Ghoti

The word is intended to be pronounced in the same way as fish ({{IPAc-en|f|ɪ|ʃ}}), using these sounds:

• gh, pronounced {{IPAc-en|f}} as in enough {{IPAc-en|ɪ|ˈ|n|ʌ|f}} or tough {{IPAc-en|t|ʌ|f}};
• o, pronounced {{IPAc-en|ɪ}} as in women {{IPAc-en|ˈ|w|ɪ|m|ɪ|n}};
• ti, pronounced {{IPAc-en|ʃ}} as in nation {{IPAc-en|ˈ|n|eɪ|ʃ|ən}} or motion {{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|oʊ|ʃ|ən}}.

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" {{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɡ|oʊ|t|i}}, not "fish".{{cite web |last=Zimmer |first=Ben |author-link=Benjamin Zimmer |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/27/magazine/27FOB-onlanguage-t.html |title=Ghoti |work=The New York Times |date=25 June 2010 |access-date=23 May 2019}}

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,{{cite book|last=Solodow|first=Joseph B.|title=Latin Alive: The Survival of Latin in English and the Romance Languages|year=2010}} while "enough" reflects the softening of a terminal g in West Germanic languages.{{cite book|last=Agate|first=Dendy|title=A Guide to the English Language: Its History, Development, and Use|year=1919}} In contrast, North Germanic languages such as Danish and Swedish retain a harder pronunciation in their corresponding words (nok and nog).

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."The original letter is housed in the British Library.{{cite web |first=Ben |last=Zimmer |author-link=Benjamin Zimmer |url=https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=81 |title="Ghoti" before Shaw |work=Language Log |date=23 April 2008 |access-date=23 May 2019}}{{cite magazine |first=S. R. Townshend |last=Mayer |title=Leigh Hunt and Charles Ollier |magazine=St. James's Magazine |date=October 1874 |page=406}} Ollier's work was contemporaneous with that of spelling reformer Alexander J. Ellis, whose Plea for Phonotypy and Phonography contained several similar examples.

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

Another relatively early appearance of ghoti was in a 1937 newspaper article, and the term is alluded to in the 1939 James Joyce experimental work of fiction Finnegans Wake.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gkGwCwAAQBAJ&dq=finnegan%27s+wake+ghoti&pg=PA299 | title=Annotations to Finnegans Wake | isbn=9781421419077 | last1=McHugh | first1=Roland | date=24 February 2016 | publisher=JHU Press }}

Ghoti is often cited to support English spelling reform, and is often attributed to George Bernard Shaw,{{cite book |last=Holroyd |first=Michael |title=Bernard Shaw: Volume III: 1918–1950: The Lure of Fantasy |publisher=Random House |year=1994 |isbn=0517130351}} a supporter of this cause. However, the word does not appear in Shaw's writings, and a biography of Shaw attributes it instead to an anonymous spelling reformer.{{cite web |url=http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxwhat04.html |title=What is "ghoti"? |first=Jim |last=Scobbie |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010225063805/http://www.alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxwhat04.html |archive-date=25 February 2001 |access-date=23 May 2019}} Similar constructed words exist that demonstrate English idiosyncrasies, but ghoti is one of the most widely recognized.

• 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, {{mono|ghotI’}} {{IPA|/ɣoˈtʰɪʔ/}} is the proper word for "fish".{{cite web |url=https://www.kli.org/about-klingon/new-klingon-words/gh/ |title=Klingon Language Institute |access-date=23 May 2019}}
• 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.{{cite episode |title=An Egg Grows in Gotham |series=Batman |series-link=Batman (TV series) |credits=Teleplay by Stanley Ralph Ross, Story by Ed Self |network=American Broadcasting Company|via=YouTube|airdate=19 October 1966 |season=2 |number=13 |time=5 minutes 25 seconds|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvI8tBQjZSQ#t=5m25s}}{{cbignore}}
• Ghoti Hook is a 1990s Christian punk band.
• Ghoti has been used to test speech synthesizers.{{cite news |url=https://archive.org/stream/Ahoy_Issue_25_1986-01_Ion_International_US#page/n31/mode/2up |title=Speech Synthesizers for the Commodore Computers / Part II |work=Ahoy! |date=January 1986 |access-date=23 May 2019 |last=Kevelson |first=Morton |pages=32}} The Speech! allophone-based speech synthesizer software for the BBC Micro was tweaked to pronounce ghoti as fish.{{cite web |url=http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Rec/rec.games.computer.ultima.dragons/2006-05/msg01548.html |title=Re: Spelling Bees |access-date=23 May 2019 |archive-date=20 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120103344/http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Rec/rec.games.computer.ultima.dragons/2006-05/msg01548.html |url-status=dead }} 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".{{cite tweet|number=1538914710896222208|user=YuGiOh_TCG|title=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)!|date=20 June 2022}}
• The second track of Lupe Fiasco's 2022 album Drill Music in Zion is titled "Ghoti".{{cite web |last1=Hoffman |first1=Tim |title=ALBUM REVIEW: Lupe Fiasco makes a salient statement with 'Drill Music In Zion' |url=https://riffmagazine.com/album-reviews/lupe-fiasco-drill-music-in-zion/ |website=RIFF Magazine |access-date=8 July 2022 |date=24 June 2022}}
• Vocaloid producer NILFRUITS uses the line "ghoti, ghoti" in the transcript accompanying the sung lyrics of "fish, fish" in his 2018 song Hungry Nicole.{{cite AV media|last=NILFRUITS |date=10 June 2018 |title=∴flower 『 HUNGRY NICOLE 』【Official】 |medium=4'47" video|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4MEB95GRe0?t=256/ |publisher=NILFRUITS|via=YouTube}} See transcript.

• English-language spelling reform
• English orthography
• English phonology
• "The Chaos", a poem which demonstrates the irregularity of English orthography

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/ling006.html How to pronounce "ghoti"]
• [http://www.zompist.com/spell.html Hou tu pranownse Inglish], an essay on grapheme-to-phoneme rules that discusses "ghoti"
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060226003520/http://www.alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxwhat04.html "What is ghoti?" by Jim Scobbie]

Category:English words

Category:English orthography