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Conference thebay::joyoflex

Title:The Joy of Lex
Notice:A Notes File even your grammar could love
Moderator:THEBAY::SYSTEM
Created:Fri Feb 28 1986
Last Modified:Mon Jun 02 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1192
Total number of notes:42769

1108.0. "Triple homophones?" by ICS::RUTZEN () Mon Jul 18 1994 13:47

    How many triple homophones can you think of? The only ones I have so
    far are:
    
    to, two, too
    for, four, fore
    pour, poor, pore
    
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
DateLines
1108.1rite onGAVEL::PCLX31::satowgavel::satow, dtn 223-2584Mon Jul 18 1994 13:521
rite, wright, right
1108.2CSC32::D_DERAMODan D'Eramo, Customer Support CenterMon Jul 18 1994 14:191
        Mary, merry, marry
1108.3RICKS::PHIPPSBetter plant some more treesMon Jul 18 1994 17:512
	bore, boar, boor
1108.4JRDV04::DIAMOND$ SET MIDNIGHTMon Jul 18 1994 18:1311
    >to, two, too
    
    Ahem.
    
    Please send two Nagoya tickets to Joe Mon.
    Two Tu to Tutu Tue. too.
    
    (Though this is cheating a bit.  If an English-speaker reads them
    all as transliterated, or if a Japanese-speaker pronounces them all
    with a Japanese accent, then they're all homophones, but actually
    Tu is not pronouced like the others.)
1108.5GIDDAY::BURTStick this fish in your earMon Jul 18 1994 18:554
Haw, Hoar, Whore.



1108.6JRDV04::DIAMOND$ SET MIDNIGHTTue Jul 19 1994 00:3611
    Or, oar, ore
    
    Air, err, ere
    
    Yore, your, you're
    
    There, their, they're
    
    Are, our, hour
    
    Fish, fiche, ghoti
1108.7BBRDGE::LOVELL� l'eau; c'est l'heureTue Jul 19 1994 01:281
raise, rays, raze
1108.8Pedantry rails but probably doesn't rule.SMURF::BINDERetsi capularis ego vita fruarTue Jul 19 1994 06:5716
    Many of these are really stretching things.  In cultivated speech, by
    which I do NOT mean uppity pronunciation but merely fully articulated
    English, the following are NOT true homophones:
    
    .0: pour, poor, pore - poor is sounded differently.
    .2: Mary, merry, marry - three distinct pronunciations.
    .3: bore, boar, boor - as in .0, boor is the odd one out.  (But try Boer.)
    .5: haw, hoar, whore - homophones only where terminal R is lost.
    .6: yore, your, you're - you're is more like boor/poor.
        are, our, hour - are lacks the rounded `w' sound.
        fish, fiche, ghoti - fiche is the odd one out, pronounced feesh.
    
    Now then, if we want to allow regional pronunciations, all of the above
    would be acceptable.  As would:
    
    bar, barre, b'ar (3-year-old Davy Crockett's ursine victim)
1108.9NOVA::FISHERTay-unned, rey-usted, rey-adyTue Jul 19 1994 07:201
    heir, air, err, ere
1108.10NOTIME::SACKSGerald Sacks ZKO2-3/N30 DTN:381-2085Tue Jul 19 1994 14:548
>                                                 In cultivated speech, by
>    which I do NOT mean uppity pronunciation but merely fully articulated
>    English...
    
>    Now then, if we want to allow regional pronunciations, all of the above
>    would be acceptable.

Prescriptivist.  What's a non-regional pronunciation?
1108.11GIDDAY::BURTStick this fish in your earTue Jul 19 1994 17:397
re  <<< Note 1108.10 by NOTIME::SACKS "Gerald Sacks ZKO2-3/N30 DTN:381-2085" >>>

>Prescriptivist.  What's a non-regional pronunciation?
Well *I* certainly don't have a regional accent :^)


Chele
1108.12JRDV04::DIAMOND$ SET MIDNIGHTTue Jul 19 1994 19:158
    .1> rite, wright, right
    
    , write
    
    
    And if we add regional accents...
    
    light
1108.13JRDV04::DIAMOND$ SET MIDNIGHTTue Jul 19 1994 22:4515
    You, yew, ewe
    
    Yews, ewes, use
    
    Tea, tee, ti (musical note)
    
    Teas, tees, tis ("s), tease
    
    Sea, see, si (same musical note)
    
    Seas, sees, sis ("), seize
    
    Dough, doe, do (different musical note)
    
    Oh, owe, zero
1108.14GIDDAY::BURTMy wings are like a shield of steelTue Jul 19 1994 23:387
re<<< Note 1108.13 by JRDV04::DIAMOND "$ SET MIDNIGHT" >>>

>    Yews, ewes, use
    
  Yews, ewes, use, youse   - youse guys in a wise guise :^)

Chele 
1108.15DOCTP::BINNSMon Jan 09 1995 09:584
    and ghoti is only a word to George Bernard Shaw -- and he *created* it
    to be a homophone for fish, so it's hardly fair to cite it.
    
    Kit
1108.16JRDV04::DIAMONDsegmentation fault (california dumped)Mon Jan 09 1995 17:393
    I never said ghoti was a word, only a homonym.
    Though not quite a pun, it should be appreciated
    by anyone with a taste for puns.  Tioti!
1108.17sight, site, citeRANGER::BRADLEYChuck BradleyMon Jul 31 1995 12:021
1108.18Just discovered..KERNEL::MORRISWhich universe did you dial?Tue Aug 01 1995 02:076
    Since I came across it in a novel and have been dying to use it ever
    since:
    
    wyte  [and I admit I had to look it up to be sure I'd guessed rite ;-)]
    white 
    wight