ghoti

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On 12/21/06, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
>   In the one I more or less remember, from an early collection of _Ripley's
> Believe It or Not!_ (ca1960), a fictitious Mr. "Phthyrrhgnolo" pronounced his
> name as "Turner."
>
>   "phth" as "phthisic" (I remember I had to look that one up).
>
>   "olo" as in "colonel"]
>
>   "gn" as in "gnu."
>
>   "yrrh" as in "myrrh."
>
>   So obvious.

I believe this one usually shows up as "Phtholognyrrh" rather than
"Phthyrrhgnolo" (as your expansion suggests).

--Ben

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