>>>>>>>And how do you pronounce "wolf" cf "engulf"? Not a hell of a difference.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Engulf is said more like golf. Wolf is like woolf, which is not a word.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>I disagree with you. To my ear, "wolf" and "engulf" rhyme. In fact, so do "wolf" and "gulf."
>>>>>
>>>>>Tamar
>>>>
>>>>That's interesting. To me wolf is pronounced as 'wool' with an 'f' on the end, and 'gulf' is gull with an 'f' on the end. Not the same at all. I suppose pronunciations change with locale. Is that a Pennsylvania thing?
>>>
>>>I listened to the links Jay provided and certainly hear a difference there, but when I say the two words, they rhyme. FWIW, "wool" and "gull" rhyme for me, too.
>>>
>>>Now that I'm concentrating on it, I can pronounce "gull" more like it is in "gullet" and that doesn't rhyme with "wool," but I have to make an effort to do it.
>>>
>>>As for a Pennsylvania thing, I don't think I have a regional accent. I certainly don't have the typical Philadelphia accent (where people shop at the "Ack-a-mee" and the Flyers play "hackey").
>>>
>>>Tamar
>>
>>Well, when I think about it, to me 'bull', 'pull' and 'full' are pronounced as in 'wool', but 'cull', 'dull', 'gull', 'hull', 'lull', 'mull', 'null' are pronounced as in 'gullet'. Do you pronounce them all the same?
>
>Yeah, I'd followed that chain mentally, as well. Definitely agree on "bull," "full," and "pull." I do hear a slight difference for some of the others, but don't even know how to spell the two sounds differently. My instinct for both of them is "uh." "Cull" is definitely in the second group. Most of the others fell right to me either way.

Fell right? Why does every little thing have to end up being a political debate. ;)