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Aggregious differences between English spelling and common sense

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sleipnir214

sleipnir214

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May 6, 2002
15,350
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One thing that makes English spelling so difficult for everyone, both English as a first language and English as an additional language, is the fact that standard English spelling is not just non-phonetic but often very non-phonetic.

I'm not talking about words like "phonetic" (which, ironically, should be spelled "fonetik"), which is mildly irritating. I'm talking about words with such a high percentage of superfluous letters that they offend common sense: "through" and "eight" come immediately to mind.

Does anyone have a further example?

Anyone have more examples?

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I beg to differ. ensemble sounds exactly as it is spelled - as long as you pronounce it correctly (the French way) that is.

A lot of French words are painful to hear when an English pronounciation is used. Try femme as in chercher la femme: I can't stand it.

Dimandja
 
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Siobhan - that one still has me stumped.

By the way, is Irish not English with an irish accent? Or is it a different language? Are school children taught English or/and Irish or Scotch/Scottish?

So many bewildering british choices...

Dimandja
 
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Dimandja:
Siobhan

Irish English is a dialect of English. According to the Ethnologue, there are actually two dialects of English spoken there, South Hiberno English and North Hiberno English.

But there are two major languages spoken in Ireland: English and Irish Gaelic.



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Pronounced Shiv-awn

Gaelic is taught in Irish schools and spoken as the main language in some areas. Quite a high percentage of the population speak it.

I'm not sure how different Scots Gaelic is, or if it is taught. Possibly not, I'm sure my nieces would have mentioned it. There is Scots too.

Welsh is certainly spoken. In the north it seems to be the main language and another set of nieces who live in Wales learned it at school.


Polari is interesting. It's something to do with sailors in the Med, and is the origin of the Portuguese word palavre which ended up in English as palaver. Also used by Julian and Sandy in Round the Horne.
 
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petermeachem:
This site states that Scottish Gaelic began as Irish Gaelic (or just "Irish"), imported to Scotland when the Irish invaded in the 5th century AD, but that by the 15th century, importing of Norse and English words had changed the language enough for it to be considered a separate language from Irish.



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Mind if I join? :)
I think johnwm has a good point here:
Does that mean we should change the spelling? I don't know, but I think the language would lose something if we did.
Click to expand...
If I look at the "reformed" German spelling - it definitely lost! It has lost a lot of its 'strictness' as Tony calls it: You can now spell and syllabicate almost anyway you want it: either the way it sounds correct (according to speaking out the syllables), or the way it is correct (according to the ethymological origin).

I just stumbled across something interesting when searching for an explanation, why
draught is pronounced as draft.
From the FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS
:
draft a draft proposal, rough draft, to draft a report, bank draft
draught for traction (as in draught animals)

Although I make no difference between draught beer and draft beer :-D, it seems that these are two different words (or at least used as such) - there would be a loss of information without the "strange" spelling...
 
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I disagree.

A Google search found that on both sides of the Atlantic, "draft" and "draught" seem to be used interchangeably in all contexts.



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My Google search produced something else... ;-)
Although I really had to search for this one, I found
# Draught and draft: comes from draw (Germanic dragan)...
[ul]
[li]In general, british spelling chooses draught for when the sense of draw is physical movement - so air is drawn through a gap creating a draught, beer drawn through a tap is called draught beer. [/li]
[li]The other main sense of draw is to create a picture (eg with pen on paper), and for this sense draft is chosen, thus draftsman, first draft.[/li][/ul]
Click to expand...
This is from
I agree, that this differenciation is not a must.
But it's an argument for keeping the "non-sensical" spelling alive. I'm not sure about this but isn't it similar with the usage of light/lite in AE?
 
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I don't think so MakeItSo. Lite and Light are not the same, and I don't think they share any common defnition.

Although I think Lite is still considered slang, due to the wonderful marketing efforts of several companies, has taken a life of its own, with its definition being "having less" of something. The word Light has not assumed this definition, nor has Lite taken any of the normal definitions of the word Light.

Good Luck
--------------
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein
 
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My personal pet peeve is with the inconsistent pronunciation of the same grouping of letters.

For instance:
"tomb", "comb", "bomb" - all spelled similarly, but pronouced differently.

Also:
"through" and "though" - the 'r' shouldn't change the vowel sound so significantly.
 
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There's one worse than that -- capitolization makes a difference in the pronunciation.


polish -- To make smooth and shiny by rubbing or chemical action.

Polish -- Of or relating to Poland, the Poles, their language, or their culture.



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capitolization
verb
To build big white buildings with tall white columns in an area.
 
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sleipnir214 and ESquared,

Sorry to correct you both, but this thread does have words "English spelling" in the title. Isn't it "capitalization"?

 
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