Ghoti = Fish ?
The English pronunciation never ceases to amaze. The following observation is attributed to George Bernard Shaw; however, I have no idea if truthfully so.
How would you pronounce the invented word “ghoti”?
Like “fish” maybe? No?
But think of the…
- gh in laugh
- o in women
- ti in nation
January 3rd, 2007 09:40
If you invent words, you might as well invent the pronounciation, too.
Reminds me of an commentary (in some english newspaper) regarding a demand to “keep the british language clean” or something of that kidney. Bottomline of the commentary: British english is a bastardised version of french, itself being a bastardised version of latin with a side order of old saxon and norwegian. Throw in all kinds of influences from all the places in the world the british navy ever inva-colonised, and what you end up with is a hotchpotch amalgam of letters. To paraphrase the words of the – hopefully – immortal John Cleese:
“They’re making it up as they go along”
January 5th, 2007 10:05
To be fair: The origins of the present day german language up to and including the recent grammar reform and the reform of the reform is probably as much a pick-and-mix, although I am at a loss to precise details.