In speech, it is often hard to tell where one word ends and the next begins. The result of this phenomenon is a string of words that sounds the same as another string of words but is spelled differently and is composed of different words with different meanings. These strings of words are called oronyms. A classic oronym that many people grew up singing is, "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream."
Here are a few more oronyms to have fun with:
The florist had tulips of brilliant red.
The florist had two lips of brilliant red.
The stuffy nose can lead to problems.
The stuff he knows can lead to problems.
The poker player called for a new deal.
The poker player called for a nude eel.
I don't know how mature people enjoy such a show.
I don't know how much your people enjoy such a show.
If you listen you can hear the night rain.
If you listen you can hear the night train.
I'm taking a nice cold shower.
I'm taking an ice cold shower.
1 comment:
I don't know if this is similar or relevant but it always makes me smile when the automated voice message on the British rail system says, 'This is the [West Coast, Virgin, etc.] trains service to...' and distinctively pronounces the two 's's on the end of 'train' and beginning of 'service' rather than run them into each other as any natural English speaker would do.
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