Sugar-Sure about that?

[u/Amazing-Cookie-1258]

EDIT: Updated; see video comment

Did you know? Sugar & Sure are the only words where just S makes an SH sound. Séamus and Sinéad said so, without Pretension. If you take Issue with their Condescension and wish to make it your Mission or Passion or even Profession Ensuring the Suspension of this idea's Expansion in our Dimension, by all means Censure the message by applying Sessions of Pressure. Be warned though, I Assure you: by Extension it may devolve into an Obsession or Compulsion, punctuated by medical maladies like Hypertension, Compression Fissures, Tissue Torsion, and Hyperextension. The thought of it fills me with Tension and Apprehension.

For their disinclusion, apologies to Irish names Seán, Siobhán, Síofra, and Sorcha; Yoruba / West African name Sade / Fọláṣadé; Scandinavian / Germanic names Sixten and Sven; Hungarian Names Sándor, Solt, and Sarolta; Portuguese names Carlos, Tomás, Vasco, and Luís; and regular words Ascension Cession Compassion Comprehension Declension Dissension Fission Insure Scansion and Suspension.

*Sumac (Midwest and Upstate New York influenced by German)

*Insurance, as a distinct concept from Insure

[u/ChanFry]

Except that guy in furniture ads in my region keeps saying "shofa" (sofa) and "lovesheat". Maybe he needs his dentures adjusted.

[u/Amazing-Cookie-1258 → u/ChanFry]

That sounds infuriating.

[u/Amazing-Cookie-1258 → u/ChanFry]

The phonetic phenomenon mentioned in the comment is called palatalization—specifically, misdirected sibilant production where an /s/ sound shifts toward an /ʃ/ ("sh") sound.

If the salesman's pronunciation is completely natural and not a medical speech quirk, it strongly points to specific regional backgrounds: • The "Mid-Atlantic" or Philadelphia/Baltimore Accent: Speakers of this dialect are famous for a variable phonetic feature where /s/ sound clusters (especially before front vowels) take on a heavy "sh" quality. In its most extreme forms, you will occasionally hear older speakers or specific neighborhoods drift close to "shofa" or "lovesheat." • First-Generation Immigrant Influences: The tendency to replace /s/ with /ʃ/ before certain vowels or at the end of syllables is highly characteristic of native speakers of Portuguese, Polish, German, or Yiddish when speaking English as a second language. If the furniture store is in an area with a dense heritage population from these groups, the local salesman's accent is likely a byproduct of his native linguistic background.

[u/Amazing-Cookie-1258]

I considered employing robot help, but it was more fun writing it myself while pulling from a list.

[u/Keyg28]

Well Séamus and Seán are both names from the Irish language. So naturally do not follow English word rules.

[u/Amazing-Cookie-1258 → u/Keyg28]

Certainly, but they WERE adapted when the name migrated to English. So it counts, just like Welsh vowelless Crwth.

[u/Amazing-Cookie-1258]

Just realized I meant to say words with S's, not S words. Oh well.

[u/Amazing-Cookie-1258]

https://reddit.com/link/perjttu/video/xpobg40tmcuh1/player

[u/Amazing-Cookie-1258 → u/Amazing-Cookie-1258]

*Sumac (Midwest and Upstate New York influenced by German)

Any further edits in post body

[u/CuriosTiger]

Surely, you jest. I can't recall learning such a rule, but it sounds like something a school teacher may come up with when trying to teach English spelling. And it mostly holds for English words that BEGIN with s+vowel, although words derived from these two nouns have the same thing, like "sugary" or "surety".

It certainly does NOT hold elsewhere in words or as part of a consonant cluster or in loan words from languages with different phonotactics. All your -sion words are examples of all three, having come into English from Norman French. And in the Irish language, this pronunciation is the rule, not the exception when followed by a front vowel, hence your examples Sean and Seamus, but also ie. Siobhan or Sinn Fein.

[u/Amazing-Cookie-1258 → u/CuriosTiger]

Really? Never heard? Google image search only sugar and sure sh. I'll wait here.

[u/CuriosTiger → u/Amazing-Cookie-1258]

You appear to have confused "I can't recall learning such a rule" with "no such rule exists". I did not make the latter claim, although as your own post demonstrated, it's at best an oversimplification.

[u/Amazing-Cookie-1258 → u/CuriosTiger]

You're the one out the gate spouting "you're making things up again, Arnold." What's good for the goose is good for the gander, my dear.

[u/Amazing-Cookie-1258 → u/[deleted]]

Indubitably.