Ghoti

In our Linguistics class the other day, the instructor mentioned something that I had seen and heard a couple of times from other English professors. Like the drinking game "what-major-work-of-literature-haven't-you-read-yet-but-were-supposed-to," this is something that almost seems to be a requirement for word-nerds to know. Apparently, it is very old so you might have already seen it before. Here it is:

How do you pronouce this word, GHOTI. If you've said "fish," then you're right!

How does Ghoti sound like fish? The GH sounds like it does in the word "lauGH." The O sounds like it does in the word "wOmen." And the TI sounds like it does in the word transformaTIon. Obvious, right? (I think that Bernard Shaw came up with this, although he probably did not envision "ghoti" being used by rock bands, web blogs, and linguistics professors.) Whenever someone points out your mispellings, or says your grammar is bad, show them this thing and explain how English, like most languages I'm sure, can sometimes be tricky. Then toss a wet angry cat on their head and run!