M42 Speed Cameras

[Mark Stanton]

THE WELSH ALPHABET: (28 letters)

A, B ,C ,Ch, D, Dd, E, F, Ff, G, Ng, H, I, L

Ll, M, N, O, P, Ph, R, Rh, S, T, Th, U, W, Y

Poor old Carol Vorderman would lose her adding up bit if that load of letters were used          

tried to defend Max Boyce

Please.............. this is a family site mentioning names like that unfunny   should surely come with a warning     Edward knew what he was doing building all those castles         plenty of dark dungeons to lock up that unfunny welsh leek eating Boyce        

[adhawkins]

"Ghoti" is a common word but spelled in a uniquely 'English' way. It was derived by GBS, I believe. Anyone know how to pronounce it?

Errr, where do you think my pronunciation examples came from?

(I learnt it as ghuti by the way).

Andy

[Martin Keene]

The very first time I drove through Wales.... I was confused at how big Gwasanaethau was....... there seemed to a Gwasanaethau Services every few miles...

I made the same error of judgement driving through German. I though Ausfart must be huge... Took several miles for the penny to drop!

[Stuart]

I've heard a theory that the French invaded Wales and stole all the vowels.

[pistonbroke]

In my college days a distinguished electronics coarse lecturer wrote a certain greek symbol on the board during his speil .

What symbol is that,  enquired one of his students ?

that,  replied the lecturer ,  is the greek  "eta"

My college friend then piped in with, " eta " ?  "thats not  greek " , " it's Italian "

The learned man asked him to  "please explain to us all why you think it is Italian "

"eta"  , he said , as in  " eta da chips "    

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

"Ghoti" is a common word but spelled in a uniquely 'English' way. It was derived by GBS, I believe. Anyone know how to pronounce it?

Errr, where do you think my pronunciation examples came from?

(I learnt it as ghuti by the way).

Andy

Ah, sorry. It was the 'u' that threw me. 'gh' as in 'enough', 'o' as in 'women', and 'ti' as in 'diction'. Where does 'u' for the 'I' sound come from in your version Andy?

[adhawkins]

Where does 'u' for the 'I' sound come from in your version Andy?

Busy.

Funny, I was trying to work out how your version worked with the 'o'

Andy

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

Okay Andy, that works too. A bit of research (5 mins) shows this :-

It's an alternative spelling of "chestnut". :-)  O.K., it's

"fish", re-spelled by a Victorian spelling-reform advocate to

demonstrate the inconsistency of English spelling:  "gh" as in

"cough", "o" as in "women", "ti" as in "nation".

  "Ghoti" is popularly attributed to George Bernard Shaw.  But

Michael Holroyd, in Bernard Shaw: Volume III: 1918-1950: The Lure

of Fantasy (Chatto & Windus, 1991), p. 501, writes that Shaw "knew

that people, 'being incorrigibly lazy, just laugh at spelling

reformers as silly cranks'.  So he attempted to reverse this

prejudice and exhibit a phonetic alphabet as native good sense

[...].  But when an enthusiastic convert suggested that 'ghoti'

would be a reasonable way to spell 'fish' under the old system

[...], the subject seemed about to be engulfed in the ridicule from

which Shaw was determined to save it."  We have not been able to

trace the name of the "enthusiastic convert".  Bill Bedford

(billb@mousa.demon.co.uk) writes:  "I seem to remember a film/TV

clip of Shaw himself referring to this - but don't ask for chapter

and verse."

  It has also been suggested that "ghoti" could be a spelling

of "huge":  "h" having its usual value, [h]; "g" making [j], the

sound of "y" in yes, after the *following* consonant as in

"lasagne"; "o" = as in "move", "t" = [d] as in "Taoism", and

"i" = [Z] as in one pronunciation of "soldier".

  In the same vein is "ghoughpteighbteau":

P    hiccough

O    though

T    ptomaine

A    neigh

T    debt

O    bureau

[Blatman]

"knew

that people, 'being incorrigibly lazy, just laugh at spelling

reformers as silly cranks'.

I know how he felt

[alan dixon]

"distinguished electronics coarse lecturer"

Rough was he,    

[Stuart]

Excellent thread drift, if I may say so

[adamnreeves]

And I thought the Welsh alphabet was just devoid of vowels...

THE WELSH ALPHABET: (28 letters)

A, B ,C ,Ch, D, Dd, E, F, Ff, G, Ng, H, I, L

Ll, M, N, O, P, Ph, R, Rh, S, T, Th, U, W, Y

Luned

that's 36 letters!  

[pistonbroke]

"distinguished electronics coarse lecturer"

Rough was he,    

Was when we finished with him