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

[@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

[@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???

[@fallen_angelmemesforlife9172]

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

[@yuenmienyu]

2:52

[@ggddeeff]

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.

[@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."

[@boxtenbox]

no way matenatixxx

[@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

[@demonthegamer3624]

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

[@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 💯

[@Abbood_1]

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

[@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

[@ikatlongalfonso]

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 😂

[@Linogiven]

​@@shivamsolanke4660 It meant what the fk

[@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

[@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.

[@jangzhang7323]

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

[@FlopgamingOne]

i love the french

[@1monki]

Mon dieu!

[@marceloschwob3787]

I love french language and its similarity with english. Almost all the latin words in english are homonimous with french words, more than 5 thousand words like moment, simple, empire, source etc.

[@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!

[@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 😂🙏🏽

[@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.

[@DIOsNotDead]

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

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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😭

[@sanvijain5354]

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

[@anelauhaneailana1899]

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

[@Queen1001N]

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

[@theindiejurnee]

It's also more than "cue."

[@justinehercthehuman]

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

[@bigdaddytrichardson4994]

I really haven't realized how difficult and complex English is until I watched this video. 💯

[@re_animatedabby6791]

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

[@r.s.9239]

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

[@Becky_Cooling]

the animation is soooooo cute!

[@PokhrajRoy.]

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

[@BloodAniron]

And also the utensil

[@virendrasahani6871]

Beautiful explanation. Thanks for sharing.

[@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.

[@SkyClintLiquit]

@@Twas-RightHere i just commented that here hahaha

[@Irondragon1945]

and at 2:51

[@johnny_boi5456]

Also WTF is spelled out

[@gabrielas7596]

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

[@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.

[@luizapalavizini2949]

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

[@PokhrajRoy.]

Moral of the Story: Never underestimate tough dough

[@dayanaparedes7362]

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

[@strange_and_magnificent]

Love your animation, as always.

[@suprememaxpayne]

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

[@joegrace2690]

The animation is stunning!

[@TY-bd8bo]

Congratulations on 20M subscribers!

[@agatelcia]

I love the animation and sound effects :D

[@titilayoshitta3940]

Congratulations on 20 million subscribers

[@narnia4703]

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

[@cesarparra6025]

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

[@Passion84GodAlways]

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

[@yellowstarproductions6743]

2:25 i agree

[@Passion84GodAlways]

@@yellowstarproductions6743 😆

[@junjunjamore7735]

I didn't even notice! 😂

[@katherineknapp4370]

My last is Knapp, a German last name. In English the K is silent so it sounds like "Nap" but in German, the K isn't silent and is said in a tough German accent. This video reminded me of that, thanks Ted-Ed!

[@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.

[@antonfeirer]

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.

[@alyanahzoe]

2:27 “wtf” 😂😂😂

[@starknight103]

​@@thenovicenovelist words that end in keit, heit or schaft like freiheit are always feminine. 90% of words ending with an E are feminine in German. Over 95% of words ending with ling or ich are masculine. 60% of words ending with an ER, EL and EN are masculine. Most words ending with an O are neuter like Kino( cinema). There are many other word endings like ANZ,enz, ung, ie, ei,ur, and a for most feminine nouns or ant,or, är, and us for most masculine or um,ma, and ment for most neuter words. Also 90% of words starting with GE are neuter like geld and all diminutives ending in Lein and Chen are neuter.

[@bedrock6443]

Spelling reform time!!!!!!

[@michaelcarbone6101]

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

[@lawrenceheyman435]

What an amazing video. Congratulations to all involved

[@adnankarimsampd3504]

Everything aside the visual representations are so good💟

[@gailaltschwager7377]

Thank you!

[@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

[@gustavocarvalholoboleite3526]

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

[@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

[@thepessimist9641]

English is a fascinating language!

[@Crichi404]

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

[@sphakamisozondi]

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

[@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

[@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.

[@tovarishchfeixiao]

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.

[@khanes5376]

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

[@Stratelier]

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

[@dorkoriginal]

WTF

[@jesstheghost61]

loving the duolingo sound effects

[@The_Observer_god]

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

[@daveharrison84]

part of the vowel shift

[@pinkgreenmelon2209]

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

[@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

[@nerdlingeeksly5192]

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

[@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 🙀🙀

[@CalpolMeister]

2:26 HUH

[@matvejkopyl6347]

4:56 HUUUHH

[@gilangp2011]

I am Indonesian. The Indonesian language is arguably the easiest major language on earth. I learn English damn hard, and Arabic is much harder. But now I live in Japan, which is the hardest I ever encountered.

[@lismyname7389]

Bahasa Indonesia in its formal form maybe easier to learn for foreigners. But in Indonesia, we often mix Bahasa Indonesia with our local dialects, and our mother language (there are tons of it!) and I think it adds the complexity of Bahasa Indonesia

[@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

[@lourdf0x]

This is why i love my language Tagalog. I remember there was a picture that went viral and the comment section was clowning how our police was spelled "PULIS" In hindsight, our spelling is much more intuitive.

[@josemanuelburgara1680]

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

[@mst671]

when I learnt writing English, for some words I memorised how to pronouce it in my language, so in my head when writing beautiful I think "Be-au-ti-ful" or for language "lan-gu-a-ge"

[@marceloschwob3787]

Beautifull is french...

[@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.

[@Calicido]

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

[@lindseyfishead2181]

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

[@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.

[@justinehercthehuman]

Imagine traveling into the far future and then you see they fixed the English language and our present films and literature are then treated like how we treat the old language used by Shakespeare and the likes.

[@alexanderflorence7176]

The strange thing about english though is that the reason it is ultimately become the dominant spoken language on the planet is because it is easy to be understand and or decern what someone is trying to despite being very difficult get correct which is a feature that many languages in the world lack i.e. if you get it wrong in most european or arabic languages its very difficult to then infer or decern meaning from what some is saying

[@giuliad3772]

The visuals look so cute!

[@Mayflower09]

Ted ed I love your videos!!❤❤

[@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.

[@OHPIKACHUKACHU]

FASCINATING!

[@AntTonyLOLKID]

I remember someone saying "English is easy if you know the history of the words" which makes it comparable to Chinese... (but Chinese memorises characters itself, rather than history of words)

[@kyokou_11]

2:25 the "WTF really got me💀💀

[@firestarter6039]

As a Brazilian who learned English basically by myself, I can confirm that about half the words in English, I don't know how to correctly pronounce, even though I do know what the word means in Portuguese. When reading books, this doesn't create a big issue, but in conversations, sometimes things become fuzzy, especially because Brazilians tend to be paranoid about our accent when speaking English.

[@ntlrdm]

As someone who knows very little Spanish but enough to recognise some Portuguese words when I hear them, my opinion is that Brazilians have better sounding accents than the Portuguese when speaking your native language. There's something about the way Brazilians speak Portuguese that sounds so much cooler. Don't be paranoid about your accent when speaking English, most native speakers like people's accents when they speak English anyway, so if anything they will find it more charming 👍

[@fhz3062]

@@ntlrdm , Brazilian Portuguese sounds closer to Spanish (even the European one) than the Portuguese from Portugal. Strange enough, the Brazilian version is also closer to the old Portuguese from 1500 than the current one from Portugal is to the old Portuguese. In a nutshell, our sound are more, so called, opened sounds.

[@ntlrdm]

@@fhz3062 Makes sense, maybe that's why I prefer the sound of it also as I can understand it better from the limited Spanish I know. Portuguese btw is also my favourite language to listen to music in after my two native languages. I hope one day I'll be able to speak it at least so I can have a casual conversation with somebody.

[@alkistisvas9341]

Excellent. Thank you

[@Asian1056]

How to master any spellings: Practice, Practice, Practice, Practice!💯

[@fleek6319]

great animation, thank you

[@tozboz1018]

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

[@chialuenlis5931]

Thanks

[@abthedragon4921]

The anthropomorphizing of objects in these animated videos is next level. Now they've got mouths which match the words spoken by the narrator!

[@turtle360]

I found it quite disturbing, to be honest. Was there an invisible narrator or something spoking which I tended to focus on ? My mental reflexes were all over the place and I lost several sentences.

[@khaliah7754]

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

[@karanmisra]

Not only for “non-native speakers”. English spelling is also a huge challenge for native English speakers as anyone who is an elementary school teacher can attest.

[@DanielKolbin]

moment. congratz on 20m!

[@liandremarcoricafort6606]

Why should it always make sense when humanity itself sometimes don’t