More fun with names
While working as an EFL teacher in a language school near Bournemouth, I once had to teach a class of Thai teenagers. One of them was called Unn.

I pronounced the initial u as in put. After two weeks of teaching him, I found out that it should have been like the u in gun. And I was also told that the way I said it was the Thai word for "fart"*. And the poor kid had been too polite to correct his teacher.


*I am open to correction on this from anyone here who knows Thai.
(lolwhites, Sun 18 Jul 2010, 18:34, 9 replies)

I don't understand.
Surely the 'u' in "put" is the same as the one in "gun"? I know there are subtle differences in the way that, for example, the two 'u's in "shut up" are pronounced -- but even then it's only a very subtle change in length and emphasis and probably not consistent across a range of speakers.
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Sun 18 Jul 2010, 18:58, closed)

depends
where you're from perhaps. Definitely not the same in a proper Queen's English accent. Do you pronounce "putt" and "put" the same?
(cypherspace is not a toaster, Sun 18 Jul 2010, 19:19, closed)

in 'ull
"nine of you" is prnounced "Narnia"
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Mon 19 Jul 2010, 0:39, closed)

in liverpool
"that thing over there" is pronounced "Tingio"

I think its Italian.
(Dan dan dan They tik urh jerbs!!!, Mon 19 Jul 2010, 13:19, closed)

I pronounce put and putt the same.
I also use a similar, but not quite identical, sound in words like "foot".
However, since I'm trying to learn another language at present I see "put" as "puut" and "putt" as a slightly shortened version of "put" as I would pronounce it ordinarily.
(I'm a Yorkshireman who was brought up a bit posh, FWIW)
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Mon 19 Jul 2010, 17:49, closed)

I'm a namby-pamby southerner
So for me, "put" has the same vowel sound as "foot" or "would", and "gun" has the same vowel sound as "son" or "fun".

Does that help?
(lolwhites, Sun 18 Jul 2010, 19:55, closed)

Primary school phonics is taught from a document called Letter and Sounds
in there they say about the difference between the u in put being different to the one in gun only in the south.

That's what the government say, so it must be right.
( Mrs Entity is in hiding., Sun 18 Jul 2010, 22:06, closed)

Depends on which north and south you're talking about
Up here in Scotland, they are most definitely different sounds.

Unlike the 'a' sounds in bath and cat, which are identical here, but differentiated in Southern British English.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Mon 19 Jul 2010, 9:06, closed)

For lots of dialects of English, including most American dialects, the 'u' in 'put' is a high rounded lax vowel but the 'u' in gun is a mid central vowel (the sound at the beginning of 'erm' for British folks). For other dialects there isn't a contrast.

I've seen descriptions of Thai that say it contrasts these two sounds and others that say it does not. Maybe, like English, it depends on the region.
( the prick of misery pierced my foot on a spiiiike on, Mon 19 Jul 2010, 1:12, closed)