Why don't 'tough' and 'dough' rhyme? - Arika Okrent

Explore the evolution of English spelling conventions throughout history, and find out why it's such an inconsistent language.

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Spelling reformers have been advocating for changes to make English spelling more intuitive and less irregular. One example of its messiness: take the “g-h” sound from “enough,” the “o” sound from “women” and the “t-i” sound from “action,” and you could argue that “g-h-o-t-i” spells “fish.” So, how did English get like this? Arika Okrent explores the complexity of English spelling conventions.

Lesson by Arika Okrent, directed by Emily Howells, Aaron Brady.

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Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Jay M, Constantino Victor Delgado, Andrea Galvagni, Andrew Tweddle, Laurel-Ann Rice, Fernando A. Endo, Helen Lee, pam morgan, sarim haq, Gerardo Castro, Michel-Ange Hortegat, Enes Kirimi, Amaury BISIAUX, ND, Samyogita Hardikar, Vanessa Graulich, Vandana Gunwani, Abdulmohsin Almadi, AJ Lyon, Geoffrey Bultitude, Mi Mi, Thomas Rothert, Brian Elieson, Oge O, Weronika Falkowska, Nevin Spoljaric, Sid Chanpuriya, Anoop Varghese, David Yastremski, Noah Webb, Roberto Chena, Oliver Koo, Luke Pisano, Andrea Gordon, Aleksandar Donev, Nicole Klau Ibarra, Jesse Lira, Ezekiel Raui, Petr Vacek, Dennis, Olivia Fu, Kari Teffeau, Cindy Lai, Rajath Durgada Manjunath, Dan Nguyen, Chin Beng Tan, Tom Boman, Karen Warner, Iryna Panasiuk and Aaron Torres.

[ZechariahB]

My man snuck in the HUH sound effect multiple times casually in a TED-Ed video
It perfectly fits

[wilconboofie]

In my country we have a saying; English looks like one language from afar when in-fact it’s 3 children wearing the same raincoat. ☔️ 🧥

[lovesunnyskies]

the subtle "huh" when things got confusing killed me 😭

[airiquelmeleroy]

English is hard, though through tough thorough thought you can learn it little by little

[matematixyt]

wonderful! can't get *enough* of these "english spelling is complicated but there's actually a reason behind it" typa things

[somerandomguy___]

I find it absolutely hilarious they decided to use the "huh??" Sound effect XDD

[demonthegamer]

I can't believe that one of the most respected educational channels in youtube would put the "HUH?" sound effect in their videos

[alfonsoribada]

2:27 It's the subtle WTF for me. 😂

[Sleepyfairies]

The title made me say “tough” like “toe” just so it could rhyme with dough 😭

[Abbood_]

I always wondered why English pronunciation rules were a bit difficult, and now I hope this video provides an answer.

[jangzhang]

English: There has to be a way to blame this hot mess on the French.

[ethan________]

can we just take a moment to appreciate how insane the animation and visual storytelling is?

[cormacsmithy]

0:20 Lmao one of the protestors holding a sign saying "Have I nothing better to do?" 😂

[LightBlueVans]

“making it especially tough”
absolutely adorable dough ball ☺️ i adore the printing press animation, that was lovely

[Becky_Cooling]

To anyone who has learnt English as a second language: Well done! English isn't easy, even if (like me) you've spent your whole life speaking it!

[ntlrdm]

'Tough, Trough, Through, Though, Thorough, Thought' and 'Pause, Pores, Paws, Pours' are 2 examples of why English probably looks confusing and doesn't make much sense to non-native speakers. I also find it silly a lot of the time as a native speaker, and it makes it even more apparent as I have 2 native languages and my second language although complex and difficult to learn, has many rules that give it structure and order. Since it isn't based on other languages if you understand the rules you will know the pronunciation and often be able to deduce the meaning of some words just by reading them.

Something interesting though, in defence of English as a language, is an example the Spanish language writer J. L. Borges brought up once in an interview which also demonstrates the complexity and nuance of English. Having roots in Germanic and the Latin language means that for many ideas or examples you may have, you often can find words that have different meaning and nuance, which can express a subtle or important difference and distinction in the idea, object, or situation you are describing. The examples he gave were the words 'fraternal' and 'brotherly' or 'regal' and 'kingly' which all have different meaning, as well as the use of 'Holy Spirit' and 'Holy Ghost', which in a poem would evoke a different feeling, as the former is a light Latin word and the latter is a dark Saxon word, as he described them.

Other examples he gave were the freedom and adaptability of verbs and prepositions such as 'laugh off', 'dream away', or to 'live something down', 'live up to something'. Maybe it's the chaos and nonsensical things sometimes about English that also bring the best out of it too.

[jessicadecuir]

One good thing about English spelling: “queue” is certainly worth more points when playing Scrabble than “q.”

[coleashraf]

At 4:09 the “hus” pronunciation reminded me of how we tend to pronounce house in Scotland. I guess because Scots and Scottish English have retained more Germanic roots?

[DIOsNotDead]

gotta love the "huh" sound effect being used like thrice in this video lol

[olivia-fzdn]

As a native English speaker, I always figured it had to do with the word’s original origins, but this video makes it much more clear!