# Do the words "song" and "long" rhyme? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 25, 2014, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-words-song-and-long-rhyme/691624 "2014-06-25T17:14:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-words-song-and-long-rhyme/691624/1 "2014-06-25T17:14:08Z")
I was reading the Dr. Seuss book “Hop on Pop” to my son and on one page it’s apparent that he intends the words “song” and “long” to rhyme. But for me, they don’t. “Song” rhymes with “gong” and “long” rhymes with “wrong”. Is this generally true or is it just my accent? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-words-song-and-long-rhyme/691624/2 "2014-06-25T17:16:11Z")
But “gong” and “wrong” also rhyme. ---
**Author:** ![Calatin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Calatin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calatin)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-words-song-and-long-rhyme/691624/3 "2014-06-25T17:16:17Z")
It might be an accent thing. They sound like they rhyme to me. (I also think “gong” and “wrong” rhyme.) ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-words-song-and-long-rhyme/691624/4 "2014-06-25T17:23:01Z")
Song, long and wrong rhyme. Gong doesn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-words-song-and-long-rhyme/691624/5 "2014-06-25T17:25:54Z")
It might help clear things up if we knew more about Suranyi’s accent. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-words-song-and-long-rhyme/691624/6 "2014-06-25T17:27:00Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Song, long and wrong rhyme. Gong doesn’t. I think most people would disagree with that. How do you say “gong” such that it doesn’t rhyme with the others? ---
**Author:** ![OurLordPeace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e8c25b/32.png) [@OurLordPeace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OurLordPeace)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-words-song-and-long-rhyme/691624/7 "2014-06-25T17:32:43Z")
All of those words rhyme! ---
**Author:** ![Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4bbf92/32.png) [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-words-song-and-long-rhyme/691624/8 "2014-06-25T17:40:52Z")
For me, and for most English speakers, all four of those words rhyme, but there are some accents where one or more of them are differentiated. For instance: > [@Teaching phonics in regions with drawls](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teaching-phonics-in-regions-with-drawls/612655/10): > > I once knew someone who was a teacher on Long Island. She had a somewhat Midwesternized accent, but many of her coworkers had strong LI accents. She was preparing a lesson one day about rhyming words, and was writing pairs of words on a poster: cat/hat, mouse/house, dog/log, and so on. Another teacher looked at the poster and said, confused, “Doawg and laahg?! Those don’t rhyme!” I’m also curious to know about **suranyi’s** accent, and **Alessan’s**. My guesses: **suranyi** says “song” and “gong” with a more front, unrounded vowel, closer to “ah”, and “long” and “wrong” with a more back, rounded vowel, closer to “aw”. For **Alessan’s** , I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the three rhyming words are all somewhere between “ah” and “aw”, while “gong” is actually more of an “oh” sound, like “bone”. Did I win anything? Also, apparently this kind of thing comes up a lot with “[Hop on Pop](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=641931)”! ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-words-song-and-long-rhyme/691624/9 "2014-06-25T17:41:21Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > I think most people would disagree with that. How do you say “gong” such that it doesn’t rhyme with the others? Closer to “Gahng”, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4bbf92/32.png) [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-words-song-and-long-rhyme/691624/10 "2014-06-25T17:46:19Z")
Ah, damn. Gambled and lost. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-words-song-and-long-rhyme/691624/11 "2014-06-25T17:50:50Z")
> [@Calatin](#): > > It might be an accent thing. They sound like they rhyme to me. > > (I also think “gong” and “wrong” rhyme.) What I was going to say. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-words-song-and-long-rhyme/691624/12 "2014-06-25T17:56:45Z")
> [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Ah, damn. Gambled and lost. Hey, for all I know it’s just an idiosyncrasy. It’s not as if I use the word “gong” on a daily basis. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-words-song-and-long-rhyme/691624/13 "2014-06-25T17:59:09Z")
They all rhyme. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-words-song-and-long-rhyme/691624/14 "2014-06-25T18:01:51Z")
Yep, they all rhyme to me (British). ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-words-song-and-long-rhyme/691624/15 "2014-06-25T18:04:57Z")
They all rhyme to me (midwest US). ---
**Author:** ![Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4bbf92/32.png) [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-words-song-and-long-rhyme/691624/16 "2014-06-25T18:08:42Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Hey, for all I know it’s just an idiosyncrasy. It’s not as if I use the word “gong” on a daily basis. Nah, that makes sense - it was actually my first thought. I figured my guess was still possible, but a lot less likely, which would have made it more impressive if I’d been right (if guessing pronunciations were impressive at all). ---
**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:** [June 25, 2014, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-words-song-and-long-rhyme/691624/17 "2014-06-25T18:09:01Z")
I’m fairly sure that, over the internet at least, this question can only be answered if the interrogator can spell the words in question in terms of the International Phonetic Alphabet or some other phonemic system. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-words-song-and-long-rhyme/691624/18 "2014-06-25T18:12:14Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > They all rhyme to me (midwest US). Ditto. ---
**Author:** ![Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4bbf92/32.png) [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-words-song-and-long-rhyme/691624/19 "2014-06-25T18:19:39Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I’m fairly sure that, over the internet at least, this question can only be answered if the interrogator can spell the words in question in terms of the International Phonetic Alphabet or some other phonemic system. Well, that depends on what the question is. If it’s “Do these words rhyme _as I pronounce them_?” then yes, you need a phonemic system. If it’s “Do these words rhyme _as you pronounce them_?” (which is what I think the OP is really getting at) then everyone can judge for themselves. It doesn’t matter what phonemes they use, they just have to determine whether those phonemes match or not. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-words-song-and-long-rhyme/691624/20 "2014-06-25T18:19:45Z")
I had a friend whose habit was to pronounce all words in the same word-ending-sound group the same way, especially if one of the group could be pointed out as not belonging with the rest. We would pick _that **odd** word_ and force all the others to rhyme with it. Best example was “dog” which he pronounced as if it were spelled “dawg” and therefore cog, fog, hog, log, tog, and others ending in -og were changed to be whatever-awg. It pissed most people off but I just laughed at the ingenuity and stubbornness. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-words-song-and-long-rhyme/691624.md?page=2)