath@aussie.zoneEnglish
            1·
            7 days ago

            Yeah o on its own is definitely unclear. I meant o as in “cot”. (As in the American cot-caught merger.)

            I feel “ah” would be a better shorthand for the vowel in “palm” or “bra”, or “car” in non-rhotic accents.

    • zarkanian@sh.itjust.works
      5·
      6 days ago

      Yes, English is weird, but this word still breaks rules. “Gh” (pronounced “f”) is never at the beginning of a word, and “ti” (pronounced “sh”) is never at the end.