Re: HUMOUR: Pronounce This...

John Cowan writes:
 > H. S. Teoh scripsit:
 >
 > > Of course, one can never forget "GHOTI", pronounced [fiS]. (I forgot who
 > > invented this one, but it is constructed by taking "gh" from "enough", "o"
 > > from "women", and "ti" from "nation".)
 >
 > George Bernard Shaw.  But of course this one is bogus:  GH is /f/ only when
 > syllabic final, O is /I/ *only* in the word "women" and no other, and
 > TI is /S/ only in -tion /S@n/.
 >
It's bogus if he suggested a native speaker would ever spell fish that
way in reality, but it still strikes me as a valid demonstration of
the non-phonetic nature of English spelling.

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