RobWords | Thorough, thought, cough, furlough... Why so many ways of pronouncing OUGH in English? @RobWords | Uploaded October 2020 | Updated October 2024, 3 hours ago.
Why are there so many ways of saying "ough" in English? Watch this video and you'll understand.
===OUGH SO MYSTERIOUS===
The inconsistent pronunciation of "ough" is perhaps the best demonstration of the madness of English spelling. Well, ENOUGH is enough. In this video, I PLOUGH THROUGH a THOROUGH history of the problem. By the end of it (barring any HICCOUGHS) you’ll have a ROUGH understanding of why English spelling can be so TOUGH.
You'll also know how to pronounce LOUGHBOROUGH - the place name that has baffled many a visitor to England.
===NOTE FOR ENGLISH LEARNERS===
If you want to know how to say words containing ough, this video includes a handy pronunciation guide for: bough, bought, borough, brought, chough, dough, enough, fought, furlough, nought, rough, slough, sought, through, tough, trough and wrought.
===CHAPTERS===
0:00 The Problem
0:47 The many ways of saying "ough"
1:13 Reason 1: The Great Vowel Shift
2:38 Reason 2: Extinct pronunciations
3:10 Reason 3: Folk etymology - hiccough
3:58 Loughborough
4:23 How to pronounce ough words
5:24 Thanks for watching
Why are there so many ways of saying "ough" in English? Watch this video and you'll understand.
===OUGH SO MYSTERIOUS===
The inconsistent pronunciation of "ough" is perhaps the best demonstration of the madness of English spelling. Well, ENOUGH is enough. In this video, I PLOUGH THROUGH a THOROUGH history of the problem. By the end of it (barring any HICCOUGHS) you’ll have a ROUGH understanding of why English spelling can be so TOUGH.
You'll also know how to pronounce LOUGHBOROUGH - the place name that has baffled many a visitor to England.
===NOTE FOR ENGLISH LEARNERS===
If you want to know how to say words containing ough, this video includes a handy pronunciation guide for: bough, bought, borough, brought, chough, dough, enough, fought, furlough, nought, rough, slough, sought, through, tough, trough and wrought.
===CHAPTERS===
0:00 The Problem
0:47 The many ways of saying "ough"
1:13 Reason 1: The Great Vowel Shift
2:38 Reason 2: Extinct pronunciations
3:10 Reason 3: Folk etymology - hiccough
3:58 Loughborough
4:23 How to pronounce ough words
5:24 Thanks for watching
![NUMPIRE, NAPRON, [N]EWT and other words were getting wrong](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/XBVu4CjYZmo/hqdefault.jpg "NUMPIRE, NAPRON, [N]EWT and other words were getting wrong
Did you know an umpire should actually be a numpire?
Whats more... an apron should be a napron, an adder a nadder, a newt an ewt, and a nickname an ickname. This video explains why on earth that is.
For centuries, English scholars have been accidentally rebracketing words (its also known as metanalysis). Many of their mistakes have stuck in the language, meaning we continue to get these words wrong.
CHAPTERS
0:00 Numpire, napron & nadder
0:27 Explanation of rebracketing
1:20 Newt & nickname
1:44 Evidence in other languages
2:06 Errors that didnt catch on
2:24 Bye bye")
