Check out the different ways to pronounce "ough." "A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed."
What is "ghoti"? by Jim Scobbie and Mark Israel It's an alternative spelling of "chestnut". O.K., it's "fish", re-spelled by a Victorian spelling-reform advocate to demonstrate the inconsistency of English spelling: "gh" as in "cough", "o" as in "women", "ti" as in "nation". "Ghoti" is popularly attributed to George Bernard Shaw. But Michael Holroyd, in Bernard Shaw: Volume III: 1918-1950: The Lure of Fantasy (Chatto & Windus, 1991), p. 501, writes that Shaw "knew that people, 'being incorrigibly lazy, just laugh at spelling reformers as silly cranks'. So he attempted to reverse this prejudice and exhibit a phonetic alphabet as native good sense [...]. But when an enthusiastic convert suggested that 'ghoti' would be a reasonable way to spell 'fish' under the old system [...], the subject seemed about to be engulfed in the ridicule from which Shaw was determined to save it." We have not been able to trace the name of the "enthusiastic convert". Bill Bedford writes: "I seem to remember a film/TV clip of Shaw himself referring to this - but don't ask for chapter and verse." It has also been suggested that "ghoti" could be a spelling of "huge": "h" having its usual value, [h]; "g" making [j], the sound of "y" in yes, after the following consonant as in "lasagne"; "o" = as in "move", "t" = [d] as in "Taoism", and "i" = [Z] as in one pronunciation of "soldier". In the same vein is "ghoughpteighbteau": P hiccough O though T ptomaine A neigh T debt O bureau Supposedly, this is an example of how awful English spelling is, and why it ought to be reformed. In fact, it argues that English spelling is kind and considerate, and easy. Why? Because "potato" isn't spelled "ghoughpteighbteau". It's spelled "potato"! O.K, O.K., "neigh" isn't spelt "ne", and we can get into all the old arguments, but these really fun examples overstate the case and strike those of us opposed to spelling reform as self-defeating.
Very amusing. And following the article back to alt.usage.english reveals Mark's AUE FAQ, and pictures of Mark and the famous Rosie. It's interesting to get a glimpse of people's lives on the other side of the wall.
Gaelic has the most unintuitive pronounciation I've run across. Our Irish dog's name is pronounced "Lucy" but spelled "Luiseagh." Many years ago, when I was writing ads for the Whiskey Distillers of Ireland, the chief justice of that country had a name that was pronounced "Carol O'Dailey." "O'Dailey" is spelled "Odailaigh." "Whiskey" is spelled "uisgebaugh." Here's your challenge: "Carol" was ten letters long. How can you spell "Carol" with ten letters?
The water of life! Incorrectly most probably, those Irish can't spell worth a damn. We generally don't admit in in public but my mothers 2nd cousin (or 1st cousin once removed or some such relation as that) is a Taoiseach. Poor Bertie we all worry for him. I think I'll go have a nice draught beer.
I would have sworn that there was an "s" on the end of the first name. Or maybe it was just that the man I dealt with at the Irish Export Board called him "Car-Balls" (pronounced KARR-BAWLS).
