GHOTI
The pronunciation of this word is “FISH”! Surprised?This is a well known example which demonstrates the inconsistencies in English pronunciation. How can we prove that GHOTI is pronounced as FISH? Here’s how:
gh, pronounced /f/ as in tough /tʌf/;
o, pronounced /ɪ/ as in women /ˈwɪmɪn/; and
ti, pronounced /ʃ/ (sh) as in nation /ˈne͡ɪʃən/.
This sarcastic example was first made by William Ollier, a 19th century English spelling critic, but was popularized by Bernard Shaw in some of his writings. Indeed English spelling rules are crazy. Look at the different ways ‘ough’ is pronounced:
- thought, bought, fought, brought etc. /o/
- enough, rough, tough etc. /ʌf/
- through /oo/
- though, although, dough etc. /əu/
- cough /ɒf/
- bough, doughty /aʊ/
- thorough /ʌ/
Funny English spellings! Right?
3 comments:
Nice piece of information. I can also add a word. 'Jnan' in Jnan Peeth Award is pronounced as Gian. You know, when I first read this word, I read it again and again and thought how stupid they are !!!! Didn't they find any better word than Jnan. Actually I was mispronouncing the word, as the spelling goes, starting from 'j' as the sound too. Very funny it was for me.
indeed!
Marvelous!Please keep it up.
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