On the chat today we were talking about odd phonetic pronunciations, such as ghoti bowl, for fish bowl; Ghoti bowl used to be a member of our community. Is there a specific word for that concept? What other ones are there?

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Is there a specific word for that concept?

Yes. It's called "English spelling and pronunciation"

I know you're being facetious, but I meant is there a word for a completely non-intuitive spelling of a word, such as "ghoti" for "fish." There probably isn't, and I sure don't think every concept in the world needs a specific word, but I just wondered. Apparently "ghoti" has been around for awhile, so I am sure there are other words like that.

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Apparently "ghoti" has been around for awhile, so I am sure there are other words like that.

Loads of them - ghoughphtheightteeau for example* (mouse over)

* potato
gh = ‘p’ as in hiccough
ough =‘o’ as in dough
phth =‘t’ as in phthisis
eigh = ‘a’ as in neighbour
tte = ‘t’ as in gazette
eau = ‘o’ as in plateau

Well, my only nit to pick is that I thought "hiccough" was pronounced like "cough" and that "hiccup" was the spelling when you pronounced it as "cup."

Interesting, though. It looks like a German word!

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Well, my only nit to pick is that I thought "hiccough" was pronounced like "cough" and that "hiccup" was the spelling when you pronounced it as "cup."

That is indeed the case in US English. We don't use "hiccup" in UK English.

Ah. So that word doesn't work for us.

Kalleh--

RE: ghoti & ghoughphtheightteeau --

This would be fun as a guessing game in Wordplay... that is, if it's not a commonplace concept for others. I'd never thought or heard of it (but ahem, that doesn't mean much!)

When I saw the thread title I immediately thought of the famous Victor Borge routine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF4qii8S3gw

I agree, Bethree. It would be a great Wordplay game.