Created: 2017.06.06 | Last updated: 2017.12.23
I was travelling with my 5, 3, 2 and 1 year (almost 2) olds (circa 2017) doing the 'A is for ... Apple' game and decided: It is time that I gave them a 'Non-phonetic Alphabet'. Here is my work in progress.
The reason this all started is because, in the middle of the normal phonetic game game I was telling my kids blah blah 'phonetic', try to explain to the older kids the meaning of the word 'phonetic' when all of a sudden my 5 year old said 'Daddy, f is for phonetic' and I realized that it was time to teach her the non-phonetic alphabet.
A is for Aisle, Auxillary, Aether
B is for Bdellium
C is for Czar, Ctenophore
D is for Djembe
E is for Ewe, Eye, Eisenhower, Eurthmics, Eiderdown, Europe, Euthanasia, Extinguish, Eyjafjallajökull
F is for Phonetic (the only wrong one on this page, well other than 'me' below, but after all, that's how this whole thing got started, so I'm content to say F is for Phonetic)
G is for gnat, gaol
H is for honour (honor for my American friends.)
I is for ME! (My 1, almost 2, year old yelled 'me' and slapped her chest when I said "I is for..." so I had to include it here!) Igor works the best and Iguana (yes I know SOME people pronounce iguana with the short i sound, but most I know use the long e sound.)
J is for Jalapno
K is for Knife, Knight, Knee
L is for Llanelli
M is for mneumonic
N is for Nguyen
O is for One, Oestrogen
P is for Pneumonia, Pneumatic and many other pn words, Phlegm, Pterodactly
Q is for Quay, Quiche
R is for Rzeznix
S is for Sgraffitto
T is for Tsunami
U is for Ulghur, Uakari
V is for Vundabar
W is for Write, Wrestle, Wrap
X is for Xylophone
Y is for You
Y is for Yreka, Yttrium
Z is for Zaragoza
I need something for F. I'd also like some better, where better means "more common", ones for B, D, L, N, R, S, U, V, Y and Z
What about Vundabar - isn't it pronounced with a V? Well, some do, but because it is a foreign implanted word, it should be pronounced with a W sound at the front and many people do pronounce it correctly, with a "Wah" sound at the front. After I created the initial list in the car with my family, I searched the internet and I've gone through one very large dictionary for V (it had many pages for V) because I was 'ok' with the fun one I had for F, but that still left me with nothing for V. But I could not find a single V word that didn't phonetically start with the v sound, until a friend, Cam Birch, mentioned Vundabar. There is a good chance that, at least as of 2017, there are no English words that will match my requirements for F, but I'll keep my ears open!