> As I sit on my couch and crouch over dictionaries, I realize I cannot > vouch for the fact that "smouch" rhymed with "ouch" in Mark Twain's > America. But, as implied in my recent note via e-mail pouch, I accept > the OED pronunciation until smOOch can be legitimately documented. > > Sorry to be such a grOOch! Well, that only shows that you can't apply logic to the pronounciation of the English language. How can you explain the pronounciation of the words "though", "thought", "tough", and "through" where in each case the "ou" (or "ough") is pronounced differently? People, like me, who learn English as a second language have fits over stuff like this. I don't mean to imply that English is unique in this respect. My own native language (Dutch) has its own "gotchas", no doubt. Anton