How to pronounce stuff and staff

According to my observations, many people have difficulties pronouncing the word staff (referring to the group of workers in a company or an organization). The correct pronunciation of staff is [stɑːf] or [stæf] in British English, and [stæf] in American English. You can listen to both versions here. A common
incorrect pronunciation of staff is [stʌf], identical to the pronunciation of stuff which can be listened to here. So if you decide to pronounce the a in staff in the British way, make sure you make it a long sound. In fact, in British English, if an a is pronounced as [ɑ] rather than [æ], it is almost always a long sound, indicated by the colon in [ɑː]. Some familiar examples are the words can’t (for cannot), path, cast, and fast.