To add to the confusion, similar sounds also become indistinguishable when you are saying them quickly.īoth /b/ and /p/ are bi-labial plosives, and the only difference between them is that /b/ is voiced. The 'ice' in 'ice bank myself' can easily be mistaken for the first syllable in 'I spank', because they are effectively the same sound.īoth are written as /aɪs/ in phonetic transcription. It's a bit like driving a car round the same track over and over: The first time you go round a course you're more likely to pay attention to the twists and turns but, as the route becomes more familiar, you can begin to predict and pre-empt the pattern of the course. What we actually do when we're talking is to produce continuous sound, only stopping to breathe.īecause of this, the onset and coda of individual syllables become blurred, similar sounds become amalgamated or indistinguishable, and consonant release and duration can be affected.Īll these factors are multiplied during repetition - as the brain becomes more familiar with the sounds of a phrase. When we talk, our speech is not broken down into rigid structures (even though that's the way it might seem in our head). When you're reading words from a page, it's easy to 'see' where the white space between words are, but in spoken language, differentiation can be difficult. The first mechanism that makes this joke work is the production and perception of pauses. Why does, 'Ice Bank Mice Elf'' sound like, 'I spank myself'?
Whilst this may seem like childish word play, there are actually a number of interesting linguistic reasons why this joke works. If you say the phrase 'Ice Bank Mice Elf' repeatedly, you will end up sounding as if you are saying the phrase, 'I spank myself'.
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