# POLL: How do you pronounce the word "mushy"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 18, 2022, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-mushy/959716 "2022-02-18T01:20:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-mushy/959716/61 "2022-02-18T20:13:41Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > the vast majority of the area Which is, of course, very far from the vast majority of the people. The vast majority of the UK , while not RP, certainly sits closer to the RP side than the Oop Norf, gooin’ doon t’pit side. ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-mushy/959716/62 "2022-02-18T20:36:10Z")
> [@Folly](#): > > Usually option 2, but occasionally option 1 and I can’t tell you when or why because I don’t know. I’m the exact opposite (usually 1, but occasionally 2). I am willing to participate in a study with you to see if both phenomena are the result of the same circumstance. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-mushy/959716/63 "2022-02-18T20:53:04Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > I’m from SW Durham in the UK and my wife is from Yorkshire and we both go for option 3. I can’t even understand what distinction those first two options are trying to make and none of the replies have so far clarified it either. And I originate 80 miles due west of you, and I’m option 3 as well, and I was likewise unable to figure out what options 1 and 2 were about. Although… > [@Riemann](#): > > Here are the pronunciations of pushy and slushy in U.S. and southern England accents, which are similar: > > [How to pronounce PUSHY in English](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/pronunciation/english/pushy) > > [How to pronounce SLUSHY in English](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/pronunciation/english/slushy) > > But in the N of England, the distinct vowel sound of southern slushy does not exist - it is pronounced the same as pushy above. … presented with those two pronunciations I can hear the difference. IMHO, that’s not how I would hear Pushy pronounced day-to-day (and for the record, I live south of London now, and have done most of my life). That pronunciation of Pushy isn’t **Brief Encounter** English; but it’s (let’s say) 5% of the way there. j ---
**Author:** ![gre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d78d45/32.png) [@gre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gre)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-mushy/959716/64 "2022-02-18T20:57:41Z")
To me, an American, the slushy pronunciation is what I think of as correct, but I pronounce it like bushy because I got some weird speech habits from my mother that I’ve never eradicated. ---
**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:** [February 18, 2022, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-mushy/959716/65 "2022-02-18T21:09:42Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > The vast majority of the UK , while not RP, certainly sits closer to the RP side than the Oop Norf, gooin’ doon t’pit side. I don’t really know what you mean by “closer to RP” than your made-up and badly mangled northern accent. Most people in the UK speak with accents that are very different to RP and as distinct from each other as they are from RP There is a certain small section of the home counties that are close to RP, other than that It [just isn’t very common](https://www.bl.uk/british-accents-and-dialects/articles/received-pronunciation#:~:text=RP%20is%20probably%20the%20most,its%20prestige%20status%20in%20Wales.). Most of London isn’t close to RP, Nor Scotland, Northern Ireland or Wales, There’s nearly 20 million without breaking sweat. Not most of the other counties either. ---
**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:** [February 18, 2022, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-mushy/959716/66 "2022-02-18T21:13:17Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > … presented with those two pronunciations I can hear the difference. IMHO, that’s not how I would hear Pushy pronounced day-to-day (and for the record, I live south of London now, and have done most of my life). That pronunciation of Pushy isn’t **Brief Encounter** English; but it’s (let’s say) 5% of the way there. Agreed, I’m in the south east now and it isn’t how I’d typically hear it either though a small proportion of people would pronounce similar vowels in that manner. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-mushy/959716/67 "2022-02-18T21:41:10Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > > [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > > > I took the complaint to mean that it was _not_ a matter of opinion–that there was a right way to pronounce it and any other was wrong. I disagree. > > Yeah, there’s always someone, in matters of language, who says THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY AND THIS WAY IS RIGHT, AND IT HAPPENS TO BE MY WAY AND THE WAY I WAS TAUGHT!! and they are always wrong. Always. I took it as completely good-natured joking around, nothing more. The well-liked poster above who all but said “my pronunciation is the only correct one” was obviously kidding. Don’t we all secretly feel that way inside, though? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-mushy/959716/68 "2022-02-18T21:44:35Z")
> [@Briny\_Deep](#): > > I took it as completely good-natured joking around, nothing more. Possibly, but parochial language peeving so widespread, it’s difficult to know. And I seem to recall that the commenter in question some history along these lines in language threads. > [@Briny\_Deep](#): > > Don’t we all secretly feel that way inside, though? No, we really don’t. You are projecting. ---
**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:** [February 18, 2022, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-mushy/959716/69 "2022-02-18T21:53:48Z")
> [@Briny\_Deep](#): > > I took it as completely good-natured joking around, nothing more. The well-liked poster above who all but said “my pronunciation is the only correct one” was obviously kidding. Don’t we all secretly feel that way inside, though? You clearly don’t hang around in enough pronunciation/grammar/usage threads here on the Dope. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-mushy/959716/70 "2022-02-18T21:57:27Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > No, we really don’t. You are projecting. OK then, I will own that. It just is my little inner 10-year-old chauvinist; don’t take him seriously. I have enjoyed learning from the technical discussion in this thread, though! I’ll remember the strut/foot distinction. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-mushy/959716/71 "2022-02-18T22:15:21Z")
Well, I suppose I should clarify that. Of course we all have a strong intuitive sense of what _feels right to us_ in language usage, based on the dialect of our own time and place. But I think most people understand that other people from other times and places speak different dialects (or just have different accents) which feel equally right and natural _to them_. And that applying terms like “right” and “wrong” to these differences is a category error. I’m always surprised (not just with language) how bad some people seem to be at distinguishing arbitrary features based on local custom and culture from features that are based on more fundamental non-arbitrary principles. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-mushy/959716/72 "2022-02-18T22:32:57Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > And that applying terms like “right” and “wrong” to these differences is a category error. Right. I took this to be self-evident, to the point that to claim otherwise is laughable. But as @pulykamell said, I probably don’t hang around these usage and pronunciation threads enough. ---
**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:** [February 18, 2022, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-mushy/959716/73 "2022-02-18T22:45:41Z")
> [@Briny\_Deep](#): > > Right. I took this to be self-evident, to the point that to claim otherwise is laughable. You seem to hang around sensible people. This is not just a Dope phenomenon, at all. I find this attitude expressed a lot in mainstream message boards and Facebook groups and stuff like that, where people love to “correct” points of pronunciation and grammar that vary by dialect, and if you don’t say it the way they perceive as “correct”, you must be uneducated. (I speak in mostly prestige dialect English when I want to, but to hear people cast aspersions and assumptions of intelligence on another’s choice of words or pronunciation is something I find annoying as hell.) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-mushy/959716/74 "2022-02-18T23:13:11Z")
Did I miss something or do people really think that tushie rhymes with pushy rather than slushie or mushy? ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-mushy/959716/75 "2022-02-18T23:16:39Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > tushie rhymes with pushy rather than slushie or mushy? In my dialect tushie rhymes with pushy and slushie rhymes with mushy. ---
**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:** [February 18, 2022, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-mushy/959716/76 "2022-02-18T23:57:14Z")
“Tushie” absolutely rhymes with “pushy” in my dialect (Great Lakes). Both said with an /ʊ/ as in “book” sound. “Tushie” with an /ʌ/ as in “butt” or “slush” in dialects that discern the two just sounds really … weird. I have never heard “tushie” to rhyme with “slushie” with the /ʌ/ sound. Like here (press the speaker button): > **[Definition of tushie | Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/tushie)** > > Tushie definition, the buttocks. See more. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2022, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-mushy/959716/77 "2022-02-19T00:40:51Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I use both. For UK Mushy Peas it’s option 2. > For things like a muddy river bank you sink into, that’s mushy option 1. Same. I think about how I say the verb form: I mush things together, those things might be mushy (both sound like push). At some point in my life, I learned about “mushy peas”, which is a compound noun in my mind, and the “mush” part sounds like the mush in mushroom. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2022, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-mushy/959716/78 "2022-02-19T00:44:02Z")
> [@Folly](#): > > In my dialect tushie rhymes with pushy and slushie rhymes with mushy. > [@pulykamell](#): > > “Tushie” absolutely rhymes with “pushy” in my dialect (Great Lakes). Interesting. I’m trying to think of an example of my hearing that pronunciation and I’m pulling a blank. Just another oddity of English. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2022, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-mushy/959716/79 "2022-02-19T03:15:08Z")
All of the examples in this video rhyme _tush_ with _push_: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMCSnRkBXEE) However, I note that they get the IPA wrong, as it should be /tʊʃ/. ---
**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:** [February 19, 2022, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-mushy/959716/80 "2022-02-19T08:11:10Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Did I miss something or do people really think that tushie rhymes with pushy rather than slushie or mushy? It is very common in the UK for all those to rhyme. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-mushy/959716.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-word-mushy/959716.md?page=5)