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Ghoti

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For other uses, see Ghoti (disambiguation).

Ghoti is a creative English respelling of the word fish, used to illustrate irregularities in English spelling and pronunciation.

Explanation

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The word is intended to be pronounced in the same way as fish (/fɪʃ/), using these sounds:

The key to the phenomenon is that the pronunciations of the constructed word's three parts are inconsistent with how they would ordinarily be pronounced in those placements. To illustrate: gh can only resemble f when following the letters ou or au at the end of certain morphemes ("tough", "cough", "laugh"), while ti would only resemble sh when followed by a vowel sound. The expected pronunciation in English would sound like "goatee" /ˈɡoʊti/, not "fish".[1]

Both of the digraphs in the spelling – gh and ti – are examples of consonant shifts, the gradual transformation of a consonant in a particular spoken context while retaining its identity in writing. Specifically, "nation" reflects the softening of t before io in late Latin and early French,[2] while "enough" reflects the softening of a terminal g in West Germanic languages.[3] In contrast, North Germanic languages such as Danish and Swedish retain a harder pronunciation in their corresponding words (nok and nog).

History

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In 1815, there were several examples of absurd spellings given in a book by Alexander J. Ellis, A Plea for Phonotypy and Phonography, which advocated spelling reform. However, ghoti was not among the examples, which were all relatively lengthy and thus harder to remember.[4]

The first confirmed use of ghoti is in a letter dated 11 December 1855 from Charles Ollier to Leigh Hunt. On the third page of the letter, Ollier explains that his son William, who was 31, had "hit upon a new method of spelling Fish." Ollier then demonstrates the rationale, "So that ghoti is fish."[5][4][6]

An early known published reference is an October 1874 article by S. R. Townshend Mayer in St. James's Magazine, which cites the letter.[6]

Another relatively early appearance of ghoti was in a 1937 newspaper article,[4] and the term is alluded to in the 1939 James Joyce experimental work of fiction Finnegans Wake.[7]

Ghoti is often cited to support English spelling reform, and is often attributed to George Bernard Shaw,[8] a supporter of this cause. However, the word does not appear in Shaw's writings,[4] and a biography of Shaw attributes it instead to an anonymous spelling reformer.[9] Similar constructed words exist that demonstrate English idiosyncrasies, but ghoti is one of the most widely recognized.[1]

Notable usage

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  • In Finnegans Wake (published in 1939), James Joyce alludes to ghoti: "Gee each owe tea eye smells fish." ("G-H-O-T-I spells 'fish'.") (p. 299). On p. 51, that fishabed ghoatstory may also allude to ghoti.
  • In the artistic language Klingon, ghotI’ /ɣoˈtʰɪʔ/ is the proper word for "fish".[10]
  • In "An Egg Grows in Gotham", a 1966 episode of the television series Batman, the villain Egghead uses "Ghoti Oeufs" as the name for his caviar business, and Batman explains the reference to Robin.[11]
  • Ghoti Hook is a 1990s Christian punk band.
  • Ghoti has been used to test speech synthesizers.[12] The Speech! allophone-based speech synthesizer software for the BBC Micro was tweaked to pronounce ghoti as fish.[13] Examination of the code reveals the string GHOTI used to identify the special case.
  • In the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game, there is a series of fish-type cards called "Ghoti".[14]
  • The second track of Lupe Fiasco's 2022 album Drill Music in Zion is titled "Ghoti".[15]
  • Vocaloid producer NILFRUITS uses the line "ghoti, ghoti" in the transcript accompanying the sung lyrics of "fish, fish" in his 2018 song Hungry Nicole.[16]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Zimmer, Ben (25 June 2010). "Ghoti". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  2. ^ Solodow, Joseph B. (2010). Latin Alive: The Survival of Latin in English and the Romance Languages.
  3. ^ Agate, Dendy (1919). A Guide to the English Language: Its History, Development, and Use.
  4. ^ a b c d Zimmer, Ben (23 April 2008). ""Ghoti" before Shaw". Language Log. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  5. ^ The original letter is housed in the British Library.
  6. ^ a b Mayer, S. R. Townshend (October 1874). "Leigh Hunt and Charles Ollier". St. James's Magazine. p. 406.
  7. ^ McHugh, Roland (24 February 2016). Annotations to Finnegans Wake. JHU Press. ISBN 9781421419077.
  8. ^ Holroyd, Michael (1994). Bernard Shaw: Volume III: 1918–1950: The Lure of Fantasy. Random House. ISBN 0517130351.
  9. ^ Scobbie, Jim. "What is "ghoti"?". Archived from the original on 25 February 2001. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  10. ^ "Klingon Language Institute". Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  11. ^ Teleplay by Stanley Ralph Ross, Story by Ed Self (19 October 1966). "An Egg Grows in Gotham". Batman. Season 2. Episode 13. Event occurs at 5 minutes 25 seconds. American Broadcasting Company – via YouTube.
  12. ^ Kevelson, Morton (January 1986). "Speech Synthesizers for the Commodore Computers / Part II". Ahoy!. p. 32. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  13. ^ "Re: Spelling Bees". Archived from the original on 20 January 2013. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  14. ^ @YuGiOh_TCG (20 June 2022). "The Power of the Elements Premiere! Event is coming up July 30-31! You can be entered into a drawing to win exclusive prizes, like this Ultra Rare copy of Ghoti of the Deep Beyond (while supplies last)!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  15. ^ Hoffman, Tim (24 June 2022). "ALBUM REVIEW: Lupe Fiasco makes a salient statement with 'Drill Music In Zion'". RIFF Magazine. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
  16. ^ NILFRUITS (10 June 2018). ∴flower 『 HUNGRY NICOLE 』【Official】 (4'47" video). NILFRUITS – via YouTube. See transcript.
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