Bill Posted October 5, 2009 Report Share Posted October 5, 2009 stupid way of spelling: GH stands for P in Hiccough OUGH stands for O in dough PHTH stands for T in Phthisis EIGH stands for A in Neighbour TTE stands for T in Gazzette EAU stands for O in Plateau If that is the English language then the way you should spell POTATO is..... GHOUGHPHTHEIGHTTEEAU. Isn't it?? Any more strange spellings. ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lowensda Posted October 5, 2009 Report Share Posted October 5, 2009 I hate silent letters...if we dont say them...fucking take them out ggrrrr... Castle!? Bomb!? Gnome!? Sign!? Column!? Knife!? Knob!? Honest!? Listen!? Wrinkle!? Two!? Plumber!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeO Posted October 5, 2009 Report Share Posted October 5, 2009 I love the stupidity of the english language. Better than the alternative, which would be to follow America and end up with thru, humor, airplanes, ass, donuts & checkbooks. Horrific prospect . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian C Posted October 5, 2009 Report Share Posted October 5, 2009 I quite like the sheer quirkiness of the English language. I think the results of when things are spelled phonetically are truly ugly to look at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
holystove Posted October 5, 2009 Report Share Posted October 5, 2009 I love the stupidity of the english language. Better than the alternative, which would be to follow America and end up with thru, humor, airplanes, ass, donuts & checkbooks. Horrific prospect . What's the correct way to write 'airplane' or 'ass' then? (Genuinely don't know, TV taught me US English ). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian C Posted October 5, 2009 Report Share Posted October 5, 2009 AEROPLANE *cries* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted October 5, 2009 Report Share Posted October 5, 2009 actually, the yanks are closer to the olde english and usually phonetically closer to the real word. however, by definition, the language is English so theyre always wrong, which i love telling my fiancee and her family: "what language are you speaking? where did it originate? so who's right? Thank you". then i have to save my tea from going in the sink.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeO Posted October 5, 2009 Report Share Posted October 5, 2009 AEROPLANE ...and arse . ...by definition, the language is English so theyre always wrong.... Well put! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Beard Posted October 5, 2009 Report Share Posted October 5, 2009 Yeah but you just have to love 'The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog'. I once read that English was chosen as our national language when a boat of Vikings or whoever settled and ransacked old Anglia, they spoke dialects of Olde Heraldic English and the German/ scandinavian equivalent and they voted on the boat what would become the language of the territory if they where successful and English won by one vote. Such a great story, I hope it's true Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
holystove Posted October 5, 2009 Report Share Posted October 5, 2009 (edited) AEROPLANE *cries* aha thanks .. for the record English isn't my mother tongue, only 3rd language really. So there's no need for crying . Edited October 5, 2009 by holystove Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chongli Posted October 6, 2009 Report Share Posted October 6, 2009 I'm from Massachusetts in the US. State law says that any city or town ending in -borough is legally allowed to be spelled with just -boro. So, for example, you'll usually see exit signs on the highway (I don't know if British people know what "exit signs" and "highway" are. You guys may well have your own terms for these, sorry I don't know what they are) that say something like "Marlboro 1/2 mile." But usually the sign for entering town will say, "Entering Marlborough." Pretty amusing. Also, if you think Americans are being cheap for taking out some of the extra letters, I'll have you know that people in some parts of the US actually still say some of them! The dialect is dying out a bit, but if you speak to an old person from deep in the southern mountains (Eastern Kentucky, Western North Carolina, etc . . . ) they pronounce the l's in words like talk, walk, could, would, etc . . . Pretty bizarre. I think they maintain some other elements of Elizabethan-era English that died out in virtually every other accent in the English-speaking world. Unfortunately, I don't know what those are. Many of the best places to find preserved examples of older sounds of English are actually in isolated parts of America. For example, check out this video of people from Tangier Island, VA: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete0 Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 ive noticed a few times on american sitcoms/dramas that some pronounce the h in why an what which sounds really wrong Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
holystove Posted October 18, 2009 Report Share Posted October 18, 2009 ive noticed a few times on american sitcoms/dramas that some pronounce the h in why an what which sounds really wrong http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHYYkZpZGjo . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Churinga2 Posted October 19, 2009 Report Share Posted October 19, 2009 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHYYkZpZGjo . Love it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeO Posted October 19, 2009 Report Share Posted October 19, 2009 Following what spiderman and MWFTG said I coincidentally heard the other day that some words that we think of as Americanisms are in fact C16/17th English that have died out over here. Best two example I remember are Fall for Autumn and "gotten". We still use forgotten and ill-gotten but "gotten" I'd have put down as purely Yank . I promise to be less condescending to Americanisation in future....maybe . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted October 22, 2009 Report Share Posted October 22, 2009 and to quote the great Eddies Izzard, " you say erbs whilst we say herbs, because there's a fuckin H in it".... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted October 26, 2009 Report Share Posted October 26, 2009 slight diversion here, but when did punctuation die out? or are people really just speaking in massive paragraphs until they've got no oxygen left in their lungs, go blue and pass out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wall Writer Posted October 27, 2009 Report Share Posted October 27, 2009 I remember reading somewhere that the reason we have so many words spelt as they are, with these silent/extra letters, is that , when the printing press was first established, printers used to get paid by the letter, so they added would add these extra letters and change spellings to increase their earnings. Don't know exactly how true that is, but worth thinking about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wall Writer Posted October 27, 2009 Report Share Posted October 27, 2009 slight diversion here, but when did punctuation die out? or are people really just speaking in massive paragraphs until they've got no oxygen left in their lungs, go blue and pass out? Have you never seen Catherine Tate ('Am I Boverred') or Vicky Pollard (Yeah but No...), that's how real people speak these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted November 2, 2009 Report Share Posted November 2, 2009 Have you never seen Catherine Tate ('Am I Boverred') or Vicky Pollard (Yeah but No...), that's how real people speak these days. I know, it makes me sad. I have heard of these abomination love-child-mutant-offspring-from-The-Fast-Show-and-Little Britain, but refuse to give them any recognition... i dont know why i bothered, sorry boverred, with uni! Everything i learnt in the linguisitics courses is now obsolete! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted November 5, 2009 Report Share Posted November 5, 2009 something that always cracked me up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnHv7NGWb0k Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chongli Posted November 6, 2009 Report Share Posted November 6, 2009 How aware are English people that many if not most Americans automatically think people with English accents are extremely intelligent and know everything? I have an Irish coworker who is extremely annoyed by this phenomenon. It's pretty funny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ftaylor Posted November 6, 2009 Report Share Posted November 6, 2009 actually, the yanks are closer to the olde english and usually phonetically closer to the real word. however, by definition, the language is English so theyre always wrong, which i love telling my fiancee and her family: "what language are you speaking? where did it originate? so who's right? Thank you". then i have to save my tea from going in the sink.... Unless we invent something like the AIRPLANE and then we get to call it whatever we damn well please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted November 6, 2009 Report Share Posted November 6, 2009 How aware are English people that many if not most Americans automatically think people with English accents are extremely intelligent and know everything? I have an Irish coworker who is extremely annoyed by this phenomenon. It's pretty funny. i have noticed that actually. it is very strange but also very useful! Unless we invent something like the AIRPLANE and then we get to call it whatever we damn well please. had you invented the aeroplane, i would agree. however, since the aeroplane was an english invention, we'll have to go with the correct spelling: http://uktv.co.uk/yesterday/item/aid/527990 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroplane honestly it depends where you read, could be french, english, US or brazil. i actually say airplane myself, but the english cant speak english so there you go... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaron Posted November 6, 2009 Report Share Posted November 6, 2009 i have noticed that actually. it is very strange but also very useful! had you invented the aeroplane, i would agree. however, since the aeroplane was an english invention, we'll have to go with the correct spelling: http://uktv.co.uk/yesterday/item/aid/527990 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroplane honestly it depends where you read, could be french, english, US or brazil. i actually say airplane myself, but the english cant speak english so there you go... hahahaha fucking brilliant! ownage at its best Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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