Why is the word through pronounced throooo but the word rough is pronounced ruff?  The only difference is the T and the H and they're not next to the letters that have the pronunciation change so they shouldn't be affecting the way that part of the word is pronounced!  What a difficult language this must be learn.

and for that matter, why do f, ph, and gh all create the same sound??  I know that gh isn't always pronounced that way, but it is in the word "enough".  why wouldn't that be spelled "enuff" or if they wanted to be fancy, "enouph".  Well.....why??  For the love of God, WHY?

Methinks it's just to drive you batty!  :D ;) :)

Perhaps Bill had better not read this page.  I love the first poem, learnt most of it at school

XD I never really thought about it. This thread leads me to imagine you in the corner of an empty grey room, sitting in a fetal position, with your hair tossled, same clothes that have been on you for months, no socks, cracker crumbs all around you, counting with your fingers, for some reason.

You're funny.

XD I never really thought about it. This thread leads me to imagine you in the corner of an empty grey room, sitting in a fetal position, with your hair tossled, same clothes that have been on you for months, no socks, cracker crumbs all around you, counting with your fingers, for some reason.

You're funny.
wow, that's quite an image.

This thread makes me realize just how much I love Bill. ;D

AHHH! =D I was just thinking about this today.

... And yesterday, and pretty much every day before that.

I love English. It's one of the few things I almost have mastered; and being as difficult as it is, I feel like I've accomplished something very big. You should, too!

http://www.engrish.com/

;D

Also, what's up with the pronunciation of Kansas and Arkansas?

Also, what's up with the pronunciation of Kansas and Arkansas?


Is the river pronounced how you would expect and the state pronounced weirdly?  Or did I dream that?

Is the river pronounced how you would expect and the state pronounced weirdly?  Or did I dream that?
They are pronounced Kansas and Arkansaw

They are pronounced Kansas and Arkansaw


I know.  But I thought there was also a river Arkansas that was pronounced like Kansas?

"English: a language that lurks in dark alleys,beats up other languages and rifles through their pockets for spare vocabulary"

I've read that once on a forum board,it was someone's sig line :P

If the plural of tooth is teeth, then shouldn't the plural of booth be beeth?

And if many a mouse is mice, shouldn't many a house be hice?

If  laughter is pronounced like lafter, then shouldn't daughter sound like dafter ?

???   :D   ???   :D

"English: a language that lurks in dark alleys,beats up other languages and rifles through their pockets for spare vocabulary"

I've read that once on a forum board,it was someone's sig line :P


Good one!  I'm always looking for clever email sigs, and that definitely fits the bill.  :)

It may just be me, but although f and ph produce quite a similar sound, the location in my mouth at which I pronounce, for the sake of argument, the /f/ sound in "fun" (blowing air out of the side of my mouth, for want of a better way of describing it), is a different location to where I pronoucne the /f/ sound in "phonetic" (blowing air through my two front teeth).

and for that matter, why do f, ph, and gh all create the same sound??

It may just be me, but although f and ph produce quite a similar sound, the location in my mouth at which I pronounce, for the sake of argument, the /f/ sound in "fun" (blowing air out of the side of my mouth, for want of a better way of describing it), is a different location to where I pronoucne the /f/ sound in "phonetic" (blowing air through my two front teeth).


But is that just because the second letter is different?

How about foam and phonetic?

It may just be me, but although f and ph produce quite a similar sound, the location in my mouth at which I pronounce, for the sake of argument, the /f/ sound in "fun" (blowing air out of the side of my mouth, for want of a better way of describing it), is a different location to where I pronoucne the /f/ sound in "phonetic" (blowing air through my two front teeth).


Well, you are from the UK.

I pronounce both exactly the same way, with the same technique.

It may just be me, but although f and ph produce quite a similar sound, the location in my mouth at which I pronounce, for the sake of argument, the /f/ sound in "fun" (blowing air out of the side of my mouth, for want of a better way of describing it), is a different location to where I pronoucne the /f/ sound in "phonetic" (blowing air through my two front teeth).


I think I get at what you are saying. Fun is a short "f" sound, and I don't close up my mouth much to pronounce "fun". With "phonetic", I do push the air more, creating a longer "f" sound, like "fff-netic".

English is weird. How come "phonetic" isn't spelt phonetically? (I know it has to do with the origin of the word, but it's still pretty goofy).

Ant

I know.  But I thought there was also a river Arkansas that was pronounced like Kansas?
Sorry for the confusion.  I don't know how they pronounce the name of that river.

and for that matter, why do f, ph, and gh all create the same sound??  I know that gh isn't always pronounced that way, but it is in the word "enough".  why wouldn't that be spelled "enuff" or if they wanted to be fancy, "enouph".  Well.....why??  For the love of God, WHY?


One would appear to be a 'tard if they spelled enough like enuff which I think is quite enough.