ghoti fish?

Question

Taking the gh from enough
the o from women
and the ti from nation
we can spell fish ghoti

This famous example of spelling shows us that we must take care in written forums to use punctuation and spelling properly if we want to get our point accross clearly

Or is it just for pedants and smug gits?

Thanks for the one c comment, I got a little carried away typing and didn't check back.

But no marks for not noticing the split infinitive

Answer 1

You made some kind of point, I think. I am not sure how pronouncing the word 'ghoti' as 'fish' is going to help people who struggle with the correct spelling of simple words like 'you', 'your', 'for', 'to', 'too' and who continually confuse the spelling of homophones (which they would probably describe as pink and used by gays.) There are those, too, who always type with Caps Lock on because it disguses their laziness and inability to judge when to use a capital letter and when not to.

I think I agree, however, that learning to phrase and write a valid question correctly and answering well or not at all are skills which we are hard put to find here as well as on many other forums. It is a mixture of ignorance, laziness and common courtesy which engenders this behaviour.

Was that pedantic and smug enough for you?

Edit: There isn't a split infinitive. 'To use ... properly' is correct. 'To properly use ...' would be to split the infinitive. It might be over-pedantic to suggest that 'in written forums' could be enclosed in commas.

Answer 2

Just thought I would bring this highbrow conversation down a peg...

Mary had a little lamb,
she thought it rather silly,
she threw it up into the air
and caught it by it's
Willy was a sheepdog
lying on the path,
along came a farmer
and kicked it up its
Ask no questions tell no lies,
I saw a ploiceman doing up his
Flies are a pest bugs are worse
This is the end of my little verse.

Answer 3

It's a good example of some of the oddities of the English language. Want another example? I often offer this one ....

When the English tongue we speak
Why is break not rhymed with freak?
Will you tell me why it’s true
We say sew, but likewise few?
And the maker of a verse,
Cannot rhyme his horse with worse?
Beard is not the same as heard,
Cord is different from word,
Cow is cow, but low is low,
Shoe is never rhymed with foe.
Think of hose and dose and lose,
And think of goose and yet of choose,
Think of comb and tomb and bomb,
Doll and roll and home and some.
And since pay is rhymed with say,
Why not paid with said I pray?
Think of blood and food and good;
Mould is not pronounced like could.
Wherefore done, but gone and lone -
Is there any reason known?
To sum up all, it seems to me
Sounds and letters don’t agree.

Good for a chuckle!

Answer 4

yeah, them and trivia buffs. I think the ghoti/fish issue was originally raised by George Bernard Shaw, but I may stand to be corrected. Here's a conundrum for anyone who wants to tackle it: If ghoti is proposed as a phonetically legitimate spelling for fish, why is it typically pronounced GO-tie rather than fish?

Answer 5

This is one of the lovely vagaries of the English language, which gives us the surname "Cholmondeley" pronounced as "Chumley" - and don't get me started on the right way of pronouncing "Farquaharson"! :D

As for the calibre of human being who delights in these kinds of linguistic shenanigans, all I can say is that not all of them come from the same same sex Etoxharbridge classes as gave us Hugh Grant and Stephen Fry.

Some of us come from yer common as muck comprehensives, yet we still take delight in ripping our mother tongue to shreds for fun and profit.

Answer 6

shaw was being silly -'gh' at the beginning of a word obviously would never be pronounced 'f', but who knows, perhaps future generations will prefer to spell it 'ph'.

Answer 7

Worth knowing.

Answer 8

Awe

Answer 9

I was told that in linguistics when I was studying phonology to encourage us to look at sound before orthography. It worked. :)

Answer 10

another example to go with yours
woman without her man is incomplete
depending on your pov is
woman, without her, man is incomplete
woman without her man, is incomplete