Ghit!
Here is a proof that pronounciation IS a difficult problem.
Given the text GHIT, how would you pronounce it?
Hint:
(1) Try breaking up the word into parts and pronouncing each part independently
from one another.
(2) The pronounciation has a meaning.
The answer is in the box below, but do make sure that you've given it
a try before peeking!
Final hints:
- No surface on earth is completely frictionless. In other words,
all surfaces are rough.
- So, it is impossible to list out all rough surfaces.
- By the way, see that suspicious, rough-looking man? Quick, call
the police station!
Finally, here come the answer...
Fish.
Yes, one way to pronounce GHIT is fish. Why?
- GH from rough.
- I from list.
- T from station.
If you consult your dictionary and see the pronounciation keys, you'll
see that GHIT and FISH can be pronounced the same way.
So, can we pronounce GHIST another way? Yes. Look for some other words
which have different pronounciation keys for the same letter combination.
That's why pronounciation IS a difficult problem.
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Credits:
- My interesting mathematics teacher, Mr. Paul Williams, who always tries to
make his classes lively. I think he always tries to live itself lively.
During one of his classes, he told the GHIST story to the class.
I think the lesson was about statistics.
- PRIS (the Program for Research into Intelligent Systems) at the Department
of Computer Science, School of Computing.
They organized the talk " Machine Learning in Text-to-Speech Applications,"
which reminded me of this GHIST story.
Visit their website:
www.comp.nus.edu.sg/~pris.
Most probably you won't be able to view it. The webpage seems to be
restricted for users inside the School of Computing only.
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Any follow-ups, comments or objections to the anecdote?
Contact me: at comp dot nus dot edu dot sg with dennyisk before the at
Last edited: Sunday, 8 August 2004
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