source: English Studio

Did you know that the combination of letters “ough” can be pronounced in nine different ways in the English language?

I kid you not.

Here’s an example of a sentence that contains them all:

“A rough-coated, dough- faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed.”

I’m going to date myself here, but does anyone else remember the “I Love Lucy” episode where Ricky runs into the same pronunciation problem and he’s trying to figure it out with Lucy?

(fyi, my sources for these fun facts come from all over the web. I don’t own ‘em!)