# \-OO- pronounced as -u- **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 28, 2021, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oo-pronounced-as-u/931727 "2021-01-28T23:30:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2021, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oo-pronounced-as-u/931727/1 "2021-01-28T23:30:18Z")
On another forum somebody asked the following question, set by his teacher. There are three words where -oo- is pronounced as -u-, (IPA ^) one is BLOOD, another is FLOOD, find the third. (Variants of the two given words such as BLOODY, or FLOODED are excluded) If it’s asked by a teacher, there presumably is an actual third word. I hope it’s not another -gry question. I’ve been thinking, and googling, and I can’t find an answer. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oo-pronounced-as-u/931727/2 "2021-01-29T01:46:25Z")
Looking on Wikitionary for rhymes, I found ablood which is considered to be an archaic word. > **['sblood definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/sblood)** > > 'sblood definition: God's blood | Meaning, pronunciation, translations and examples Basically it seems like another -gry question. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oo-pronounced-as-u/931727/3 "2021-01-29T01:57:49Z")
> [@Die\_Capacitrix](#): > > I found ablood which is considered to be an archaic word. You may be the victim of autocorrect, but it’s 'sblood, a contraction of God’s blood. It seems at best a variant of blood. ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oo-pronounced-as-u/931727/4 "2021-01-29T02:10:05Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > You may be the victim of autocorrect, but it’s 'sblood, a contraction of God’s blood. It seems at best a variant of blood. No, I’m a victim of insomnia and meant to add another link. [ablood](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ablood) ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oo-pronounced-as-u/931727/5 "2021-01-29T02:23:00Z")
It doesn’t say it has to be -ood. Anybody know a word with -oo- as a schwa? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oo-pronounced-as-u/931727/6 "2021-01-29T02:34:29Z")
How about tookus? It’s more usually spelled tuckus or tuchus but I’ve found cites for tookus as a variant spelling. ---
**Author:** ![kk\_fusion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kk_fusion/32/15276_2.png) [@kk\_fusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kk_fusion)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oo-pronounced-as-u/931727/7 "2021-01-29T02:58:30Z")
_Haroomph_ is sometimes used as a noun. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oo-pronounced-as-u/931727/8 "2021-01-29T03:05:34Z")
My cursory search of the internet where this oo as /^/ is discussed seems to suggest those are the only two words. Or at least a third hasn’t been brought up as a suggestion. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oo-pronounced-as-u/931727/9 "2021-01-29T03:09:40Z")
‘Slood’, the past pluperfect tense of ‘slidden’ is often mispronounced like its presumptive participle ‘slud’. ETA: Almost used “it’s” instead of “its”. That would have been an embarrassing grammatical mistake. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oo-pronounced-as-u/931727/10 "2021-01-29T03:11:34Z")
Maybe I’m missing some fine point of pronunciation, but taking the question at face value, I would think that “crook” and “foot” both qualify, as I would pronounce them “cruk” and “fut”. Some people even pronounce “roof” with a “u” sound, though I don’t and it seems to be infrequent. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oo-pronounced-as-u/931727/11 "2021-01-29T05:25:57Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > I would think that “crook” and “foot” both qualify, as I would pronounce them “cruk” and “fut”. Some people even pronounce “roof” with a “u” sound Is this a Canada thing? Noone of thoose woords rhyme with blood or flood that I’ve ever heard. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oo-pronounced-as-u/931727/12 "2021-01-29T05:34:21Z")
They certainly have a “u” sound, but in retrospect, you’re right, it’s a different “u” sound. Given that, I’m at a loss to think of a third word that is an exact parallel. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oo-pronounced-as-u/931727/13 "2021-01-29T08:29:03Z")
Good, hood, crook, foot, blood and flood are all have the “oo” pronounced identically for me. I’m sure there are more. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oo-pronounced-as-u/931727/14 "2021-01-29T08:56:06Z")
So you say ‘gud’ and ‘fut’ ? Is that a regional thing? You may say it that way, but I don’t think it’s standard. How do you say ‘food’ ? ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oo-pronounced-as-u/931727/15 "2021-01-29T09:10:13Z")
Food is said differently, but the words **Novelty\_Bobble** listed all more or less share an ‘oo’ sound in much of England at least. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oo-pronounced-as-u/931727/16 "2021-01-29T09:22:11Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > > [@wolfpup](#): > > > > I would think that “crook” and “foot” both qualify, as I would pronounce them “cruk” and “fut”. Some people even pronounce “roof” with a “u” sound > > Is this a Canada thing? Noone of thoose woords rhyme with blood or flood that I’ve ever heard. Possibly a Chicago thing? ---
**Author:** ![Kimble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimble/32/19185_2.png) [@Kimble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimble)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oo-pronounced-as-u/931727/17 "2021-01-29T09:24:00Z")
[Northern English](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language_in_Northern_England) didn’t undergo the [foot-strut split](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_close_back_vowels#Foot%E2%80%93strut_split), so none of their words have the /ʌ/ sound that we’re trying to spell with “oo”. (They’re all pronounced with /ʊ/ as in foot.) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oo-pronounced-as-u/931727/18 "2021-01-29T09:59:15Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > the words **Novelty\_Bobble** listed all more or less share an ‘oo’ sound in much of England at least. It’s a ‘northern’ thing (or that is how it’s commonly characterised. I imagine it might actually be an ‘everywhere but a fairly small southern-region’ thing). in 1991, I (a southerner all my life) was working in Hull. A local asked me "Ave yer seen oOok?'. I looked around, confused, thinking they were talking about something in the room. They repeated “no, ave yer seen OoOk?” I said… “no, I don’t think so” “The fillum. oOok. Wi Robin Williams!” > **[Hook (1991) ⭐ 6.8 | Adventure, Comedy, Family](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102057/)** > > 2h 22m | PG ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oo-pronounced-as-u/931727/19 "2021-01-29T10:10:54Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > So you say ‘gud’ and ‘fut’ ? Is that a regional thing? > > You may say it that way, but I don’t think it’s standard. > > How do you say ‘food’ ? Very widespread in the UK and not just the North. I live in the south east now and it is the same here. So if “standard” pronunciation means anything then it applies here. Certainly “good” seems pretty universally pronounced the same as blood, could, would, should, etc. In the UK. I can’t ever remembering it pronounced in any alternative way. “food” is a different beast. the long “oooo” sound is predominant but “fud” is common enough not to raise too much comment. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oo-pronounced-as-u/931727/20 "2021-01-29T10:24:43Z")
😃 Well, yeah- how the ‘oo’ is pronounced varies an awful lot across the country, but even among those who visit the pond in the park to feed the dacks tend to say that list with more-or-less vowel consistency. There are some exceptions- I have a slight difference in the vowel in ‘book’ to the others, and my very _very_ Northern Aunt used to say ‘crook’ to rhyme with ‘fluke’, but most places I’ve lived I’ve heard the same vowel in most. Do you say any differently? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oo-pronounced-as-u/931727.md?page=2)