tirsdag den 8. september 2020

Funny

When I wrote the non-rhyming Monday Poetry on Nature, I found this funny piece of poetry. Now - cleaning out my browser tabs - I refound it and wanted to share it with you.

Oh, well, maybe I'll just copy/paste it here:

“O-U-G-H”

I’m taught p-l-o-u-g-h
Shall be pronouncé “plow.”
“Zat’s easy w’en you know,” I say,
“Mon Anglais, I’ll get through!”

My teacher say zat in zat case,
O-u-g-h is “oo.”
And zen I laugh and say to him,
“Zees Anglais make me cough.”

He say, “Not ‘coo,’ but in zat word,
O-u-g-h is ‘off.'”
Oh, Sacre bleu! Such varied sounds
Of words makes me hiccough!

He say, “Again mon frien’ ees wrong;
O-u-g-h is ‘up’
In hiccough.” Zen I cry, “No more,
You make my t’roat feel rough.”

“Non, non!” he cry, “you are not right;
O-u-g-h is ‘uff.'”
I say, “I try to spik your words,
I cannot spik zem though.”

“In time you’ll learn, but now you’re wrong!
O-u-g-h is ‘owe.'”
“I’ll try no more, I s’all go mad,
I’ll drown me in ze lough!”

“But ere you drown yourself,” said he,
“O-u-g-h is ‘ock.'”
He taught no more, I held him fast,
And killed him wiz a rough!

— Charles Battell Loomis

3 kommentarer:

  1. It is true.
    And reminds me that in English 'ghoti' can be pronounced fish.
    gh as in tough
    o as in women
    ti as in station.
    Weird as in English.

    SvarSlet
  2. Weird as in English sums it up nicely. Thanks.

    SvarSlet
  3. When teaching children to read via the Spalding method, you teach the sounds phonograms make (each letter or group of letters sounded together is a phonogram). O-U-G-H is owe, oo, uff, off, aw, ow. Six different pronunciations. What a mess!

    SvarSlet

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