this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2025
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Don't be mean. I promise to do my best to judge that fairly.

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groof (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 2 days ago by TriflingToad@sh.itjust.works to c/curatedtumblr@sh.itjust.works
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[–] rumschlumpel@feddit.org 4 points 2 days ago (5 children)

Would most native speakers actually pronounce "rooves" differently from "roofs"? Is "grooves" already pronounced differently from a hypothetical "groofs"?

[–] bdonvr@thelemmy.club 3 points 2 days ago

There is a difference, but it depends on accent. I don't think anyone would notice in speech if you switched though

[–] teft@piefed.world 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

f is the voiceless labiodental fricative and v is the voiced labiodental fricative.

Basically for roofs your vocal cords don't vibrate on the final f sound. For rooves your vocal cords vibrate on the final v sound.

[–] rumschlumpel@feddit.org 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

I know the difference between f and v, the question is whether it makes a difference in this specific case and if yes, whether most native English speakers actually know that. I'm not a native English speaker and words that end in -ooves aren't that common (when is the last time you said "grooves" or "hooves"?).

English is famously inconsistent about how written letters are pronounced, and there are a lot of accents.

[–] teft@piefed.world 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I am a native speaker. The pronunciation difference between those two words, even though one doesn’t actually exist, is only the vibration of vocal cords in the final sound. It’s like belief and believe.

[–] ThisIsNotHim@sopuli.xyz 1 points 2 days ago

Grooves and hooves are more common words than roofs.

I think I would notice if someone said groofs or hoofs (although that's also a word with a different meaning), but I'm really not sure I'd notice rooves vs roofs.

[–] Squirrelsdrivemenuts@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

I think there is a slight difference. Ooves is slightly longer and softer sounding than oofs.

[–] otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 days ago

Right now? Any if this vocalized in public puts you at some risk of deportation, NGL.

[–] Venat0r@lemmy.world 0 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Would most native speakers actually pronounce "rooves" differently from "roofs"?

I think so, but might depend on thier accent or dialect .

Is "grooves" already pronounced differently from a hypothetical "groofs"?

Thats a joke, groofs isn't actually a word(yet 😅), the singular of grooves is groove.

[–] rumschlumpel@feddit.org 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Thats a joke, groofs isn’t actually a word(yet 😅), the singular of grooves is groove.

What exactly do you think "hypothetical" means?

[–] Venat0r@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

I somehow skipped that word when I read it 😅