Does swore rhyme with war?

jaus tail · Mar 24, 2014

Hello everyone,

I was writing limericks and searching for words that rhyme with war. Google suggest sore, swore and chore among other words.

Do these words rhyme with war? I don't think they do but google says they do. What do you guys think?

Myrealana · Mar 24, 2014

They can. It probably is somewhat dialect dependent, but I pronounce them the same.

Jamesaritchie · Mar 24, 2014

Yes, they rhyme. There are several free rhyming dictionaries available online that make such questions easy. The number one hit on Google is
http://rhymezone.com/

jaus tail · Mar 24, 2014

Even I use rhymezone but the words don't sound similar. Swore rhymes with score and more and war rhymes with for. But I guess you guys are right.

Myrealana · Mar 24, 2014

Score, more, for, war, swore -- these ALL rhyme together.

MookyMcD · Mar 24, 2014

There's no reason "war" shouldn't rhyme with "car" -- aside from how it's generally pronounced. And "car" certainly doesn't rhyme with "score." But that's how we pronounce war, and rhyming isn't based on how they look, it's based on how they sound. :Shrug:

Chase · Mar 24, 2014

"What rhymes with war?" wondered Tail.
Chase answered his usual derail:
"I also write limericks," he swore.
"Just an A-A-B-B-A whore.
Let's meet for a pint of green ale."

Little Anonymous Me · Mar 24, 2014

jaus tail said:
Swore rhymes with score and more and war rhymes with for.

I've been sitting here mumbling all of those words over and over for the last several minutes, and for the life of me can't get them not to rhyme. How are you pronouncing the vowels?

King Neptune · Mar 24, 2014

It is a matter of localized dialect. To me war does not rhyme with score, swore sore, or chore, but it does rhyme with "maw", "paw", "for", "boudoir".

shadowwalker · Mar 24, 2014

But one should use the dictionary pronunciation and not local dialect (unless the whole limerick is obviously written in said dialect), correct?

Xelebes · Mar 24, 2014

shadowwalker said:
But one should use the dictionary pronunciation and not local dialect (unless the whole limerick is obviously written in said dialect), correct?

Nah, you say it as you would say it. Poetry is to be spoken, unless it isn't.

War rhymes with armoire, but not boudoir nor swore.

mirandashell · Mar 24, 2014

King Neptune said:
It is a matter of localized dialect. To me war does not rhyme with score, swore sore, or chore, but it does rhyme with "maw", "paw", "for", "boudoir".

Boudoir? Really? In my accent, that would be budwah. So wah, mah, pah and fah?

Whereas in reality I say war as wore. So it rhymes with score and sore and chore.

Shadow_Ferret · Mar 24, 2014

King Neptune said:
It is a matter of localized dialect. To me war does not rhyme with score, swore sore, or chore, but it does rhyme with "maw", "paw", "for", "boudoir".

I...

I'm not sure what dialect rhymes "war" with "paw." One ends in an or (store, core, bore, door, lore, chore, more) , and the other ends with a soft aw, like you saw something cute (law, caw, raw).

mirandashell · Mar 24, 2014

I can rhyme war with paw if the latter is a dog's foot. And maw would another word for mouth.

Shadow_Ferret · Mar 24, 2014

mirandashell said:
I can rhyme war with paw if the latter is a dog's foot. And maw would another word for mouth.

So all three sound the same to you? I'd have to hear that because I can't imagine it.

Do pore and paw sound the same to you too?

MookyMcD · Mar 24, 2014

You pronounce war "wah"?

onesecondglance · Mar 24, 2014

Shadow_Ferret said:
I...

I'm not sure what dialect rhymes "war" with "paw." One ends in an or (store, core, bore, door, lore, chore, more) , and the other ends with a soft aw, like you saw something cute (law, caw, raw).

They all have the same sound to me.

The odd one out in King Neptune's list to an Englishman is, as miranda pointed out, is boudoir. But UK and US pronunciations of French words are often very different (and both different from how the French would say them).

onesecondglance · Mar 24, 2014

Shadow_Ferret said:
So all three sound the same to you? I'd have to hear that because I can't imagine it.

Do pore and paw sound the same to you too?

Yes, but pour and poor would have a slightly different sound, especially for folks from oop North.

Jamesaritchie · Mar 24, 2014

mirandashell said:
I can rhyme war with paw if the latter is a dog's foot. And maw would another word for mouth.

They don't rhyme. It isn't how anyone pronounces a word that matters, how the word is supposed to be pronounced is all that counts.

Accent does not count. Readers of a poem may have a hundred different accents, a hundred different dialects. The only way for them all to agree on any rhyme is to use the dictionary pronunciation for that word.

Shadow_Ferret · Mar 24, 2014

Yes, pour and poor do have a slightly different pronunciation.

Pour is like war while poor is like, um, liquor (when you're talking about fancy apertifs, otherwise liquor can also be licker).

Jamesaritchie · Mar 24, 2014

Xelebes said:
Nah, you say it as you would say it. Poetry is to be spoken, unless it isn't.

War rhymes with armoire, but not boudoir nor swore.

If you write it as you say it, don't pretend it rhymes. It doesn't.

mirandashell · Mar 24, 2014

Shadow_Ferret said:
So all three sound the same to you? I'd have to hear that because I can't imagine it.

Do pore and paw sound the same to you too?

Yep!

mirandashell · Mar 24, 2014

Jamesaritchie said:
They don't rhyme. It isn't how anyone pronounces a word that matters, how the word is supposed to be pronounced is all that counts.

Accent does not count. Readers of a poem may have a hundred different accents, a hundred different dialects. The only way for them all to agree on any rhyme is to use the dictionary pronunciation for that word.

I'm sorry, but who said? So everyone should speak the way the Oxford English Dictionary says? So... that will be you with an English accent then?

ETA - Sorry forgot the :brit

mirandashell · Mar 24, 2014

onesecondglance said:
Yes, but pour and poor would have a slightly different sound, especially for folks from oop North.

Oop North, poor would be more like poo-er?

Shadow_Ferret · Mar 24, 2014

mirandashell said:
Oop North, poor would be more like poo-er?

Well, you got one right.

Does swore rhyme with war?

jaus tail

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Chase

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Xelebes

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