The ''oo'' in ''loose'' and ''moose''

Brennus   Thursday, December 16, 2004, 08:20 GMT

Dear Jim / Freeman

Here in Seattle, I rarely hear a Scottish English speaker or even an Australain / New Zealand speaker. I think in Scottish English , however, that the oo as in "boot" is a little longer than it is in American English. If it is a carry-over from Gaelic it may approximate the Japanese and Korean U sound. Their U sounds a little bit like the way a Halloween ghost is usually portrayed saying boo! More like boo-oo? At least, it sounds that way to my ears. Take care!
Brennus   Thursday, December 16, 2004, 08:22 GMT
Australain = Australian. I'm glad this is not a job resume where I've heared that mispelled words are "the kiss of death."
Damian   Saturday, December 18, 2004, 14:43 GMT
There is a difference in the way the English and the Scots pronounce the vowel sound in ''moose''. In England it's definitely [u:] I, like most Scots, make the vowel sound shorter and it's similar to the "u" sound the French make in the word "du". I'm sure most of you are familiar with the Scottish accent.

I pronounce ''moose'' and ''loose'' to rhyme, but I pronounce ''road'', ''rode'' and ''rowed'' differently. ''road'' is [ro@d], ''rode'' is [ro:d] and ''rowed'' is [roUd].