# Vowelless words

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vowelless-words/172905>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 3, 2003, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vowelless-words/172905 "2003-05-03T20:35:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vowelless-words/172905/21 "2003-05-04T09:19:58Z")

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In Cantonese, and common family name is “Ng”, which is romanized in Mandarin as “Wu”

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**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vowelless-words/172905/22 "2003-05-04T09:39:26Z")

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Is “¡xo” a word, or just a letter? It’s from that African “clicking language” (Bushman?).

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**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vowelless-words/172905/23 "2003-05-04T10:13:34Z")

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As Scrabble champion of the universe, I’m pleased to find a question I actually know the answer to. What everybody else said plus:

-mm  
-pht  
-brr  
-phpht

…and a whole bunch of other words with y.

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**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vowelless-words/172905/24 "2003-05-04T10:18:22Z")

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Somewhere along the line, cwm was respelled for the non-Welsh as quim. As quim, its main use is as a euphemism for vagina. “Let’s go down to the quim” has quite a different meaning.

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**Author:** ![daniel801](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@daniel801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/daniel801)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vowelless-words/172905/25 "2003-05-04T17:46:31Z")

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AWB: I posted “rhythm” based on the fact that the y has a short sound. Cry and try, etc., have long y sounds. Maybe this is off base, but I thought the short/long sound had something to do with whether the y was considered a vowel.

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**Author:** ![brianmelendez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/65b543/32.png) [@brianmelendez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianmelendez)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vowelless-words/172905/26 "2003-05-04T18:21:03Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by daniel801 \*  
> \*\*AWB: I posted “rhythm” based on the fact that the y has a short sound. Cry and try, etc., have long y sounds. Maybe this is off base, but I thought the short/long sound had something to do with whether the y was considered a vowel. \*\*

No. The letter _y_ does not stop functioning as a vowel when it is making a “short” vowel sound any more than does any other vowel. For example, the _i_ in _with_ is still a vowel even though it is not a “long” vowel sound.

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**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vowelless-words/172905/27 "2003-05-05T10:50:15Z")

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“Strc prst strz krk” = “Put your finger through your throat” in Slovakian.

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**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vowelless-words/172905/28 "2003-05-05T16:10:23Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Sternvogel \*  
> \*\*Suzee [Vlk](http://www.allbookstores.com/browse/Author/Vlk,%20Suzee), of whom I learned when she appeared on _Jeopardy!_
> 
> I once knew a man named Edward **Srp**. \*\*

In the languages of those names’ origins, the sounds represented by “l” and “r” are vowels.

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