# Why is there the "wh" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 2, 2005, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-the-wh/292609 "2005-03-02T17:02:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-the-wh/292609/41 "2005-03-18T10:47:16Z")
Of course this is a regional thing. All of the edge cases of English pronunciation will have regional variation; that’s what dialects are for. 😉 First off, I’m from southern Illinois, but I spent much of my childhood in southeast Missouri. I suppose I have a vaguely Midwestern accent: I say ‘soda’ and not ‘pop’, I ‘wash’ instead of ‘warsh’, and my trees have ‘roots’ instead of ‘ruhts’. (Those examples of things I don’t say come from my grandmother, who has spent her whole life in western Montana.) Anyway, I pronounce what and watt differently enough I can tell them apart without feeling for aspiration: They sound different to my ears, mainly because I use a different vowel sound. ‘What’ has an /a/ pronounced near the front of my mouth, whereas ‘watt’ has an /a/ pronounced higher up. ‘Which’ and ‘witch’ I can feel to be different, but I use the same vowel for each so I can’t hear the difference. Same with ‘why’/‘wye’ and all of the others. I pronounce merry and marry differently, albeit not very, but marry and Mary are homophones in my dialect/accent. Pin and pen aren’t, though; not even close. Cot and caught are homophones, as are hock and hawk and horse and hoarse. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-the-wh/292609/42 "2005-03-18T19:30:22Z")
I’ve read that it’s not a part of any American dialect anymore, though you could almost call “elementary schoolteacher English” a dialect, given how drastically different it is from the way the rest of us speak. I have only ever heard it as a learned sound among people making an effort to be excruciatingly correct. I think it’s an affectation. I wish I knew of a place that had good maps of American English dialects - where’s the isogloss between “mary = merry = marry” and “mary != merry != marry” dialects? ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-the-wh/292609/43 "2005-03-18T19:54:12Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > I’ve read that it’s not a part of any American dialect anymore, though you could almost call “elementary schoolteacher English” a dialect, given how drastically different it is from the way the rest of us speak. I have only ever heard it as a learned sound among people making an effort to be excruciatingly correct. I think it’s an affectation. What you read was wrong. It’s my own dialect. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2006, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-the-wh/292609/44 "2006-11-25T03:41:58Z")
[QUOTE=rfgdxm] caught is cot I pronounce those different. Caught rhyming with ought, and cot with not. [/QUOTE] To me, caught rhymes with ought, cot, and not. I don’t hear or say a difference. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2006, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-the-wh/292609/45 "2006-11-25T03:47:05Z")
[QUOTE=Thudlow Boink] **I** hear/say a difference. “Which witch?” Different sounds! [/QUOTE] There are? ---
**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:** [November 25, 2006, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-the-wh/292609/46 "2006-11-25T06:47:28Z")
Data point: Chicago. I was definitely taught in grammar school that there was a difference, although I do not know of any Chicagoan who makes the distinction. I was taught that “wh” words like “What,” “why,” “where,” should be pronounced, roughly, “hwat,” “hwy,” and “hwere.” I’ve always associated this sound with Southern dialects. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2006, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-the-wh/292609/47 "2006-11-25T09:51:03Z")
[QUOTE=pulykamell] Data point: Chicago. I was definitely taught in grammar school that there was a difference, although I do not know of any Chicagoan who makes the distinction. I was taught that “wh” words like “What,” “why,” “where,” should be pronounced, roughly, “hwat,” “hwy,” and “hwere.” [/QUOTE] I was taught this in Peterborough, Ontario, as well. But I don’t know anyone who actually pronounces it that way. I associate it with British people of my grandmother’s generation (birth 1890 to 1910 or so). ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2006, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-the-wh/292609/48 "2006-11-25T11:51:34Z")
[QUOTE=AWB] I remember in grade school one of my teachers drilling us on the proper pronounciation of words starting with “wh” (whale, what, whether). She’d have us practice pronouncing with our hand in front of our mouth; we were supposed to feel our breath when we’d pronounced it correctly. Thing is, I always thought it sounded the same: what/watt, weather/whether, where/ware (sp). So, is there _really_ supposed to be a difference in how “wh” and “w” are pronounced? (And don’t get me started on “who”, where you can’t even hear a “w” sound!) [/QUOTE] I wonder why anyone would waste time and money to produce an online dictionary with audible pronunciation features. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2006, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-the-wh/292609/49 "2006-11-25T16:50:18Z")
[QUOTE=Excalibre] I’ve read that it’s not a part of any American dialect anymore, though you could almost call “elementary schoolteacher English” a dialect, given how drastically different it is from the way the rest of us speak. I have only ever heard it as a learned sound among people making an effort to be excruciatingly correct. I think it’s an affectation. I wish I knew of a place that had good maps of American English dialects - where’s the isogloss between “mary = merry = marry” and “mary != merry != marry” dialects? [/QUOTE] Ditto others on this thread: the w/wh distinction definitely is part of my (Dallas Region) dialect. The aspiration in the wh, though, is quite soft, and easily drops out in many (maybe even most?) conversational contexts. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2006, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-the-wh/292609/50 "2006-11-26T14:59:17Z")
I’ve always wondered about these two: stock and stalk compliment and complement ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2006, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-the-wh/292609/51 "2006-11-26T15:04:34Z")
[QUOTE=Gymnopithys] I’ve always wondered about these two: stock and stalk [/QUOTE] Those have distinct pronunciations in my southern US dialect. > [@](#): > > compliment and complement Can’t hear a difference here, though. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2006, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-the-wh/292609/52 "2006-11-26T16:36:08Z")
[QUOTE=Gymnopithys] I’ve always wondered about these two: stock and stalk compliment and complement [/QUOTE] For me, the first pair are pronounced differently, while the second are pronounced the same. However, I have probably never actually said “complement” out loud in my entire life. -FrL- ---
**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:** [November 26, 2006, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-the-wh/292609/53 "2006-11-26T16:46:28Z")
[QUOTE=Gymnopithys] I’ve always wondered about these two: stock and stalk [/quote] Different. _Stock_ has a short _o_. _Stalk_ has an _aw_ sound. > [@](#): > > compliment and complement The same. I will say them differently to myself when making sure I type out the correct word, but they are pronounced the same, and Marriam-Webster agrees. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-the-wh/292609.md?page=2)