What are the sounds that "oo" make? Are there only two?

  1. Cammiebar profile image70
    Cammiebarposted 12 years ago

    What are the sounds that "oo" make?  Are there only two?

    My mother and I are convinced that there are three sounds.  The long "oo" as in book and the short "oo" as in school.  I have searched the internet and I can only find these two sounds.  Am I nuts thinking that there are three?

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  2. BlossomSB profile image80
    BlossomSBposted 12 years ago

    Interesting question. It probably depends a bit on where you live and the way words are said locally. For me, book, look and the first syllable of cuckoo, would all be pronounced the short way and school, cool and the second syllable of cuckoo would be longer. The third you are thinking of, with my pronunciation would be blood, the same as the u in up, under. It would be easier if I could show you in phonetics, but I don't know how to do that in HubPages.

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  3. DaniellaWood profile image71
    DaniellaWoodposted 12 years ago

    The answer to this question depends entirely on where you come from. I am from Yorkshire, so 'book' and 'up' sound exactly the same when I say them; very heavy, flat vowels. However, my friend, who is from London, would pronounce 'book' as a longer, more open vowel and 'up' with more of an 'a' sound on the 'u'. My boyfriend, on the other hand, is a Geordie, as pronounces the word 'book' as 'b-ew-k' (crazy guy!) as we might say in 'school'. So no, there are not just two ways of pronouncing 'oo' in English; different accents illustrate this. If you are familiar with the IPA (the International Phonetic Alphabet), you will be able to see the sounds being transcribed very specifically.

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