# Common words where W is a vowel **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [April 28, 2011, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-where-w-is-a-vowel/580052 "2011-04-28T16:41:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SpyOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@SpyOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpyOne)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-where-w-is-a-vowel/580052/1 "2011-04-28T16:41:04Z")
Missed the really obvious one, IMO, and the one my brother always cited when telling a teacher that W was sometimes a vowel: owl. Owl is a two-syllable word, so you then ask what the vowel in the second syllable is, and your choices are the L or the W. I suspect that this is because W or “double-u” was originally a double U, and so the word was really ouul, and pronounced ou-ul, or “ow-wul”. But I could be wrong about that. I am not wrong, however, about owl being an incredibly common word where the W is obviously a vowel. * * * LINK TO COLUMN: [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/499/is-it-true-w-can-be-used-as-a-vowel](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/499/is-it-true-w-can-be-used-as-a-vowel) ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-where-w-is-a-vowel/580052/2 "2011-04-28T17:15:43Z")
> [@SpyOne](#): > > Missed the really obvious one, IMO, and the one my brother always cited when telling a teacher that W was sometimes a vowel: owl. > Owl is a two-syllable word, so you then ask what the vowel in the second syllable is, and your choices are the L or the W. > > I suspect that this is because W or “double-u” was originally a double U, and so the word was really ouul, and pronounced ou-ul, or “ow-wul”. But I could be wrong about that. > I am not wrong, however, about owl being an incredibly common word where the W is obviously a vowel. “Owl” is not a two-syllable word in most dialects. (Indeed, if I were an expert dialectician, I could probably make a fair guess at where you live based on the fact that you say that.) And the connection between w and “double u” is much more complicated than that. The usual Middle English spelling of the word is “oule”, pronounced, approximately, “oh-leh”. ---
**Author:** ![Soliloquy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Soliloquy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soliloquy)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-where-w-is-a-vowel/580052/3 "2011-04-28T17:22:17Z")
Owl is a one-syllable word. It’s contains a diphthong. I can’t think of any word in which “w” is used as a vowel. ETA: I can’t think of any English words, at any rate… W is often used as a vowel in, say, Welsh. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-where-w-is-a-vowel/580052/4 "2011-04-28T18:50:26Z")
ugh, I hate that “sometimes y and w” crap in teaching. W is a diphthong, which is like a ‘helper vowel’. “W” can adjust how we pronounce vowels. Traditional A E I O U vowels have specific purposes that are set apart from dipthongs. Sometimes -ow can sound like ‘ouch’ and sometimes it can sound like a long o. (Cowl v. crow) But you will never see “w” by itself acting as a “vowel” unless it’s borrowed from another language. It just blends two vowel sounds in the same syllable. I highly doubt people with ‘accents’ pay attention to the IPA. It confuses children to say that it is a vowel imho. In my day, we just called it phonics. 🙂 When my son is reading and he comes across something that doesn’t ‘sound’ right, I remind him that we used to pronounce things differently or I remind him of the phonics rule. Sometimes he uses a very literal phonetic pronunciation of a word he doesn’t know and then says the entire sentence in fake British-like accent or just reads the word before it and figures it out. Then he says English is stupid. 🙂 He can actually blend consonants and vowels faster in Hebrew than in English and he doesn’t even know what he’s reading. ☹ My son’s teachers don’t even TEACH VOWELS. It frustrates me. They do ending sounds and blending. So he gets lists with endings like: -ould -ow -ar -ing I spent a week teaching him the basics of [A E I O U and (Later, how Y can sub for E or say I)](http://www.pc.maricopa.edu/rdg/tutorials/vowless/vowels1.htm). Dipthongs I just teach in groups. No use in confusing a six year old. Even in the word “little” you can hear the second /l/ sound. “L…ih…t…l…eh” " “Litteleh. Little! It says little!” ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-where-w-is-a-vowel/580052/5 "2011-04-28T19:11:52Z")
[QUOTE=Cecil] In cow, for instance, W is a vowel, but make the word coward and you can hear W working as a consonant. [/QUOTE] If that’s true, then “w” is only a consonant if it is followed by a vowel. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-where-w-is-a-vowel/580052/6 "2011-04-28T19:12:01Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > ugh, I hate that “sometimes y and w” crap in teaching. W is a diphthong, which is like a ‘helper vowel’. “W” can adjust how we pronounce vowels. A dipththong is not a “helper vowel,” amigo. From the \*Enyclopedia Britannica: - > [@what did I just say?](#): > > in phonetics, a gliding vowel in the articulation of which there is a continuous transition from one position to another. Diphthongs are to be contrasted in this respect with so-called pure vowels—_i.e.,_ unchanging, or steady state, vowels. Though they are single speech sounds, diphthongs are usually represented, in a phonetic transcription of speech, by means of a pair of characters indicating the initial and final configurations of the vocal tract. Many of the vowel sounds in most dialects of English are diphthongs: _e.g.,_ the vowels of “out” and “ice,” represented as [au] and [ai], respectively. And _y_ **is** frequently a vowel (and here I am using vowel to mean "letter representing a monophthongal or diphthongal) sound. Take the fourth word in the previous sentence, for instance. _Y_ is often used to represent the sound of short _i_, as in \*Penns **yl** vania. \*Note that the _i_ in that word is being used to represent the consonantal sound (well, glide) of the _y_ in _yes_. I can’t think of any English words in which _w_ is used as a vowel by itself (there may be some in the article but I’m too lazy to click that). Rather is the second half of a digraph representing a dipthong. But the letters we normally think of as vowels can all be used that way as well. Think of the _i_ in _rain_, the _a_ in _boat_, the \*u \*in _thousand_, the _e_ in _piece_, or the _o_ in _Tao_. Bear in mind also that _l_, _m_, and _r_ can all be vocalic. Also bear in mind that the common A E I O U framework you refer to leaves out some of the common monophthongs (the “pure” vowels which have but one articulatory position). American English uses about 9 of those, not five. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-where-w-is-a-vowel/580052/7 "2011-04-28T19:46:00Z")
I think that in words where “ew” is pronounced /ju:/ (e.g., “ewe” and “few”) the “w” represents a vowel sound, because the /j/ corresponds with the letter “e” and the /u:/ with the letter “w”. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-where-w-is-a-vowel/580052/8 "2011-04-28T19:52:54Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > I think that in words where “ew” is pronounced /ju:/ (e.g., “ewe” and “few”) the “w” represents a vowel sound, because the /j/ corresponds with the letter “e” and the /u:/ with the letter “w”. That’s right, but it’s still not that simple. In the words _row_ and _bow_ (whether they’re being pronounced to rhyme with _cow_ or _blow_), the _w_ serves the same purpose as the _a_ in _boat_ or the _u_ in _out_: that is, it indicates a diphthongal pronounciation (aʊ and oʊ). I can’t see a good reason consider it any less a vowel in those contexts than the a or u. I think the confusion arises from the notion (reinforced by A E I O U scheme) that there are 5 “short” vowels, 5 “long” vowels, and no more. But even a moment’s thought will bring up the sounds of _toy_ and _thou_. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-where-w-is-a-vowel/580052/9 "2011-04-28T19:59:33Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > If that’s true, then “w” is only a consonant if it is followed by a vowel. Wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-where-w-is-a-vowel/580052/10 "2011-04-28T20:07:19Z")
> [@](#): > > Owl is a two-syllable word, so you then ask what the vowel in the second syllable is, and your choices are the L or the W. If I make myself pronounce “Owl” with two syllables, the second vowel seems to me to be the L. Just like the vowel in the second syllable of “rhythm” or “chasm” is the M. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-where-w-is-a-vowel/580052/11 "2011-04-28T20:11:28Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Wrong. You’re being pithily witty, of course, but I feel obliged to point out that the only consonants which follow _w_ in contemporary English pronunciation (without there being a change of syllable) are _h_ and _r_. The _h_ is silent nowadays (unless you’re Stewie Griffin, while the _w_ is silent when followed by _r_ (as in, obviously, _wrong_.) So I’m not sure that counts. It might be noted that _w_ is never pronounced consonantally at the end of a word. What that means I don’t know. Well, actually I came up with what I thought was a devastating argument but then I forgot what it was. Something about the letter _h_. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-where-w-is-a-vowel/580052/12 "2011-04-28T20:29:02Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > A dipththong is not a “helper vowel,” amigo. From the \*Enyclopedia Britannica: 😛 I was in six year old language mode. The diphthong is not a diphthong without a traditional vowel. I also tell my son that double consonants protect the vowel. :o So “little” is not litle. > [@](#): > > And _y_ **is** frequently a vowel (and here I am using vowel to mean "letter representing a monophthongal or diphthongal) sound. Take the fourth word in the previous sentence, for instance. _Y_ is often used to represent the sound of short _i_, as in \*Penns **yl** vania. \*Note that the _i_ in that word is being used to represent the consonantal sound (well, glide) of the _y_ in _yes_. I don’t disagree. I was just repeating what kids often hear - the ‘sometimes y’ or ‘sometimes y and w’. “Y” says ‘yuh’ or ‘i’ or ‘e’. > [@](#): > > I can’t think of any English words in which _w_ is used as a vowel by itself (there may be some in the article but I’m too lazy to click that). Rather is the second half of a digraph representing a dipthong. But the letters we normally think of as vowels can all be used that way as well. Think of the _i_ in _rain_, the _a_ in _boat_, the \*u \*in _thousand_, the _e_ in _piece_, or the _o_ in _Tao_. Consider teaching methods. Is that how you learned how to read? Kids start like this: Learn alphabet. Learn the sounds. Blend sounds. C-A-T. Then it’s C-A-T-E. Then it’s C-A-I-N. Then it’s plurals, phonics (er, diphthongs). I understand the concept of vowels, pronunciation, and open mouthed sounds and such. I think it’s perfectly reasonable to distinguish between traditional vowels and…the rest of youz. > [@](#): > > Bear in mind also that _l_, _m_, and _r_ can all be vocalic. Also bear in mind that the common A E I O U framework you refer to leaves out some of the common monophthongs (the “pure” vowels which have but one articulatory position). American English uses about 9 of those, not five. [/QUOTE] I don’t know what you’re trying to lecture me about. I just gave a presentation to ESL teachers on the different sounds a plural verb form has. (ez, es, ess, iz, etc). I get what you’re saying re: vowels. 😛 I’m talking about A E I O U as a starting point for 5 year olds. Most of the nuances you describe they’ll pick up without having been taught. Anyway, Cecil could’ve done a better job of explaining that to someone who wasn’t a linguistics or English major…or super nerd. edit: Now I keep thinking about thong underwear. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-where-w-is-a-vowel/580052/13 "2011-04-28T20:33:05Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > You’re being pithily witty, of course Well, of **course**. > [@](#): > > but I feel obliged to point out that the only consonants which follow _w_ in contemporary English pronunciation (without there being a change of syllable) are _h_ and _r_. I won’t scowl at you, even though you’re downright wrong–I mean hey, join the crowd! (If I’m missing your point, sorry!) > [@](#): > > It might be noted that _w_ is never pronounced consonantally at the end of a word. What that means I don’t know. Well, actually I came up with what I thought was a devastating argument but then I forgot what it was. Something about the letter _h_. And here’s an honest non-snarky question: my mouth is the same shape at the beginning and end of the word “Wow!” Is the initial w a consonant and the terminal w a vowel? Because that seems weird to me. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-where-w-is-a-vowel/580052/14 "2011-04-28T20:36:13Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > I don’t know what you’re trying to lecture me about. I just wrote/created a presentation on the different sounds a plural verb form has. (ez, es, ess, iz, etc). I’m talking about A E I O U as a starting point for 5 year olds. Most of the nuances you describe they’ll pick up without having been taught. I’m not lecturing. Lecturing requires emotional involvement in the subject, which requires empathy, which I only have for Memphians, which you are not. You wrote [QUOTE=CitizenPained, upthread] W is a diphthong, which is like a ‘helper vowel’. [/QUOTE] That’s not right. It’s hugely wrong. It’s like saying _The United States is a democratic republic, which means it is illegal not to vote in this country_. So far from the mark that it renders everything else you wrote suspect. I’m not claiming to be a phoneticist or an expert. I’m sure that I’ve written remarks far stupider than that on this board at one time or another. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-where-w-is-a-vowel/580052/15 "2011-04-28T20:39:31Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Well, of **course**. > > I won’t scowl at you, even though you’re downright wrong–I mean hey, join the crowd! If you mean that I should have included _s_ in my list, you are correct; I realized that as I was typing this response. But I can think of no other times when _w_ is followed by any other consonant except when it is acting as a vowel (i.e., as the second letter in a digraph representing a vowel sound). If you can, please tell me; I’m always pleased to learn something. > [@](#): > > And here’s an honest non-snarky question: my mouth is the same shape at the beginning and end of the word “Wow!” Is the initial w a consonant and the terminal w a vowel? Because that seems weird to me Get a mirror. Say _wow_. Say _ow_ (as in the sound indicating pain). Say _wowed_. Say _thou_. Then get back to me. Remember, incidentally, that the lips are not the only parts of the vocal system involved in making sounds. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-where-w-is-a-vowel/580052/16 "2011-04-28T20:39:35Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I won’t scowl at you, even though you’re downright wrong–I mean hey, join the crowd! > > (If I’m missing your point, sorry!) –and of course I was: you were referring to **consonant** w, right? :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-where-w-is-a-vowel/580052/17 "2011-04-28T20:44:29Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > –and of course I was: you were referring to **consonant** w, right? :smack: Yep. I could’ve been clearer, though, so don’t slap yourself. I also should have noted that when _w_ is followed by _s_, as in _cows_, it’s being used as as vowel. And then I should have said something about _l_. Honestly, that post was made of fail. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-where-w-is-a-vowel/580052/18 "2011-04-28T20:50:52Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > You’re being pithily witty, of course, but I feel obliged to point out that the only consonants which follow _w_ in contemporary English pronunciation (without there being a change of syllable) are _h_ and _r_. The _h_ is silent nowadays (unless you’re Stewie Griffin, while the _w_ is silent when followed by _r_ (as in, obviously, _wrong_.) So I’m not sure that counts. > > It might be noted that _w_ is never pronounced consonantally at the end of a word. What that means I don’t know. Well, actually I came up with what I thought was a devastating argument but then I forgot what it was. Something about the letter _h_. Who what? Do you mean that ‘w’ is never just ‘w’ at the end of the word? it’s always -ow, -aw, -iw or some such? Still, it has the \*wuh \*sound, so this is why I hate teaching kids that W is a vowel because they will start to confuse it with A E I O U. Better to teach groups, like: -ow -ar -ew etc. How about “mow”? “O” has the long sound but “w” is still pretty pronounced. I’m starting to wonder if I have an accent. When I look at the IPA pronunciations in the dictionary, I’m like, _huh?_ _It’s said that way?_ IPA gives me a headache, anyway, since I have a hard time distinguishing between nuances. (I’m deaf in one ear and partially deaf in the other.) [Dictionary.com’s take](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/walk): walk: (wawk) IPA: /wɔk/ - I have a flick of an /l/ in my _walk_. Is this like the British English pronunciation? wok: (wok) IPA: /wɒk/ - Pretty close..not sure if I’ve said “wok” out loud, though. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-where-w-is-a-vowel/580052/19 "2011-04-28T20:53:29Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > Kids start like this: Learn alphabet. Learn the sounds. Humans learn to speak long before they recognize letters. The problem with this whole discussion is the conflation of written symbols (“W” etc.) with the sounds English speakers make. It’s meaningless to say that “W” is a “vowel” until you make the distinction clear that it is a symbol that may or may not represent vowel production in some way. Calling a letter a “vowel” is just a convention of convenience for teaching spelling (to native speakers, mostly). To say that “W is vowel” SIMPLY because we sometimes use it to represent a diphthong is meaningless. You might as well say that “G” and “H” are vowels, too, because we use them to represent the vowel sound in the word “straight.” ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-where-w-is-a-vowel/580052/20 "2011-04-28T21:01:33Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > Who what? In those cases the _w_ is silent; it’s the _h_ being pronounced. Anyway, I was joking. Fully 27% of my posts contain an intentional absurdity. (56% contain unintentional ones.) That’s why 98% of the board hates me. Give it time and you will too! > [@](#): > > Do you mean that ‘w’ is never just ‘w’ at the end of the word? it’s always -ow, -aw, -iw or some such? Still, it has the \*wuh \*sound, so this is why I hate teaching kids that W is a vowel because they will start to confuse it with A E I O U. Better to teach groups, like: > > -ow > -ar > -ew > > etc. > > How about “mow”? “O” has the long sound but “w” is still pretty pronounced. Long \*o \*is a diphthong. The sound at the end of _mow_ is the same as _hoe_, _dough_, _so_, _sew_, and _beau_. And that is not a consonant. That sound begins with the articulatory position of the schwa and flows to the articulatory position of the _u_ in _pull_. (I think. Too lazy to check.) It’s a single sound nonetheless, but it is no more a consonant than the long _a_ of _day_, the long _e_ of _key_, or the long _i_ of _thigh_. > [@](#): > > I’m starting to wonder if I have an accent. When I look at the IPA pronunciations in the dictionary, I’m like, _huh?_ _It’s said that way?_ IPA gives me a headache, anyway, since I have a hard time distinguishing between nuances. (I’m deaf in one ear and partially deaf in the other.) > > [Dictionary.com’s take](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/walk): > > walk: (wawk) IPA: /wɔk/ - I have a flick of an /l/ in my _walk_. Is this like the British English pronunciation? > > wok: (wok) IPA: /wɒk/ - Pretty close..not sure if I’ve said “wok” out loud, though. :dubious: 😕 Everyone has an accent. There are people who claim that one English accent is correct and all the others are incorrect; the techncial term for them is assholes. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-words-where-w-is-a-vowel/580052.md?page=2)