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You can change the spelling of one word in the English language to match how they are pronounced. What word do you pick? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by ericbomb@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

383 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I'm picking "Colonel" needs to be respelled to match how it's pronounced.

Try to pick a word no one else has picked. What word are you respelling?

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[–] ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

English is pretty good (generally) at doing the same thing.

Y'all are just bringing up words that English stole from other languages.

You can use phonetics to figure out how to pronounce most words in English.

[–] ericbomb@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

We just really wish when we stole them we changed the spelling to match the pronunciation if we wanted the pronunciation to stay the same of where we stole it from.

[–] ChrissieWF@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The amount of words that are not "stolen" from other languages is neglible..

Cat from German Katze, from Latin catta
Car(t) from German Karren
Kitchen grom German Küche
Bike/Bicycle from French bicycle
Leaf from German Laub
Beef, mutton, pigeon from French boeuf, mouton, pigeon
Cow, sheep, dove from German Kuh, Schaf, Taube
Computer from Latin computare
Sun and moon from German Sonne and Mond
Lunatic from Latina luna
Death from German Tod
Snug from Norse snøggr
Funny from Swedish fånig
Breeze from Spanish brisa
Ranch from Spanish rancha
Brave from Italian bravo
Arcade from Italian arcata
Dildo from Italian diletto
....

[–] mwalimu@baraza.africa 2 points 1 year ago

The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.

--James D. Nicoll

[–] mwalimu@baraza.africa 2 points 1 year ago

You may like this essay on why English has weird spellings. Think technological timings.

https://aeon.co/essays/why-is-the-english-spelling-system-so-weird-and-inconsistent