I don’t know that they sound that different, but I definitely “pronounce” them differently in that my tongue is in a different party of my mouth for both of them. When I say clothes, my tongue is near touching my front teeth, where as close is more just below that ridge behind my teeth, so farther back.

I’m from the center of the U.S. for reference.

No. It’s a meta product so it should be avoided.

I think it’s a reference to the Get over it with Patrick Foddie or whatever it was called. It’s a rage game.

I did the same, but it was helpful because I’m terrible at memorization.