# Do "thing" and "sing" rhyme to you? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 13, 2012, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-thing-and-sing-rhyme-to-you/612718 "2012-02-13T16:27:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Jasper\_Kent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9a28c/32.png) [@Jasper\_Kent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasper_Kent)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-thing-and-sing-rhyme-to-you/612718/101 "2012-02-14T15:39:03Z")
When people tried to “axe” me something, I used to say “God, no! Please don’t **axe** me!” But nobody got the joke, so now I just let it slide. My mom, who in most cases is a stickler for pronunciation, drives me nuts with this: she pronounces “leash” (as in what you use to walk a dog) as “lish” (rhymes with “dish”). I stopped correcting her many years ago because she honestly cannot hear the difference in the two sounds. She’s from Hamilton, OH. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-thing-and-sing-rhyme-to-you/612718/102 "2012-02-14T15:48:07Z")
> [@Homo\_litoralis](#): > > I say _theng_. I hear most folks say _theng_. I bet even some of you who’ve posted here to the contrary say _theng_. _Theng_ does not rhyme with _sing_. _Sing_ rhymes with _ring_. Theng? I don’t know if I’ve ever heard anyone pronounce ‘thing’ this way. ‘Thing’ yes, ‘thang’ sometimes, but only when I travel to the South, and even then very infrequently, but ‘theng’? Do you pronounce ‘king’ as ‘keng’ or ‘bring’ as ‘breng’ as well? ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-thing-and-sing-rhyme-to-you/612718/103 "2012-02-14T16:01:40Z")
> [@Jasper\_Kent](#): > > When people tried to “axe” me something, I used to say “God, no! Please don’t **axe** me!” But nobody got the joke, so now I just let it slide. > > My mom, who in most cases is a stickler for pronunciation, drives me nuts with this: she pronounces “leash” (as in what you use to walk a dog) as “lish” (rhymes with “dish”). I stopped correcting her many years ago because she honestly cannot hear the difference in the two sounds. She’s from Hamilton, OH. I’ve heard others claim that they don’t hear the difference between the proper pronunciation of a word and how they pronounce it. I can (somewhat) understand getting into a habit of pronouncing a word differently than the standard, but I can’t wrap my brain around when someone says they can’t even hear the difference between the two. For example, ‘wheel’ and ‘will’ are not homonyms, but I’ve been told by someone that they sound exactly alike to them, and they pronounce them both kind of like ‘wiuhl’. What I don’t understand, however, is they claim they don’t hear the difference even when I pronounce the words in front of them. How is that even possible? ---
**Author:** ![Jasper\_Kent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9a28c/32.png) [@Jasper\_Kent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasper_Kent)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-thing-and-sing-rhyme-to-you/612718/104 "2012-02-14T16:09:47Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > I’ve heard others claim that they don’t hear the difference between the proper pronunciation of a word and how they pronounce it. I can (somewhat) understand getting into a habit of pronouncing a word differently than the standard, but I can’t wrap my brain around when someone says they can’t even hear the difference between the two… What I don’t understand, however, is they claim they don’t hear the difference even when I pronounce the words in front of them. How is that even possible? I don’t get it, either, but I’ve encountered this phenomenon on several occasions. I wonder if there is a physiological explanation-- something akin to being tone deaf or color blind? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-thing-and-sing-rhyme-to-you/612718/105 "2012-02-14T16:35:43Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > I’ve definitely heard “thing” pronounced “thang” in the South, but the same speakers would, I think, also pronounce “sing” as “sang.” Maybe they still need to differentiate between present and past tense of a verb? ---
**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:** [February 14, 2012, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-thing-and-sing-rhyme-to-you/612718/106 "2012-02-14T17:10:12Z")
> [@Jasper\_Kent](#): > > When people tried to “axe” me something, I used to say “God, no! Please don’t **axe** me!” But nobody got the joke, so now I just let it slide. Good try, though. This transposition of sounds (called [metathesis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metathesis_(linguistics))) is a common, natural, and perfectly logical phonological phenomenon. That is to say, it’s not just “sloppy” speech. Some people, who apparently have no problem when it happens with words like _ **prescription** _, totally freak out when they hear it in _ **ask** _. It’s good to see someone approach it with some humor. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-thing-and-sing-rhyme-to-you/612718/107 "2012-02-14T17:50:28Z")
> [@Jasper\_Kent](#): > > I don’t get it, either, but I’ve encountered this phenomenon on several occasions. I wonder if there is a physiological explanation-- something akin to being tone deaf or color blind? I’m afraid I did this all the time in high school German. The teacher would say something, I would repeat it, he would try to correct me, and I couldn’t really hear the difference between what I was saying and what he was saying, although I’m sure the poor man was cringing inside. We would go to the language lab, and I would think I was repeating correctly, but I wasn’t. I really couldn’t hear a difference. I don’t know what it’s called, but I had it. ---
**Author:** ![BetsQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-thing-and-sing-rhyme-to-you/612718/108 "2012-02-14T18:43:27Z")
> [@Jasper\_Kent](#): > > I don’t get it, either, but I’ve encountered this phenomenon on several occasions. I wonder if there is a physiological explanation-- something akin to being tone deaf or color blind? I think it’s probably not necessary for me to confess that if something like this exists, I probably have it. Like Pai325 described, my attempts at learning foreign languages have been disastrous. Reading and writing are fine, but trying to mimic pronunciations is very, very difficult. I asked a bunch of people to say “thing” for me yesterday. It sounds like “thang” or “theng” to me. Also, upon reflection, I’m pretty sure that the reason I don’t think “something” rhymes with “thing” is because I say “sumthin”. Awesome. Maybe I am Larry the Cable Guy. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-thing-and-sing-rhyme-to-you/612718/109 "2012-02-14T19:13:44Z")
> [@Pai325](#): > > I’m afraid I did this all the time in high school German. The teacher would say something, I would repeat it, he would try to correct me, and I couldn’t really hear the difference between what I was saying and what he was saying, although I’m sure the poor man was cringing inside. We would go to the language lab, and I would think I was repeating correctly, but I wasn’t. I really couldn’t hear a difference. I don’t know what it’s called, but I had it. This is where foreign accents come from, IIRC. When you learn a language young you learn certain phonemes. If a phoneme isn’t used in your language, you don’t learn it, and it’s indistinguishable from other similar phonemes you do know, but people who do know it will hear the difference. I can sometimes hear those differences if I listen really closely, but not always. If when learning a language, I was having trouble distinguishing between similar unfamiliar and familiar phonemes, I would want to know tongue, lip, and teeth positions of the troublesome word. Different languages, like foods, have different mouth feels. I just realized that for me, thing and something don’t usually rhyme. Add an “ing” to most verbs or gerunds and I don’t usually pronounce the final g. Something has that form even though it isn’t actually, so I lose the final g too. ---
**Author:** ![nikonikosuru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f8ce5/32.png) [@nikonikosuru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nikonikosuru)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-thing-and-sing-rhyme-to-you/612718/110 "2012-02-14T19:59:01Z")
Michigan here. Thing and sing rhyme to me. Get and wet though…not so much. Depends on how you pronounce get. It feels odd to pronouce it as “geht”, I’m more used to “git.” Huh. ---
**Author:** ![Homo\_litoralis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homo\_litoralis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homo_litoralis)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-thing-and-sing-rhyme-to-you/612718/111 "2012-02-14T22:24:45Z")
> [@Omega\_Glory](#): > > I wish you could upload audio of you saying these words, because neither of these paragraphs make any sense to me. Does the middle portion of think sound like the word hen for you? Sort of. _Hen_ and _think_ have the same vowel sound to my ear. I can progress from _hen_ to _then_ to _theng_ to _thing_ to _think_ without consciously changing the vowel sound. And here all along I’ve considered my accent to be a sort of generic, nondescript Midwestern-borne variety. I’m gonna hafta thenk twice bout this theng. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-thing-and-sing-rhyme-to-you/612718/112 "2012-02-14T22:47:12Z")
> [@Jasper\_Kent](#): > > I don’t get it, either, but I’ve encountered this phenomenon on several occasions. I wonder if there is a physiological explanation-- something akin to being tone deaf or color blind? It’s not a persnal thing, it’s a dialect thing. You often cannot hear very subtle differences in pronounciation unless they’re differences that your brain is trained to perceive. Try learning a different language. You’ll find out REALLY quickly how many pronounciation differences you have trouble perceiving. As to “ask,” I would point out that “aks” used to be how it was said, and anyway 95% of language snobs can’t pronounce “diphthong.” ---
**Author:** ![Homo\_litoralis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homo\_litoralis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homo_litoralis)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-thing-and-sing-rhyme-to-you/612718/113 "2012-02-14T22:47:56Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > Theng? I don’t know if I’ve ever heard anyone pronounce ‘thing’ this way. ‘Thing’ yes, ‘thang’ sometimes, but only when I travel to the South, and even then very infrequently, but ‘theng’? Do you pronounce ‘king’ as ‘keng’ or ‘bring’ as ‘breng’ as well? Not only do I think I pronounce _thing_ as _theng_, but my ears hear most other Americans say it that way too unless they’re, for example, a slack-jawed southerner or a New York wiseguy. _King, bring, sing, something, nothing, rink, link_ and _trinket_ all have the same long _e_ sound to my ear, as if I really am saying _keeng, breeng_ and _seeng_. I’m astonished that nobody else recognizes _theng_ as the way to say that dang word. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-thing-and-sing-rhyme-to-you/612718/114 "2012-02-15T02:55:57Z")
> [@Jasper\_Kent](#): > > My mom, who in most cases is a stickler for pronunciation, drives me nuts with this: she pronounces “leash” (as in what you use to walk a dog) as “lish” (rhymes with “dish”). I stopped correcting her many years ago because she honestly cannot hear the difference in the two sounds. She’s from Hamilton, OH. Mine occasionally talks about the state of Wyome. Moms are weird. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-thing-and-sing-rhyme-to-you/612718/115 "2012-02-15T04:27:34Z")
Both pairs rhyme. (Anglophone Quebecker, grew up in Winnipeg). On the other hand, “rider” and “writer” differ only in their initial vowel, not their middle consonant. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Polerius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d78d45/32.png) [@Polerius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polerius)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-thing-and-sing-rhyme-to-you/612718/116 "2012-02-15T05:55:02Z")
Both pairs rhyme for me as well. [Here’s how I say them](http://soundkey.com/h6mead). I’d be curious to hear them pronounced by people for whom they don’t rhyme. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-thing-and-sing-rhyme-to-you/612718/117 "2012-02-15T06:10:13Z")
> [@Homo\_litoralis](#): > > Not only do I think I pronounce _thing_ as _theng_, but my ears hear most other Americans say it that way too unless they’re, for example, a slack-jawed southerner or a New York wiseguy. > > _King, bring, sing, something, nothing, rink, link_ and _trinket_ all have the same long _e_ sound to my ear, as if I really am saying _keeng, breeng_ and _seeng_. > > I’m astonished that nobody else recognizes _theng_ as the way to say that dang word. 😕 Can you record yourself saying these words? Because I can’t even imagine anyone pronouncing them that way. Is there an example on YouTube? I don’t believe I have \*ever \*heard those words said with a long e. (Unless it was in some kind of weird exaggerated Mexican accent.) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-thing-and-sing-rhyme-to-you/612718/118 "2012-02-15T12:57:40Z")
To me both of the sets of words in the OP unquestionably rhyme, and it seems to me that they do in the “Neutral English” that seems to be standard on TV and other widesporead media. I agree with **Eyebrows** that I can’t imagine **Homo lieralis** ’ weird “ee” pronunciation of “i”. It looks to me the way that the Frito Bandito and other now-politically-incorrect cartoon characters pronounced words, and to do that would make the speaker seem to have an exaggerated hispanic accent. Here’s my own blind spot to throw into this duiscussion: I once a discussion (in print) about the way that “some people pronounce _singer_ and _finger_ the same way…” My reaction was “_Arebn’t_ they pronounced the same way?” I was certainly raised to think so. But apparently it’s very common for people to bury the “g” in “singer” by nasalizing it, but to fully voice the one in “finger”, so they come out as _sin’er_ and _finger_. \* How do others feel about these two? \*and to all those who say “You probably don’t notice that you yourself pronounce “singer” and “finger” differently” – Nope. I’ve listened to me. I definitely pronounce them the same way, and see nothing odd about it. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-thing-and-sing-rhyme-to-you/612718/119 "2012-02-15T13:14:15Z")
Both pairs rhyme - mid-Atlantic with a touch of Pennsylvania Dutch (to this day I can’t say the word “route” without having a mental argument about the vowel sound). I’m in the UK now and recently had a discussion with a friend who pointed out that in his accent “fear” and “year” don’t remotely rhyme (the latter being basically “yuh”). ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-thing-and-sing-rhyme-to-you/612718/120 "2012-02-15T13:28:20Z")
> [@Homo\_litoralis](#): > > _King, bring, sing, something, nothing, rink, link_ and _trinket_ all have the same long _e_ sound to my ear, as if I really am saying _keeng, breeng_ and _seeng_. It sounds like you have a stereotypical Mexican accent. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-thing-and-sing-rhyme-to-you/612718.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-thing-and-sing-rhyme-to-you/612718.md?page=7)