WHAT'S WITH THIS GHOTI THING ANYWAY?

The first thing you need to know about GHOTI is how to pronounce it. Believe it or not, it is pronounced "fish". Yes that's why I used the fish symbol in the trademark.

I bet I already know your next question. How can you possibly pronounce ghoti as fish?

This calls for a memory lesson in basic spelling and pronunciation.

How do you pronounce the GH at the end of rough or tough?

How do you pronounce the O in the middle of women?

How do you pronounce the TI in nation or rational?

So putting it all together, how do you pronounce gh-o-ti?

F

I

SH

FISH

Amazing isn't it. George Bernard Shaw is credited with being the first person to use the word ghoti.

I chose the word ghoti (pronounced fish) for my email directory to symbolise the anomalies with spelling and pronunciation in the English language. It doesn't matter how you pronounce someone's name, if you don't know how to spell it you will never find it. Even with wildcards you need some idea.

If you think I'm making mountains out of molehills, consider the following examples:

Spelt the same,

pronounced differently

Spelt differently,

pronounced the same

Rough

Through

Plough

Dough

Cough

There

Their

They're

or

Which witch?

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. I am always so glad I was born in an English-speaking country. My heartfelt congratulations to everyone who speaks English as their second language.  I can only imagine how hard it must be to learn.

Want to read more silly examples of the english language? YES