If an S and an I and an O and a U
With an X at the end spell Su;
And an E and a Y and an E spell I,
Pray what is a speller to do?

Then, if also an S and an I and a G
And an HED spell side,
There’s nothing much left for a speller to do
But to go and commit siouxeyesighed.

— Charles Follen Adams

The ones that always perplex me are the ways that posh people pronounce their names.

Its all very well for someone to decide that St John should be pronounced Sinjin - I can at a stretch imagine how that could be but what are we to make of Featherstonehaugh being pronounced "Fanshaw" or Cholmondeley being "Chumley". What about Beauchamp becoming "Beecham"or Belvoir being Beever? Dalziel is Deal? Really.

Lampooned in the sitcom Keeping Up Appearances where the lead insists that her surname "Bucket" should properly be pronounced "Bouquet".

I've known instances wherein seeing a beaver was a belle voir.

Hough oughten oughsetting it is tough knough tough much...


(cf. bough, cough, hiccough, through, though, tough)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: haberdasher,

O-U-G-H

I'M taught p-l-o-u-g-h
S'all be pronounce "plow."
"Zat's easy w'en you know," I say,
"Mon Anglais, I'll get through!"

My teacher say zat in zat case,
O-u-g-h is "oo."
And zen I laugh and say to him,
"Zees Anglais make me cough."

He say "Not 'coo,' but in zat word,
O-u-g-h is 'off,'"
Oh, Sacre bleu! such varied sounds
Of words makes me hiccough!

He say, "Again mon frien' ees wrong;
O-u-g-h is 'up"
In hiccough." Zen I cry, "No more,
You make my t'roat feel rough."

"Non, non!" he cry, "you are not right;
O-u-g-h is 'uff.'"
I say, "I try to spik your words,
I cannot spik zem though!"

"In time you'll learn, but now you're wrong!
O-u-g-h is 'owe.'"
"I'll try no more, I s'all go mad,
I'll drown me in ze lough!"

"But ere you drown yourself," said he,
"O-u-g-h is 'ock.'"
He taught no more, I held him fast,
And killed him wiz a rough.

Charles Battell Loomis

Very clever. What's the paradigm for -o-u-g-h as "-ock" ?

quote:

Originally posted by haberdasher:
Very clever. What's the paradigm for -o-u-g-h as "-ock" ?

"I'll try no more, I s'all go mad,
I'll drown me in ze lough!"

"But ere you drown yourself," said he,
"O-u-g-h is 'ock.'"

lough