# 'u' with 'oo' sound **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 19, 2019, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-with-oo-sound/838878 "2019-08-19T09:42:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [August 20, 2019, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-with-oo-sound/838878/41 "2019-08-20T23:47:07Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > 1. What English words do you know that use u for oo sound? SCUBA. a ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-with-oo-sound/838878/42 "2019-08-21T00:50:15Z")
Ruby Tuesday, who could hang a name on you? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-with-oo-sound/838878/43 "2019-08-21T02:13:17Z")
Ra-ra-Rasputin Lover of the Russian queen There was a cat that really was gone ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-with-oo-sound/838878/44 "2019-08-21T02:20:18Z")
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure-dome decree ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-with-oo-sound/838878/45 "2019-08-21T02:24:36Z")
The set that’s smart is intruding at nudist parties in studios; anything goes! ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-with-oo-sound/838878/46 "2019-08-21T02:45:39Z")
In the US, the name “Luke” is pronounced along a range from a straight-up L-oo-k (rhymes with “moon” or “spoon”) — no lip movement toward a “kiss” — to just a bit of such lip movement, more of a “lewk.” In many British-y countries, certainly in the British English as pronounced by some South Asians, an “ee” is indeed inserted before the “oo,” with or without that lip rounding at the end — hence, “lee-ook” or “lee-ewk.” ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-with-oo-sound/838878/47 "2019-08-21T02:52:44Z")
(If the tongue happens to be high against the palate, I can see this as an IPA /j/, but I can hardly hear the difference between this and a normal “ee” in this situation). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-with-oo-sound/838878/48 "2019-08-21T10:33:45Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > In the US, the name “Luke” is pronounced along a range from a straight-up L-oo-k (rhymes with “moon” or “spoon”) — no lip movement toward a “kiss” — to just a bit of such lip movement, more of a “lewk.” How about “Ruth”? (“Ruthless,” too, I guess.) That’s just R-oo-th, right? You’d have to pretty much _parody_ a Southern accent to get R-ee-oo-th. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-with-oo-sound/838878/49 "2019-08-21T10:59:20Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > How about “Ruth”? (“Ruthless,” too, I guess.) That’s just R-oo-th, right? You’d have to pretty much _parody_ a Southern accent to get R-ee-oo-th. Tree-oo dat. ---
**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:** [August 21, 2019, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-with-oo-sound/838878/50 "2019-08-21T14:09:36Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > There are even languages where a “long vowel” and a “short vowel” are exactly the same except for length of actual pronunciation, they are the same sound. Hungarian would be one of those. Hungarian has pairs for all the vowels: [a, á], [e, é], [i, í], [o, ó], [ö,ő], [u, ú], [ü, ű]. In the first two pairs, in addition to length, the sound does slightly change, but in all the others, the only difference is length. In IPA, they would be [ɒ, aː], [ɛ, eː] and then [i, i:]. [o, o:], [ø, ø:], [u, u:], [y, y:]. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-with-oo-sound/838878.md?page=2)