To worry that I've been pronouncing this word wrong?

[Lovestosing]

Tongue? How do you pronounce it? I am sat watching the football with my in laws, DH and DDs. DD2 said something about sticking her tongue out (DCs pronounce it "tung" like me) MIL corrected her and said it's pronounced "tong". I knew that was how DH pronounces it but I thought it was a regional variation, but now I'm worried I'm just wrong! Can anyone help settle this? DH and in laws are from Nottinghamshire and I'm from North Yorkshire if that helps!

RightOnTheEdge I (and, at a guess, most southerners) say none like 'nun', for which DH takes great delight in taking the mickey out of me, asking why I'm talking about a lady in a black habit even though he says daft things like twitchel which isn't even a word

@Celebelly Why 😂

It’s tung ffs! That’s what is known as Received Pronunciation, rp, what it’s supposed to sound like! Tong? My arse!

Ive never heard anyone say tung, only tong - manchester born and bred but did spend a long time in London (although it probably never came up in conversation with my southern friends!)

Tong here in cheshire.

I thought tong/tung was a fairly common variation though. I’m shocked there are so many people who haven’t heard of the alternative to their version!

Tung here in Scotland. I’ve never heard tong

Tong definitely (from the Midlands)

Just asked my oldest dc.... one said tung and the other said tong! How strange!

Interestingly, the Oxford Dictionary online has it pronounced as tung (it has the middle section of the word to sound like the 'u' in 'run' in its pronunciation description). But dictionaries are descriptive, not prescriptive, so if there's a regional variation like 'tong' it's not necessarily invalid as it's in common usage. It's obviously just one of those things that differs depending on where you are from!

And to whoever the poster is, can't be bothered looking up their name, who said they were cringing at people who said tung ... I cringed at you because it's just a really ignorant and ridiculous thing to say.

It always surprises me that so many people do not understand that a dictionary does not decide how words are pronounced (or even what they mean).

All they do is describe how people use a word, how it is often pronounced. Often it is given multiple usages and pronunciations. So even if it is not in the dictionary that doesn't mean it is wrong.

Tung (South east)

Tong

Brizzle - that article reminded me that there are people who pronounce three as 'shree' as well. It used to wind me up no end until I heard on a R4 doc that it was from learning to count from people who had false teeth. The two people I knew who did it were brought up by grandparents, so could well have been something in that theory.

Oh and tong (Manc).

Tung (I'm from Scotland)

I've never heard it pronounced tong.

Tung for me (N Yorks too), tong for DH from West mids

Tong (middle-class Yorkshirewoman)

@lifechangesforever

We are both from West Yorkshire but I'm from Leeds and DH is from Halifax - he pronounces all sorts of stuff weirdly

That made me giggle I'm from Leeds too and dp is from Halifax and they really do don't they. "Mom" instead of "mum" gets me. How can language change so much in a short drive down the m62!

Tong - middle class Mancunian

Tung - Berkshire

Tung ~ Up North.

Never heard anyone say tong!

*Tong is just fricking wrong. It even rhymes with wrong8

Talk about irrefutable proof!

God I love a regional dialect/accents/pronunciation thread.

I've lived variously in Kent, Sussex, Derbyshire and South Yorkshire. In Kent, Sussex and South Yorkshire it's "tung". Derbyshire I noticed a few people saying "tong". I visit the North West fairly frequently but hadn't noted it there, but then it's not a word that gets used that often, is it?

A PP asked "why is it spelled with an O if it's pronounced U?" I can only answer that English orthography gives the impression it was decided by a very disorganised committee - and that has given it totally infuriating "rules" but also a wonderful sense of freedom.

Have a think about the cluster of letters "ough" and how many ways they can be pronounced just within one accent.

Tung

Tong - Never heard it pronounced Tung!

Manchester born & bred and always lived here.