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I can't figure out a rule that says whether 'oo' makes one sound or the other. Same number of syllables: one closed, but the sound is different.

Kyle Sletten
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    You are operating under the delusion that English spelling primarily represents pronunciation. It actually represents word origin primarily, and pronunciation only secondarily. – Pieter Geerkens Oct 07 '13 at 03:22
  • One word for you: ghoti – mplungjan Oct 07 '13 at 04:19
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    @mplungjan ghoti was coined as a parody. And the proposed pronunciation is not correct because 'ti' isn't prounounced 'sh' at the end of the syllable ever; only when followed by an 'on', or such. Also, 'gh' isn't pronounced anything other than 'g' when it's not at the end of the syllable. But, yeah, what you're trying to imply is true. – mikhailcazi Oct 07 '13 at 10:20
  • ti as in nation - ghoti is not pronounced fish, g/h/o/ti can be pronounced fish – mplungjan Oct 07 '13 at 11:18
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    And "Raymond Luxury Yacht" is apparently pronounced "Throat Warbler Mangrove". – Edwin Ashworth Oct 07 '13 at 16:25
  • @EdwinAshworth made me laugh out loud! – Cyberherbalist Oct 09 '13 at 16:50

1 Answers1

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There are no 100% reliable spelling or pronunciation rules in English but there are exceptions and patterns which can be recognized and memorized.

My accent is British and the following words are how they are most often pronounced in the UK. American English may or may not share the same pronunciation.

The letter combination, oo, usually has two sounds: /uː/ and /ʊ/.
School, boot, and choose are pronounced as /skuːl/, /buːt/ and /ʧuːz/

Good, took, book, and look are pronounced: /gʊd/, /tʊk/, /bʊk/ and /lʊk/ but foot which logic dictates should imitate the long u vowel in boot is instead pronounced as /fʊt/. However, the short vowel sound is kept in football which is pronounced as /ˈfʊtbɔːl/.

Other words which are spelt with oo include blood and flood which are pronounced respectively /blʌd/ and /flʌd/ but food which could have the short vowel as in good, or share the same vowel sound as in flood is pronounced as /fuːd/!

In other words, you need to memorize the pronunciation for each English word and when in doubt, check with a dictionary (or ask a native speaker to help you out).

Mari-Lou A
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    You forgot the sound /o:/ in words like door, floor, blood... Though some of these are pronounced /u:/ in some places. – Gorpik Oct 07 '13 at 07:04
  • Then there's coordinate . . . – Edwin Ashworth Oct 07 '13 at 08:24
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    Coordinate used to be hyphenated: co-ordinate, thus was not originally an oo word. – GreaseMonkey Oct 07 '13 at 09:49
  • +1 Thorough answer. I've never pronounced foot and football differently, nor been aware of others doing so. But (altho' I haven't yet had a chance to even attempt to understand the pronunciation symbols) I note you actually use the same symbols for the relevant part of both words (unless the initial 'apostrophe' / 'tick' mark in the second is relevant?). This reminds me, in part, of the now old-fashioned notion of the upper/middle classes having a 'posh' way of pronouncing certain words. – TrevorD Oct 07 '13 at 11:50
  • Now there's coordinate . . . – Edwin Ashworth Oct 07 '13 at 14:58
  • @EdwinAshworth coordinate was two words that were hyphenated then lost even the hyphen. But ares till pronounced as if they were two words – mgb Oct 07 '13 at 15:03
  • @mgb No – 'co' was never a word. It is a bound morpheme. And the word coordinate is a single word with an unusual pronunciation, due as you say to its inner structure. – Edwin Ashworth Oct 07 '13 at 16:20
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    @TrevorD: I think you misunderstood what Mari-Lou was saying about foot and football: she used the same symbol because they are pronounced the same (in all varieties of English AFAIK). I think the however misled you. – Colin Fine Oct 07 '13 at 20:53
  • In Manchester book and look are /buk/ and /luk/ rather than /bʊk/ and /lʊk/. On the other hand, I've discovered some people pronounce tooth /tʊθ/ where I have always said /tuθ/. I'm not sure whether that's regional or individual variation. I think roof also has some variation. – Colin Fine Oct 07 '13 at 20:57
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    @Gorpik Blood is pronounced differently to door and floor. And I'm unfamiliar with the phonetic symbol you posted, I've never seen it before. I don't claim to be an expert, but I have found the IPA chart to be a useful tool for learners of English. – Mari-Lou A Oct 07 '13 at 20:59
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    Door is usually pronounced as /dɔː/; floor is /flɔː/ whereas blood is /blʌd/ likewise flood is /flʌd/ – Mari-Lou A Oct 07 '13 at 21:06
  • @Mari-Lou A: Thank you. It was important that someone corrected that. – Edwin Ashworth Oct 07 '13 at 22:10
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    @Mari-LouA You are right. I thought of the difference for blood (or flood) later, but until now I haven't been near a computer. As for the phonetic symbols, you are right again, I should have bothered to copy the right ones instead of just using my keyboard. – Gorpik Oct 08 '13 at 11:33
  • @Gorpik 'Bother to' is normally limited to negative ('I shouldn't have bothered to ring him') and interrogative ('Did you bother to go and see her?') constructions. ' I should have taken the trouble to copy the right ones instead of . . .' – Edwin Ashworth Oct 08 '13 at 23:06