# What happens when Wheel of Fortune is wrong? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 28, 2017, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-wheel-of-fortune-is-wrong/790097 "2017-06-28T23:28:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [June 29, 2017, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-wheel-of-fortune-is-wrong/790097/21 "2017-06-29T03:47:20Z")
Just quickly searching on the net, it does appear that some people do pronounce the two words the same, or at least [very similarly](https://forum.unilang.org/viewtopic.php?t=11709). Or see [this link](http://www.antimoon.com/forum/t11073.htm). Or [looksie here](http://www.incatena.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=44340). The “gulf-golf” merger does appear to be a thing. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-wheel-of-fortune-is-wrong/790097/22 "2017-06-29T04:02:16Z")
I know people who call those big-ass see creatures that eat krill a “Well”. :rolleyes: Can’t stand it. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-wheel-of-fortune-is-wrong/790097/23 "2017-06-29T04:03:57Z")
Is there any reason why we need to keep doing this about everything? Don’t people realize there are things called accents? Are you that daft? Sent from my XT1635-02 using Tapatalk ---
**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:** [June 29, 2017, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-wheel-of-fortune-is-wrong/790097/24 "2017-06-29T04:39:52Z")
I’m aware of accents, but I was unaware of this particular merger. And I do know that shows like Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy are very anal about pronunciation. Especially in a case where it could sound like a different word. While I’m sure I’ve said the two words identically, it would only be because I was speaking quickly. I had not realized there was a hull/hall merger. Even [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English-language_vowel_changes_before_historic_/l/) only lists it as a merger that requires more study. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-wheel-of-fortune-is-wrong/790097/25 "2017-06-29T05:13:05Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Is there any reason why we need to keep doing this about everything? > Don’t people realize there are things called accents? > Are you that daft? > > Sent from my XT1635-02 using Tapatalk I get there are accents, but I find it odd that WoF would split hairs over this particular pronunciation. I’m not sure what the OP is describing. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-wheel-of-fortune-is-wrong/790097/26 "2017-06-29T07:21:00Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Galf? ɑ is definitely the vowel in golf in most accents I’m familiar with, most of the others using ʌ, which is also the vowel most common in gulf, IME…though I have heard ɑ, to make things more confusing! ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-wheel-of-fortune-is-wrong/790097/27 "2017-06-29T07:52:51Z")
Those two words definitely aren’t homophones to me - Golf is pronounced something like “Gohl-ph” while Gulf is “Gull-ph”. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-wheel-of-fortune-is-wrong/790097/28 "2017-06-29T08:17:19Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > I get there are accents, but I find it odd that WoF would split hairs over this particular pronunciation. I’m not sure what the OP is describing. My impression is that they don’t, but the OP wants them to do so. ---
**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:** [June 29, 2017, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-wheel-of-fortune-is-wrong/790097/29 "2017-06-29T09:01:02Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > OK, to the OP, what do you hear for the second pronunciation [here for “gulf stream.”](https://forvo.com/word/gulf_stream/#en) > > To me, I can hear it either as “golf stream” or “gulf stream,” depending on what I’m expecting to hear. Actually, even with the first pronunciation, it can be ambiguous to me. I hear the same. The two vowels are actually pretty close, especially in some dialects, and adding the /l/ makes it harder to distinguish. So does anyone actually have a clip of this? Maybe the OP just misheard it. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-wheel-of-fortune-is-wrong/790097/30 "2017-06-29T09:38:52Z")
Here is the famous [“buttinsky” episode](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhJM3SrR1pA). They went through the panel twice and each contestant said “buttinsky” the same way. Finally when they got back to the first contestant, he said it the same way yet again, and they gave it to him. When Pat approached him, he told Pat that he said the same thing, and Pat softly told him to be quiet. It is unknown what exactly the producers were looking for or what kind of weird pronunciation they were expecting. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-wheel-of-fortune-is-wrong/790097/31 "2017-06-29T09:57:20Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > “Pen” and “pin”? For each of those, there are some dialects which distinguish them, and some which don’t. I don’t encounter confusion with my Kiwi accent very often, I’ve been here in Australia so long it’s evolved, but occasionally it rears its head. A couple of months ago I went into a crafts store and asked for pins. They thought I said “pens” until I repeated myself in the accent they were familiar with. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-wheel-of-fortune-is-wrong/790097/32 "2017-06-29T11:20:31Z")
> [@Alley\_Dweller](#): > > Here is the famous [“buttinsky” episode](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhJM3SrR1pA). > > They went through the panel twice and each contestant said “buttinsky” the same way. Finally when they got back to the first contestant, he said it the same way yet again, and they gave it to him. When Pat approached him, he told Pat that he said the same thing, and Pat softly told him to be quiet. > > It is unknown what exactly the producers were looking for or what kind of weird pronunciation they were expecting. It looked like they were looking for “BUH’din’ski”, but the closest anyone came was “BUTT’in’ski”, over-pronouncing the Ts. Though, that was really weird, and the producers should have let it slide, especially with slang. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-wheel-of-fortune-is-wrong/790097/33 "2017-06-29T13:24:18Z")
I teach a packaged phonics course to my students, and one thread throughout the course is homophones (which they infuriatingly call “sound-alike words.” Fuck you phonics people, they’re HOMOPHONES). I live in the South, and for almost all my students, “pen” and “pin” are pronounced similarly–but that homophone pair doesn’t show up in the lessons. What does show up is “farther” and “father.” Which makes the room exploded in laughter. Gives me a chance to show them where Boston is on the map, though. ---
**Author:** ![toast\_pakora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@toast\_pakora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toast_pakora)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-wheel-of-fortune-is-wrong/790097/34 "2017-06-29T13:44:42Z")
okay that made me laugh. I pronounce all the words mentioned in this thread distinctly different, like how is it even an issue?.. and then I got to farther and father. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-wheel-of-fortune-is-wrong/790097/35 "2017-06-29T14:11:20Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > That depends on your dialect. Can you hear the difference between “Mary”, “marry”, and “merry”? How about “cot” and “caught”? “Aunt” and “ant”? “Pen” and “pin”? For each of those, there are some dialects which distinguish them, and some which don’t. Mad Men had a couple lines around the supposed similarities between “Don” and “Dawn”. Which are pronounced completely separately in my neck of the woods and didn’t realize the joke until people here were talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-wheel-of-fortune-is-wrong/790097/36 "2017-06-29T14:33:13Z")
Another one I’ve encountered occasionally is “Duty” and “Doody” apparently sounding alike - not in this part of the world, though. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-wheel-of-fortune-is-wrong/790097/37 "2017-06-29T14:36:23Z")
I often wonder if the contestants omit the s sound in solving puzzles with plural words in them. Half the time I can’t tell if they’re asking for m or n, or for b or t or whatever. ---
**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:** [June 29, 2017, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-wheel-of-fortune-is-wrong/790097/38 "2017-06-29T14:48:31Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > Another one I’ve encountered occasionally is “Duty” and “Doody” apparently sounding alike - not in this part of the world, though. Yeah, in American (and many other varieties of) English, those are both usually pronounced with a “flap.” That specific context and sound is called an [intervocalic (alveolar) flap.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flapping) It is usually heard as a “d” sound, but it’s articulated slightly differently than the standard “d.” ---
**Author:** ![Randolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Randolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randolph)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-wheel-of-fortune-is-wrong/790097/39 "2017-06-29T14:56:38Z")
… [QUOTE=Carl Spackler] Check me if I’m wrong Sandy, but if I kill all the golfers, they’re gonna lock me up and throw away the key… [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-wheel-of-fortune-is-wrong/790097/40 "2017-06-29T19:43:26Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Is there any reason why we need to keep doing this about everything? > Don’t people realize there are things called accents? > Are you that daft? > > Sent from my XT1635-02 using Tapatalk This is both THREADSHITTING AND INSULTING. Don’t do this in topics. If you don’t care for a topic, you don’t have to post in it. Don’t do this again. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-wheel-of-fortune-is-wrong/790097.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-wheel-of-fortune-is-wrong/790097.md?page=3)