Word pronunciation

[PurpleDiva22]

My daughter has a book that rhymes. They (more than once) rhyme saw with floor and galore. I've never heard a pronunciation of the word "saw" that rhymes with floor or galore. I know this thread could cause rifts so I'm hoping someone can explain it to me without there being all out war! 😅 I've tried Googling it and didn't get an answer.

I'm Irish.

I saw flo-er, ga-loh-er, s-awe

The posts listing words that all rhyme for them are just confusing me more 😅

I’m guessing they’ll rhyme in most English accents, OP. They definitely don’t in my West of Scotland accent. It’s a non-rhotic versus rhotic thing.

This is like the Julia Donaldson book, forget which, where scarf and giraffe are meant to rhyme. Not in my accent! We also have another book where four and sure are meant to rhyme. I have to do a dodgy English accent for both of those!

I do love all the different dialects and accents of the UK though.

I've been trying to think of something but it also depends on accent! The OP reply about sounds like s-awe works for me. Or the first au- sound of Austin, or Australia so s-au.

These threads inevitably end up with people seemingly flabbergasted that other parts of the country pronounce things differently though. Every single time.

’Well I’ve never heard it said that way so it can’t be right!’

No no, I just meant that in that your example of pronounciation, I thought you were using “gallOW” as a way of showing how non-rhotic accents would make galore rhyme with floor.

But I might have misunderstood you.

They were making the point that ‘gallOW’ doesn’t represent how most people with SE accent would pronounce ‘galore’. GallAW is closer.

OP, the way a lot of people in England say those words is without pronouncing the R. So for Scots/Irish people, the English way sounds more like fl-aww, gal-aww, s-aww. Would sound v weird in our accents but most English accents are non-rhotic. We (Scotland and I imagine Ireland too) would say them with a discernible r ending, so saw would sound different as it doesn’t have the r ending for us.

If by other parts of the country you mean other parts of England, then count me out as I'm from and live in Ireland. I've asked for help in understanding how else it might be pronounced and some posts have been very helpful in explaining how they rhyme for them.
So far I've got 2 different ways to pronounce them so they rhyme.

For me (scottish), saw rhymes with paw, flaw, awe, jaw, etc

floor and galore rhyme with each other but not saw. This is because I sound the 'r' in these words whereas the words ending in 'aw' dont have an 'r' sound in my dialect

Yes this is the same for me. So from what I can gather here some people pronounce saw more like sore so that it rhymes with floor and galore. Some people prounce floor like flaw so that it rhymes with saw. 😅 interesting debate but it has been driving me mad reading this bloody book!

No I mean Scotland, Wales, England, Ireland, USA, loads of places. There are massive diversities of accent in the UK and further afield, we’ve all heard people of these nationalities speak plenty in person, on TV, radio, podcasts, so I do find it surprising and slightly fascinating when people don’t understand how things can be pronounced differently I suppose! We’ve all been exposed to so many different accents in our lives it just seems fairly standard to me. My English husband pronounces stuff differently, but he pronounces stuff differently from my English best friend and so on. But it wasn’t referring to you, it was an observation on the way these threads often turn out more generally.

I’m Yorkshire, husbands Londoner - saw, galore and floor all rhyme for both of us. In England they all have end in an or sound at the end.

Sore and flaw also rhyme for us. Or sound.

@PurpleDiva22 I guessed you might be Irish! DH is too, and he pronounces those three words the same way you do. You both have a rhotic accent, where the letter 'r' is clearly pronounced.

I have a generic, middle class northern English accent (I describe it that way because it's not easy to tell where in the North I'm actually from!) and for me, those three words rhyme.

I'm Scottish and they definitely don't rhyme for me as I pronounce the Rs. But they would rhyme for my friend who is from Yorkshire.

They all rhyme for north east English me, but I’ve been trying the words out on my Scottish husband and he does, indeed, pronounce the r sound at the end of floor, door etc.

I would be very interested to know how you pronounce saw if it doesn't rhyme with floor and galore? Or maybe it is the pronunciation of floor and galore that differs. They all rhyme in my accent.

In rhotic accents, ‘floor’ and ‘galore’ have a voiced ‘r’ at the end. Imagine you were saying ‘I mopped the flooR and did the laundry.’

All rhyme for me in NW England too.

(However, I cannot get giraffe and scarf to rhyme, Julia Donaldson!)