>>>>>Weird. To me, it is:
>>>>>
>>>>>tool, pool, spool, rule, school, fool (not like wool)
>>>>
>>>>The jocks say "wool" like "spool"
>>>>
>>>>>pull, bull, null, wolf
>>>>
>>>>Not quite the same. The "u" is gently and slightly pronounced. "Wool" comes out on me more of a slight bass growl in the throat. However, as I said, "u" and "oo" (as in wood) are all the same to my accent.
>>>
>>>Finally. Yes, that's how I learned that - except there's a length. You have a short one in pull, bull, wolf and a long one in wool, fool, moot, root, hoot, boot, clue, do. My question was how would you write the short one so that it's not read as either uh nor yoo nor oo, but just as a short {...} as in pull, bull, wolf. Now you supply a character of two to replace the braces.
>>
>>Id say "uh" as in the lazy catch-all vowel that many English use to replace many vowels. For instance, where an American would say "TarZAN" we'd say "Tarzuhn", Polar vs poluh, usw. We tend not to put any emphasis on terminal "r"s in words. A good example: the recent animation "MadagasCAR" to us is "Madagascuh"
>
>That covers the a (as in butt, such, Brittaniuh etc). Now for the short u as in butcher, wood, pull...

I've mentioned the bass growl with "wood", "butcher" is like the "uh" in Brittaniuh. As I said, the non-vowel vowel. "Pull" is the same, except that the "ll" naturally pulls the vowel out longer