How Do You Find Out ..

[cassa333]

...how to spell something you don't know how to spell?

Some words just defy spelling when said aloud.

The word I am looking for at the moment I think starts with g (not sure though) but starts with a sound like sh.

OH well I will just have to wade through the dictionary all day lol

[yogi-bear]

No, I think she meant zzzzzz, as in total waste of time :-)

Makes me gnashers gnosh!

[Jackdaw33]

zh is the accepted way of indicating the sound of the s in pleaSure, which is identical to the sound of g in genre.

[THECORBYLOON]

Maybe not everyone pronounces words in the same way as you or is familiar with how sounds are represented.

[Jackdaw33]

The Russians have the answer. They have two separate letters for the two sounds. No confusion.

Ж(zh) Ш(sh)

[THECORBYLOON]

The Ж(zh) can be pronounced as Ш(sh) in some words apparently, so it's not so easy, even in Russian.

[mikey4444]

If you spell the word phonetically, in Google, you can always find the correct word you are looking for.

[Islay]

Don't worry Corby, jackdaw likes to try and make everyone feel like an idiot!

[Jackdaw33]

Corby, give me an example. Despite a degree in the language I can't think of one, unless it's a dialect thing.

[THECORBYLOON]

I typed in "et" which is how I pronounce "ate" and the first three pages were all related to ET.

[ummmm]

Islay - I think it's more JD likes to make himself look clever.

[Islay]

Ummm tries to make himself look clever! Most of the time he just makes himself look like an eejit!

[Jackdaw33]

Wondered when the sisterhood would finally get around to turning their claws on me simply because I commented on a thread of a semi-academic nature.

[THECORBYLOON]

JD I copied your two letters and pronunciations into Google and one of the hits on the first page was a link to an extract from Russian for Dummies which said, "Because when it appears at the end of a word, ж (zh) is pronounced as ш (sh). (For more information, flip to the later sections “Vowels misbehavin':.."

[Jackdaw33]

You are correct, of course. Final consonants tend to lose their value through softening. D becomes T, V becomes F etc. That was not what I had in mind.

[Old_Geezer]

You put your erroneous spelling into Google and they respond with "Did you mean whatever".