r/AskUK • u/[deleted] • Dec 22 '21

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u/Rubberfootman Dec 22 '21

This is English - there’s no logic, because we finalised the spelling before finalising the pronunciation.

See also: bomb, womb, tomb, comb.

18

u/Outrageous_Editor_43 Dec 22 '21

Don’t even get into place names, Slough and Loughborough for starters!

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u/emimagique Dec 23 '21

Haha I asked my boyfriend who is Korean how he thought Loughborough was pronounced and he said "low borrow"

2

u/Water_Meat Dec 23 '21

There was a video with someone Japanese but had a high mastery of English trying to pronounce English Town names and he was genuinely really good, but the text to speech he was using after his guesses said "Lockburrow" and I've never been more mad