Q:

Do you ever pronounce "thought" the same as "taught"?

I'm doing a course on Edx. In that episode the lecturer pronounces "thought" almost the same as "taught". The time point is 8:15, multiplication rule lecture 1.3, Stat_2.2x. 8:20 in this video on YouTube.
I've searched the pronunciation difference between these two words, in a tutorial on Youtube, the teacher doesn't mention this case. 
So, do you sometimes pronounce "thought" the same as "taught"? Is it allowed to ignore "h" sometimes informally?

A:

Not only are the two pronounced differently, but confusing the two is (in American English) grounds for humor. The classic example is the phrase "I taught I taw a puddy-tat", used by the cartoon character Tweety-Bird. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38aDWDUjlOY for the original cartoon.

