Spelling in the English language is a bizarre conglomeration of source languages and rules. It would take some doing, but I wish we would start over with fully phoneticized spellings – and some extra vowels so the consonants don’t have to do the work of telling us if it’s a hard or soft vowel.
We had reasonable spelling until the Norman (French) conquest. Their habit of inserting consonants they wouldn’t pronounce, infected the previously reasonably phonetic germanic language of English. The Dutch were somewhat better resisting that and still pronounce the word “knecht” (knight) like the older English word. Go to https://www.google.com/search?client=opera&q=dutch+word+pronunciation&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8 and type in knecht for the Dutch word pronunciation.
Lucy Rudy almost 3 years ago
When I was her age I thought it was pronounced ‘qway’ .
pschearer Premium Member almost 3 years ago
I blame the French.
James Deveney Premium Member almost 3 years ago
I wish I knew I had dyslexia when I was younger as it affects how I hear and pronounce words. All thru my life I’ve come up with ‘silly words’.
gcottay almost 3 years ago
Be not embarrassed! Learn to laugh at yourself and learn from errors.
jbarnes almost 3 years ago
Spelling in the English language is a bizarre conglomeration of source languages and rules. It would take some doing, but I wish we would start over with fully phoneticized spellings – and some extra vowels so the consonants don’t have to do the work of telling us if it’s a hard or soft vowel.
Ray Helvy Premium Member almost 3 years ago
We had reasonable spelling until the Norman (French) conquest. Their habit of inserting consonants they wouldn’t pronounce, infected the previously reasonably phonetic germanic language of English. The Dutch were somewhat better resisting that and still pronounce the word “knecht” (knight) like the older English word. Go to https://www.google.com/search?client=opera&q=dutch+word+pronunciation&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8 and type in knecht for the Dutch word pronunciation.