As far as Latin alphabet approximates, I'd say "aw" is pretty perfect. Because I think most accents will pronounce "thought" as if you add a t to "thaw". It's just that what that means in terms of the actual articulation varies a lot.

So, Americans with the cot-caught merger will pronounce it with the "cot" vowel, which is what I was trying to get across. UK/Aus/NZ don't all pronounce it the same as each other, but do for the most part pronounce it with the same vowel as they would use for the word "or". And "thaw", in our non-rhotic accents, is the same as Thor.

So "aw" works either way. Nice find!

[–] samus12345 4 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I'm referring to American English specifically. "o" would make me think it's pronounced "thoat", but it's the sound I meant.

"thorough" rhymes with "oh" in Standard American English.

"Hiccough" is a good one. I always hated that spelling and prefer "hiccup" for that reason.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

"Hiccough" is a good one. I always hated that spelling and prefer "hiccup" for that reason.

TIL those are both pronounced the same way. (Gaol/jail is worse, though.)

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 week ago

Yeah o on its own is definitely unclear. I meant o as in "cot". (As in the American cot-caught merger.)

I feel "ah" would be a better shorthand for the vowel in "palm" or "bra", or "car" in non-rhotic accents.