You say TOMAYTO, I say TOMAHTO, but WHY?? Tomatoes, potatoes and the Great Vowel Shift

Love the English language? Get the LetThemTalkTV newsletter here - IT'S FREE!

00:00 What do you call it?
01:41 You say tomayto I say tomahto
03:36 Tomatoes, potatoes a history
06:35 The Great Vowel Shift
13:08 Why did the Great Vowel Shift happen?
15:33 A mini vowel shift in London
16:38 What about tobacco?

.If you are a grammar lover you might be interested in our new range of grammarian merchandise exclusive to LetThemTalkTV

Credits

Subscribe here

Learn English in Paris or join an online class.
instagram @LetThemTalkParis

[alicerossi_ap]

Yes, please. All this is so interesting and instructive and gives a logical sense to so many peculiarities of pronunciation typical of the English language. Thanks so much, cheers!

[jamesmcinnis]

They were smart to name it "The Great Vowel Shift" rather than "The Great Vowel Movement."

[thepentecostalunderstanding]

The way you pronounced the "before GVS" words, sounds so much like how we Norwegians pronounce the exact same words (the meaning are also the same). We pronounce house like "Hoos", bite like "Beet" and knife like "Kneev" with the K pronounced. Everything sounded incredibly Norwegian to my ears which baffled me! I would gladly hear more English in GVS pronunciation because it probably would sound very close to Norwegian or Scandinavian.

[SaguaroBlossom]

I've heard it phrased. "A tomato is technically a fruit, but nutritionally a vegetable." (Same with Avocado)
"Intelligence is knowing tomatoes are a fruit, but common sense is knowing they don't belong in a fruit salad."

[foamheart]

Yes more history please, I found this very interesting.

[Tedinator]

The Great Vowel Shift is an absolutely fascinating subject. An episode on this would be greatly appreciated.

[phoenixmassey]

My mum’s parents were British. She grew up in the States. My dad was American. He grew up in England. Guess what? I pronounce tomato both ways! 😉 Seriously, I love the history of language! More please! I am reading The Loom of Language because you recommended it. Thank you!

[Crisguay]

Many thanks for sharing this outstanding piece of English pronunciation history. I would like to know more of them. I feel that it is a wonderful way to understand and set apart the different sounds of English for the same vowels. Which is quite tricky by the way!!! Not only are you an excellent teacher, but also a good communicator!! 🤓

[voxveritas]

I think it's the great strength of English that we have all these variations in speaking. It makes us more receptive to hearing and attuning ourselves to understand all the ways that other people are learning and speaking our language, for all its difficulties and wackiness! We are so fortunate that others want to learn English, difficult as it may be.

[AlbertoCastel]

In Mexico we have green and red tomatoes. The red ones are called (mainly in central Mexico) "jitomates" (from the nahuatl "xictitomatl", which means "navel tomato"). The green ones are a completely different species and are called "tomates verdes" or just "tomates" or "tomatillos" or "miltomates" (from the nahuatl "miltomatl" which means "tomatoes from the corn fields").

[GroovingPict]

House and mouse are still written and pronounced "hus" and "mus" in Scandinavian languages. And English actually does it too, in a commonly used compound word: "husband". Which is a word imported from Scandinavian, which roughly translated means something like the "man of the house" or "master of the house" (as opposed to other men or boys who might live on the same farm for example as hired farmhands). In Scandinavian languages the word is more archaic these days, but the Swedish translation of the famous record label "His Master's Voice" for example is "Husbondens Röst"

[bernatpanxeta]

Very interesting! I'm from a small and isolated valley in Northern Majorca. We got a road to the other parts of the island in the midle of XIXth century. So we have more relations with Southern France. We spoke a local dialect mixed of catalan and french ( now it's almost extinct). Nor catalans or french could understand us. This dialect has survived for about 200 years, growing and changing very fast, until the arriving of mass media and massive standard education. Now it's finishing its time of life. It has been an amazing and interesting experiment with language. Now I'm trying to make english my second language, with some people here, to avoid the growing of spanish in our land. We prefer to learn english, a far language, than spanish, too nearer to us. I follow all your videos. I'm learning more english than at school. Thank you very much, sir!

[RGF]

As is often said, the Yanks and Brits are separated by a common language. But a very interesting way of separation. More videos like these would be would be greatly appreciated indeed.

[oldeagle]

Yes your videos about history of language and pronunciation are great. Keep doing it

[kirstenriehl]

Language history is so interesting! More videos about this topic, please!

[CelesteL]

Love learning the origins of words. Do prepare more lessons like this one, please!

[TraceyTaylor]

Please, please give us more about the history of the English language! The GVS is fascinating, and nothing like that was ever taught in my achools. What a helpful clarifier that would have been while learning and accepting all the irregularities of English! Thank you for what you do!

[Dulyman]

Absolutely loved this. It’s incredible how learning a language (or learning more about your own language) is also a lesson in history! Thanks, Gideon.

[lisogato]

This channel is fascinating! I could hear you talk aaall day... Plus I've noticed significant difference to my pronanciation... As a music teacher I guarantee you have an exquisite music ear... It's a wonder you're not a soloist, with that ability... But then again, in fact you are...your instrument is the language...
I can only feel gratitude for your lessons...

[TheGaspar]

I really like the videos about history. You make a great job for the english learners around the world. Thank you.