How is the word "Ghoti" pronounced "fish"???

Question

I get the first part, the "gh", becuase in the word "enough" the "gh" makes the "f" sound...anyone know...tell me!~!~!

Answer 1

gh as in tough
o as in women
ti as in nation

Answer 2

Yes, English spelling can be an adventure, and I enjoy Shaw's joke, though, incidentally, he probably did not originate it
http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxwhat04.html

But for what it's worth (at the risk of being a killjoy) -- English spelling is often about the history and relationships of words, not just phonetics... and CONTEXT is critical. Thus:

1) "gh" cannot make the "f" sound at the BEGINNING of a word.. only after "ou" (The "f" is a result of a cluster of sound changes in late Middle English/early Modern English; mainly the "Great Vowel Shift" which contributed to all those troublesome "ough" words)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_consonants#Elimination_of_velar_fricatives_in_English
http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/ling006.html

2) "o" [or other vowels] shifting to an i/e sound in a Germanic language is the result of "i-umlaut", that is, it is caused by adding a suffix with an i/e vowel. You don't have one here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_umlaut

3) "ti" can only become a "sh"-sound when it is a transition between syllables (so there must be another vowel after the i), not at the end of a word

For all its woes, English spelling DOES have rules and if you acutally follow those rules, the ONLY possible pronunciation for "ghoti" would be like "goatee"
http://www.zompist.com/spell.html

On the other hand, if we allow Shaw's approach, there is another answer to the question "how is 'ghoti' prounced?" ad that is
"..." (that is, silence! it cannot be pronounced at all!), thus:
"gh" as in night
"o" as in people
t" as in ballet
"i" as in business
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghoti

OR these letters could be combined to spell "HUGE":
"h" having its usual value, [h];
"g" making [j], the sound of "y" in yes, after the *following* consonant as in
"lasagne";
"o" = [u] as in "move",
"t" = [d] as in "Taoism", and
"i" = [Z] as in one pronunciation of "soldier".
http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxwhat04.html

Answer 3

I'm shocked you didn't Google this as you would have found out... Bernard Shaw made this up to emphasize how weird English spelling is.

gh as in cough
o as in women
ti as in nation

But I hope this helps ya anyway.

Answer 4

o is pronounce i as in women ti is pronounced s as in nation

Answer 5

magic unicorns