Cs in the Pacific Ocean

Can this really be true?

Saying the words out loud demonstrates that it is. But how can that be?

Let’s look at the individual sounds and find out what’s going on. English spelling is a strange thing so we’re going to need to write the words out using the International Phonetic Alphabet:

Pa c ifi c O c ean - /pəˈ s ɪfɪ k ˈəʊ ʃ (ə)n/

So the three Cs, with examples, are:

/s/
c ell
s ell

/k/
c all
e c onomy
musi c

/ʃ/
cra sh
expre ssi on

There are many more words that use these sounds, and with a variety of spellings that might surprise you. From an English native to all of you English learners: I’m sorry for the confusion.

Perhaps you have some interesting examples and can share here :nerd_face:.

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