I have heard that there is no English word that rhymes with orange, and
wondered vaguely if there are other unrhymable words. Not long ago we ate
at Big Boy, and our daughter requested the kid's place mat with puzzles. 
The first one was "How many words do you know that rhyme with dog?", and
they gave spaces for a dozen. However, we could not think of any! No, fog,
bog, log and cog do not rhyme with dog. So, does any word? Consider this
item also a search for other words that have no rhyming partners, but
let's start with dog.

32 responses total.

Well, slight changes in vowel sounds *might* make bog, cog, and fog not rhyme
with dog, but even accepting that, log and dog rhyme.  What are you using as
a criterion for not rhyming?  

log is lahg and dog is dawg. They are quite different - at least in the
English I speak! Do you say log as lawg, or dog as dahg? Do you eat a
hot-dahg, or a hot-dawg?

I'm afraid I say lawg and bawg, myself.  Never noticed others doing otherwise.
I have heard fahg, but say fawg mostly.

Really? Try saying "The frog sat on the log in the fog.", and have someone
tell you if all your 'ogs rhyme, or not. Then try it with "The dog sat
on the log in the fog." Let us know the result. :)

Grace listened to me & says they all rhyme.  Where did you learn to talk,
Rane?  I've heard "bog" & "cog" & "fog" as "ah", but I say "bawg" and
"fawg".  I think "cog" comes out somewhere in between.  I don't think
I've ever heard "frahg".

"oo" words are good ones for variations.  I pronounce "roof" & "root", say,
with essentially the same vowel sound - more or less that in "put".  I
have known people who do them both with the vowel sound of "moon", or
maybe not quite so broad as that but close - and people who pronounce one
of these one way and one the other.  (For that matter, in the Chicago
suburb I mostly grew up in, I knew lots of kids who pronounced "hood"
with the vowel of "hoot" in the meaning of a tough guy but not the
car part.  (They also used an adjective form, "hoody", as in "he's a
hoody kid", which to this day strikes my ear as just plain bizarre.))

I learned to talk in New York City, for what that's worth. What I find amazing
here is that apparently we have different regional dialects, but I've never
noticed this difference. It must have made sense to ask what rhymes with
"dog", for the midwesterner that wrote that puzzle mat. 

I say "frahg". 

The dictionary (Webster's New World) gives:

do^g, da"g - where o^ = -aw and a" = -ah - which covers both choices. Also
the same for log, bog, fog, and frog. It does not, however, assign these
to regions

The neat thing here is that there are so many possible combinations -
practically a key to dialects. Apparently the only -og word that I pronounce
do^g (dawg) is dog, and all the other -ogs are a"gs. How did that happen?

It happened obviously because you learned to talk in NYC!  No one here in the
midwest says long-uh Island e.g.  :-)

I definitely associate "lahg" and "bahg" and "fahg" with Boston; people I know
from there definitely do that, now that I think about it.  Also saying "aunt"
as "awnt".  (To me it rhymes with "ant".  The influence on my accent on *that*
one is more likely Texas than midwest - my relatives all come from Texas, &
I have lots of aunts.  But I never noticed anyone saying otherwise except
easterners, mostly a couple of Bostonians.)

Don't forget creek and crick...etc.  Interesting discussion...

I thawt that down in Texas you would say aunt "AY-int"  :-)

My accent is not New YOrk. My parents were MI and rural NJ, but definitely
eastern. I say aunt as "ant", but don't say "long-uh island". My wife,
also from New York with a *little* New York accent (now much attenuated) 
also can't make dog rhyme with the other -ogs. Our daughter, born here,
is the same way. So it must be Texas. Is Big Boy based in Texas, then?
(By the way, I asked the waitresses if they knew any words that rhymed with
dog (sawg), and they said fog, log, etc., *but* did not pronounce them the
same as they did dog!

I definitely say frahg and lahg rather than frawg and lawg.  I do say dawg
though.  
I say Balrawg, does that count? :)

What's a Balrawg? Do you use any other word that rhymes with dog (dawg)? 

A balrog is a creature in Tolkien's writings.  I also pronounce it to rhyme
with dog (& frog, log, & fog).  That's not much evidence of anything except
my own reflexes, I think - I definitely saw it & mentally pronounced it many
times before ever hearing anyone else say it.

I am with Rane on all pronunciations. I am from New york too, though. 
However, i definitely do not think this is a NY thing. Isn't there 
someone from outside NY who agrees?
 
I have trouble understanding how log or bog could possibly rhyme with 
dog, although they rhyme just fine with each other. In fact, I cannot 
rhyme anything with dog.

The folks in New England have a whole collection of vowel shifts that 
you don't want to get into here.

I think we have to corner davel and see if he *really* lays lawg, bawg
and fawg...  :)

I *said* that on "bog" I'm ambivalent (but I say "bawgged down").  The others,
yes.

Yeah, but that's a fixed phrase and not a real use of the word.

eh?  It's the *only* way I normally use the word.  I normally say "swamp" or
perhaps "marsh".

So I'm a johnny-come-lately.  I think fog/log/dog rhyme.  Probably bog and
cog, too.  Sometimes, anyway.

You say dahg, not dawg? Are you sure? (Or do you say fawg, lawg and dawg?) 

I'm fairly certain I use the latter pronunciations: /fawg/ /lawg/ and /dawg/.
And /bawg/ but /cahg/.

Probably regional. Where did  you acquire your dialect?

So, you say "lawg into Grex"? I've never heard anyone use that
pronounciation. 

Pretty much.  

I grew up in Illinois, Georgia and Michigan (chronologically, but Michigan,
Illinois and Georgia in order of time-spent).  Mother was raised just
outside Atlanta, Father grew up on the Massachusetts/Rhode Island line.
Friends were from all over, never in one place for much longer than I was.

I pronounce all these words like Joe does (plus cog) - they all rhyme.  I am
from Massachusetts.  My mother is from New Jersey and I ended up with part
of her accent.  Probably Atlanta and Rhode Island also pronounce all these
words to rhyme.  What ages were you while living in Georgia?
I also use to say half past and bath with the same vowel as father and aunt,
but changed the first three to match Michigan.

Heh.  I say "aunt" with the same vowel as half past bath.  But (I feel sure)
not the way you used to.  (Sounds same as "ant".)

Do you rhyme father with ant?

Lessee... I started kindergarten in Illinois, was halfway through third
grade when we moved to Georgia, halfway through fifth grade when we moved
to Michigan (both moves in February of their respective years), halfway
through ninth when we moved back to Georgia (leaving on January 29),
and between tenth and eleventh when we moved back to Michigan.

Somewhere along the line, I became aware of the two pronunciations
of "aunt" and deliberately chose the "Northern" version.  Although I
_might_ use the "Southern" version when addressing the Southern ladies
(but NOT when referring to them en famille).  I think we tried using
the appropriate pronunciation: Southern in the South and Northern in the
North; thinking about them now, I'm having a very hard time not using
the regional pronunciations: "/ant/ Sandra" and "/awnt/ Yvette".

Re 27: no, not even the vowel; & the thought of rhyming those consonants
boggles my mind.

Rhyming matches the last syllable and alliteration matches the first: what
is matching a middle syllable called?

Alliteration matches consonants, usually initial ones.  Alliterating words
can have the same first syllable, but they often don't.  When two words have
the same interior vowels, it's called assonance.  I don't know if there's a
word for sharing an entire middle syllable.

Thank you.

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