Because english is just semi random noises
100Truer words were never spoken.
9Most languages are, but english goes out of its way in being phonetically retarded
6My favorite example is the word "yacht"
4
Ghoti
Gh (f) as in enough,
O (í) as in women,
TI (sh) as in motion
Pronounced: Fish
54Make it "Ghoti" with GH as in enough
14Thanks for the idea, will do!
7
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2
So, this is both fascinating and remarkably simple once you learn some basics about how spoken language evolves.
Let's start here: say "woman" out loud. Now, say it again, and this time pay attention to your tongue. When you said "woman," did you pronounce the "o" sound at the front of your mouth, higher in your mouth, and the "a" at the back, lower in your mouth?
Now try this. Say "women," again paying close attention to where the vowel sounds come from in your mouth. First pronounce "women" as it is written- kind of like "woah men." Do you feel how much more work that requires that pronouncing "woman" does? Now, pronounce "women" as you naturally do. Assuming you are in North America, this probably sounds a bit like "wimmin."
Probably, this "wimmin" pronunciation feels easier and more natural. This is largely because those vowel sounds originate in roughly the same area. When a word has multiple vowel sounds and they move from front to back or top to bottom, there's a good chance we will naturally shift towards an easier pronunciation.
31I like your explanation..
3And then there's Thai language, each word pronounce like the sounds originate from 12 different places in your mouth while being choked to death.
1
Am I the only one who pronounces them both with an I sound
17Both with an O here.
20Are the two obviously differentiated like that?
In most of the American English accents I’m familiar with, they’re pronounced “WI men” and “WŌ man.”
If I try to sound out using an I in both, the only way they sound different to me is if I move the accent to the final syllable, to mane it stand out. Something like “wi MEN” vs “wi MAN.”
If so, I’d love to hear where you’re from.
14From Ohio, and they aren't differntiated at all I just pronounce them the same (although I was mistaken about which part of the word the meme was referencing, I still pronounce both with an o/u sound at the beginning)
4
I think the meme is referring to the first vowel.
6Your reply helped me understand what on earth was happening. I was like "wimin and wimen?!"
6
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5Same, i think its a regional thing.
3
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15Wiktionary is good for the dirty details usually. Looks like it's more complicated than it seems: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/woman#Usage_notes
7
Accents matter. It sounds like "vho-men" when I say it.
11And from there we get to gender neutral term homan, referring to to all you hoes.
Edit: apparently some sources incorrectly write the word as "human"
6
I think it's a matter of accent and Dialekt. I pronounce both the same🤷
9English not being my first language, I can relate to that thought 😅
9When I started learning English I pronounced woman as woh-man. Good times
3Lol, there was a joke about "woh-men" in the game Disco Elysium, if I'm not mistaken. But the game only tells you "the world is in danger from the mysterious Wo-men". Maybe some players never realised it critisized sexism?
1
Wait people pronounce them differently. I've been saying it the same way.😭
8Same here and I'm a native NA English speaker
1
It was originally wifman and over time mutated to women, the I sound is vestigial of the old spelling.
8We probably just nicked the words from different languages.
6Also correct if he's thinking about cute dogs / cats / other animals that have more than 1 female in the group.
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1
for the love of God please someone google what a schwa is before replying
2For the love of God are you referring to the first or second vowel? People seem to think OP is talking about the second
3I was just shitposting while high. but the real question isn't "why are they pronounced differently?" but "why are they written the same?"
Woman is an ellison of wīfmann
Man is an abbreviation of wermann
"Mann" meaning "human" and wīf/wer meaning "female/male"
No one asks why "man and men" are pronounced differently, and it's likely we'd have "wermann / wermen" pronounced "wur-man" and "wier-men" if we'd kept the distinction.
3
ə
1
Wimmen? You're just saying it wrong.
-1My dad always pronounced it "getbackinthekitchen"
-6More like woe-men am I right fellas
Do the sandwich joke next pls it's a banger
5Woman... woe-man... whoah, man!
She was a thief,
you got to belief,
she stole my heart and my cat.
Betty,
Judy,
Josie and those hot Pussycats...
They make me horny,
Saturday morny. Girls of cartoo-ins. Won't leave me in ruins.
I want to to be Betty's Barney.Hey Jane... get me off this crazy thing... called love.
0
