What about similar oddities in English?
(This question is inspired by this comic by https://www.exocomics.com/) (I couldn’t find the link to the actual comic)
Edit: it’s to its in the title. Damn autocorrect.

  • leftzero@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    7·
    2 days ago

    The digraph oo is pronounced at least six different ways:

    • boot, proof, boost, scoop, moon
    • book, foot, look, cookie, good
    • floor, poor, door, moor
    • flood, blood
    • zoology, cooperative
    • brooch (just brooch; there doesn’t seem to be any other word in the whole language using this sound for oo).
      • vala@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        1·
        1 day ago

        Ehh technically I think they are the same but in common pronunciation they differ subtly. Don’t overthink it though.

      • Jyek@sh.itjust.works
        2·
        2 days ago

        That’s the fun part, depending on your dialect and regional accent, sometimes there is no discernable difference in some of these lines. But each line has distinct pronunciation from each other in some dialects.

        • WIZARD POPE💫@lemmy.world
          2·
          2 days ago

          Yeah I went through them again and see how it makes a slight difference but I am slavic and you can definitely hear it when I speak especially with my þ, ð and r sounds. The r especially after speaking for more than 15 minutees my tongue just gives up and I cannot make the weird soft english version of it. The probounciations I use are all over the place.

        • isyasad@lemmy.world
          1·
          23 hours ago

          It may be pronounced either way, and may also be spelled “broach”, an alternate spelling which is very common although probably slightly less than this chart implies given multiple meanings of “broach”.

          I’m not really informed on this history of this word, but I think it’s possible that the “brooch” spelling increased in frequency along with the pronunciation that rhymes with “mooch” while people who pronounce it to rhyme with “roach” are more likely to spell it as “broach”.

    • YTG123@sopuli.xyz
      1·
      1 day ago

      Floor/door and poor might differ depending on dialect

      And the whole point of zoology and cooperative is that they aren’t digraphs (hence why some super posh people write coöperative)