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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Animator's website: www.emilyhowells.com and aaronbrady.uk
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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.

[@wilconboofie6748]

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. ☔️ 🧥

[@dat1boi727]

This is the best explanation of English I’ve ever heard of

[@Becky_Cooling]

Where's that from?

[@Terrorising._.Schmetterling]

that's AMAZING

[@ITO_junji_Fan-zi9ss]

​@@Becky_CoolingArmenia

[@Becky_Cooling]

@@ITO_junji_Fan-zi9ss Ah, cool.

[@lovesunnyskies]

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

[@ItsN3rdy]

I was like whose Gen Z a** put that in there. 😂

[@OmicronOmega0]

Agreed

[@littledudefromacrossthestr5755]

Fr 💀

[@starmaker75]

Huh is best the way to describe the feeling when you see English spelling.

[@Nosewrecky]

Huh

[@ZechariahB]

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

[@falinestixiaolong9691]

You mean "HOUGH" ?

[@hkayakh]

When the screen says ‘WTF’ there’s also one

[@markjosephbacho5652]

How come I didn't notice it???

[@AgentSeni]

@@markjosephbacho5652 thats what im saying lol

[@fallen_angelmemesforlife9172]

​@@markjosephbacho5652 it's easier to notice the first time if you have a speaker. Perchance

[@airiquelmeleroy]

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

[@HeyKevinYT]

my semantic satiation instantly activated after reading that

[@lolatiffhur]

Compared to other languages it’s actually pretty easy.

[@legitusername-zl7to]

easier translation: "English is hard, it is difficult through the entire way but throughout your thinking you can learn it bit by bit"

[@nainasingh8246]

had a seizure reading that and I can only speak English 😭

[@inakuvaswaldenstrm6117]

​@lolatiffhur maybe some, but if you are a native speaker, you have to remember that things might seem way easier for you than others. I have learned Spanish and it's easier. Italien is easier. You can argue that Mandarin is easier too. Dutch might be easier. I don't know a lot about other languages than that, but they are some examples

[@somerandomguy___]

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

[@kalamay]

And multiple times and in different variations too lmaoooo

[@arthurdomq]

Exactly lol

[@sriyashreepanda4912]

Exactly 💯

[@matematixyt]

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

[@the_unknown8807]

Yep, thats how it is

[@bananaforscale1283]

watch otherwords

[@Rabbitforce97]

but.... there's no reason behind it? It just happened?? 4:10

[@matematixyt]

@@Rabbitforce97 i didn't mean it like "we know EVERY SINGLE nook and cranny about why its like this, i meant like "oh this word was originally said how it was spelled and then OOPS great vowel shift happened."

[@ILoveOrcasAndWhales]

no way matenatixxx

[@Sleepyfairies]

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

[@adrianblake8876]

And then admitted that it was originally pronounced like that...

[@reya..4668]

Same

[@jim6038]

Ken ia Keno?

[@KrisJairedDeCastro]

While me pronouncing dough as duff to rhyme with tough lol

[@demonthegamer3624]

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

[@jangzhang7323]

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

[@FlopgamingOne]

i love the french

[@1monki]

Mon dieu!

[@alfonsoribada9607]

2:27 It's the subtle WTF for me. 😂

[@thelocalgoose]

holy- I didn't notice that! That's WILD

[@shivamsolanke4660]

WTF - Wow that's Fun

[@elenavinod2301]

saw it tooo 😂

[@cormacsmithy3975]

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

[@aidahanwar7311]

the baby's sign saying "language is arbitrary, change my mind" SENT ME HAHAHHAHA

[@novemberninth4392]

I love the one saying "silent letters are dum", that is SO smart

[@octopus-7]

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

[@ethan________]

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

[@orfikstudios]

Yes!

[@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!

[@jimmyseavp]

literally, i admire people who speak more than one languages and/or english

[@ITO_junji_Fan-zi9ss]

Why are you monolingual? So sad

[@benjaminb5889]

My first language is french so I know that spelling can be a nightmare 😂 (I also speak german and a bit of italian).

[@starmaker75]

To be fair, being a native speaker, they a lot of stuff in English that go "HUH?"

[@chiragsharma5624]

@@jimmyseavp i can speak 3

[@DIOsNotDead]

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

[@topi1374]

omg I never realised until now that "daughter" with the guttural "ch" sounds like "Tochter", the german word for it thank you!

[@b.a.erlebacher1139]

German underwent a consonant shift, part of which was d shifting to t. The youtube channel RobWords has a neat video about how to read German without knowing German by unshifting the consonants to make it look more like English.

[@coleashraf9621]

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?

[@penand_paper6661]

Actually, yes.

[@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.

[@olivia-fz8dn]

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!

[@PokhrajRoy.]

Moral of the Story: Never underestimate tough dough

[@geezotics]

It’s 9AM just took a blinker and I’m locked tf in for the day. Thank you for the education I didn’t know I needed 😂🙏🏽

[@PokhrajRoy.]

0:03 This quote is brilliant!

[@Santiino]

Can you explain? English is not my first Language

[@lovwanshichetan]

​@@Santiinodouble "o" in blood & flood sounds "uh" but in food it's "u" only i.e bluhd, fluhd, fu:d and similarly in mould, "oul" sounds like "owl" unlike in should & would where it sounds "u" only i.e mowld, shud, wud. Quote is used basically targeting the chaos in English regarding it's pronunciation, words & rules which applies to one or some case but not all or many.

[@cay6578]

​@@lovwanshichetanoh.. i thought it would have like a metaphor under it with the mix of the wordplay😭

[@jessicadecuir5622]

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

[@sanvijain5354]

The animation quality is just amazing!!! Brilliant job 👏 😍

[@Becky_Cooling]

the animation is soooooo cute!

[@stefansauvageonwhat-a-twis1369]

2:25 I was not expecting the "Huh" sound effect here lol

[@Twas-RightHere]

Another cheeky one at 4:55. They're like little easter eggs, I love it.

[@user-cg3ww4gc2v]

@@Twas-RightHere i just commented that here hahaha

[@Irondragon1945]

and at 2:51

[@johnny_boi5456]

Also WTF is spelled out

[@virendrasahani6871]

Beautiful explanation. Thanks for sharing.

[@re_animatedabby6791]

Lol love the little bread 🍞 with the rolling pins at the end! So cute! Should be a digital phone wallpaper!

[@MrsJudithWright]

Great to have such a clear and upbeat lesson on why English is such a difficult language to learn for non native speakers. Never knew I was interested in this until this lesson.

[@TY-bd8bo]

Congratulations on 20M subscribers!

[@strange_and_magnificent]

Love your animation, as always.

[@lawrenceheyman435]

What an amazing video. Congratulations to all involved

[@justinehercthehuman]

Didn't notice the initials at 2:23 paired with the HUH sound effect lmao.

[@dayanaparedes7362]

This video blew my mind in ways I didn't expect it would 🤯

[@narnia4703]

All the little faces on inanimate objects. 😆 The animation is amazing!

[@anelauhaneailana1899]

Have often said that English is one of the most difficult languages. This is a brilliant explanation of why

[@luizapalavizini2949]

In my country most people consider english grammar easy or a little chalenging, but everybody thinks the writing makes no sense

[@PokhrajRoy.]

0:53 ‘Ghoti’ also refers to Bengalis who do not originate from what we now call Bangladesh.

[@BloodAniron]

And also the utensil

[@adnankarimsampd3504]

Everything aside the visual representations are so good💟

[@Passion84GodAlways]

2.25 was a HILARIOUS (and unexpected) touch!!! 😫😆😂🤣🤣

[@yellowstarproductions6743]

2:25 i agree

[@Passion84GodAlways]

@@yellowstarproductions6743 😆

[@junjunjamore7735]

I didn't even notice! 😂

[@sphakamisozondi]

02:26, that "huh" meme has made it into a Ted video 😂

[@tozboz1018]

2:26 HUH 2:52 H U H 4:56 H U H

[@chialuenlis5931]

Thanks

[@r.s.9239]

2:52 Ted ed stop I’m dying why are you using this sound effect😂

[@gailaltschwager7377]

Thank you!

[@suprememaxpayne]

The "un peu" to "la vache" scale is a nice touch

[@alkistisvas9341]

Excellent. Thank you

[@antonfeirer3408]

As someone who speaks German, learning English was pretty easy once I accepted that some things just were the way they were and couldn't be changed. Happens in German all the time :D

[@thenovicenovelist]

German is one of the languages I'm trying to learn. So far, the hardest thing seems to be the gendered articles because I haven't figured out the tricks for determining when to use der, die, das, etc. when it comes to things that normally don't have a gender in English. In Spanish, there are rules that work the majority of the time (o/a = el/la, with a few exceptions). But I haven't figured out those rules for German articles yet.

[@gabrielas7596]

Thank you Ted-Ed ! Now please do the same with the Spanish, French, and Portuguese languages !

[@titilayoshitta3940]

Congratulations on 20 million subscribers

[@Crichi404]

the "huh" sound took me out, I didn't expect it to be in a Ted Ed vid 😭

[@Mayflower09]

Ted ed I love your videos!!❤❤

[@royyu594]

This video is great!

[@Stratelier]

Don't think we didn't see what you did with the three manuscripts at 2:25 !

[@CalpolMeister]

2:26 HUH

[@matvejkopyl6347]

4:56 HUUUHH

[@fleek6319]

great animation, thank you

[@walkwiithme]

That's so interesting!!

[@thepessimist9641]

English is a fascinating language!

[@The_Observer_god]

You know that English is completely broken when* Go = go So = so To = tuuuuu.............

[@daveharrison84]

part of the vowel shift

[@sametcalsknn]

nice explanation thanks

[@gustavocarvalholoboleite3526]

Hey Ted -ed sugestion to next history video about Los Angeles ritos of 1992

[@jesstheghost61]

loving the duolingo sound effects

[@Kamado4949]

Animation is so cool!

[@khanes5376]

Gotta love what the large letters spell out at 2:24.

[@daffy1981]

Such a nice animation :)

[@bobthegoat7090]

It is fascinating when you encounter Old-English words that sound familiar in your language. I am from Denmark, where we still say "hus" like he pronounced it in the video. It is a real shame we didn't keep this standardization. Almost weird germanic languages grew farther apart in the modern day. However, now that English has the same role as Latin and French played many centuries ago, we may end up changing our own languages as all European countries steadily embrace English. Still, I am all for simpler spelling that conveys how they sound.

[@cesarparra6025]

A series of videos about languages would be nice, like the top 10 most spoken, one down nine more to go?

[@GregorWSky]

Maybe it's time to create an “Easy English" where everything makes sense

[@drewdabbs418]

Not really possible. Too many different countries speaking it and too many dialects

[@user-bp4nv3qp4d]

I love your astounding video TED ED 💛💙

[@michaelcarbone6101]

I’ve been spelling it fish all my life. I’m not changing now!

[@OHPIKACHUKACHU]

FASCINATING!

[@dorians2138]

It's funny how in many countries such a thing as a spelling bee wouldn't even be posible because everything is written exactly how it sounds

[@natheriver8910]

Very interesting 👏 👏 👏 👏

[@ChincerDante]

as someone that comes from a language that is very phonetic , i always found spelling bees fascinating , it does feel english doesnt even need to use strange words from other languages just to fill a spelling bee, thanks to the "inconsistencies" in its spelling vs pronunciation. in spanish you can fabricate a word and the spelling more or less would make sense

[@Maus-nc8jo]

As a German this makes so much sense now. Like for example daughter is translated to Tochter in German. Today both words sound very different. But the german ch makes exactly the sound the gh was once supposed to make before it was dropped in English. When you prounounce daughter with the original sound the th is supposed to make it sounds very similar to the german sound of the word. The same logic can be applied to laugh and lachen in german.

[@lingandetyrox]

Great Vowel Shift and Consonantal Shift. The former turned meat being pronounced as /mεt/ to /mi:t/, and the latter turned the /x/ sound into a /f/ sound

[@mattoni553]

Love all em TED ED vids

[@YourLocalWarGorilla]

2:25 I never thought ted ed would do this

[@Sevara0806]

As a person who learned english intentionally,,l didn't even notice anything wrong/weird when learning it.I just got used to it as l listened and read

[@brunohannud]

Its simple grammar rules and fantastic possibilities makes British English the most indicated language as a first language, one's own language coming in once basic English becomes Universal.

[@tovarishcheleonora8542]

English and "simple grammar" in one sentence without negation? wow Then i guess having 12 tenses (JUST WHY 12 AND NOT 2 OR 3?) and nightmarishly more irregular words than regular words are nowadays counted as "simple"..........

[@LEFT4BASS]

The way we know a lot of old pronunciations is because the lack of standardized spelling left many people writing words as they were spoken. Being unstandardized actually tells us a lot about our linguistic past.

[@nerdlingeeksly5192]

I would like to point everyone to a Gallagher video where he tackles the flaws in the English language.

[@pinkgreenmelon2209]

English is so reasonably complicated. It reminds me of how hard spelling bees were when the words were actually so simple.

[@kristellalliot4027]

As a French 1:32 "ooh la la" on the castle and 4:48 frenchness degree "la vache" were hilarous! 😂

[@Totally_not_ratzanna]

2:25 the "WTF really got me💀💀

[@josemanuelburgara1680]

Arika Okrent , I knew it sounded familiar, she is the author of the book highly irregular

[@DanielKolbin]

moment. congratz on 20m!

[@lindseyfishead2181]

no way i just wanted a ted ed video that includes the "HUH" sound effect multiple times

[@Calicido]

The animation, like other Ted-Ed videos, is top-notched

[@DuyNguyen-ks8dc]

the animator went nuts over this topic XD the transitions, the scenes, it's all so random and chaotic lol somewhat like Bocchi the Rock! Huhhhhh 🙀🙀

[@turtlepro1511]

Hey VSauce, Micheal here. That reference was great... or was it? *Moon men plays*

[@khaliah7754]

The unhinged nature of this video was unconvincingly hidden. I loved it

[@GlobalEnglish-2025]

Interesting history.

[@invalidaccount6147]

English is new language that's why it didn't get much time to evolve. So, the older languages from India China are well evolved and hence well defined. This must be the case.

[@latercube5884]

Everyone: Why is English spelling so weird? French: Uhhh

[@luvotheoduntsu708]

Not forgetting 'Ok', which was an abbreviation of 'Oll Korrect'. Before 'All' was given then letter 'A', and majority of words starting with 'K' were amended to start with 'C'😂🫶🏽.

[@falinestixiaolong9691]

There's no definitive answer and many theories around the origin of "OK", and even your theory originates from the 1840s where it would have come from an intentional mispelling, not before spelling was standardized. Plus "correct" comes from Latin and was never spelled with a K.

[@b.a.erlebacher1139]

Not quite. It derives from mid-19th century US newspapers where rural people were made fun of for their illiteracy, and represented as writing crudely and spelling phonetically. Btw, 'correct' is a French-derived word and was never spelled with a k in English.

[@anoriolkoyt]

Another "indirect" aspect is the culture's literary tradition. English literary tradition is realtively young, compared to French and Latin. So gor thr French, even today, their language is something at the core of their culture and as such, everyone outside the academic world takes an interest in its evolution. For the English world, we see our language as more of a "tool". Its why we are so flexible and improvisational with it. For example, French imported the word "weekend". There was a huge debate whether there ahould be a dash or not (weekend, or week-end). Im living in France and i was asked my opinion since im American. My response: "who TF cares?". English being so loose on its rules its one of its strengths, im my opinion. Its also why sci-fi and fantasy is much more "palatable" in English... Its interesting and fun to invent words. The French tend to have a resistance to this. For example, in Harry Potter, Rowling inventes the term "deathly hallows", which is a clever invention. The French translation calls them "reliques" (relics). Less fun.

[@paytonturner1421]

When it comes to spelling, I'm terrible at it and I need help from technology to spell the words that I can't spell. I can agree upon the point that English is a very difficult language when it comes to spelling. Sounding out words won't help me at all. You probably need to guess the letters.

[@erdvilla]

Easier getting the Metric system in the US than getting rid of those silent letters and letters that sound different depending on the word. But I've noticed that kids who get Spanish in their school are better at spelling in English because they learn a language where every letter has to be pronounced, not to mention the plentiful words with identical or similar writing in both languages.

[@silverleaf15]

Can someone pls explain why colonel is pronounced like kernel?

[@b.a.erlebacher1139]

I think it started off as coronel, having something to do with a special hat or crown. It still has the r in some languages, IIRC, Spanish. I'd like to know why lieutenant, literally 'place holder', is pronounced as it is spelled in the US (lootenant), but leftenant in the UK.