There is something interesting about two countries with different word pronunciations trying to impose the same spelling AND insisting that be phonetic. I finally learned last year that the reason English spelling is the way it is, is that all languages periodically go through episodes of rapid--rapid as in a century--pronunciation change, and English had the bad luck to be going through one at the exact time that printing was being introduced, so printing "froze" a bunch of inconsistent and different pronunciations.
Sep 4, 2023·edited Sep 5, 2023Liked by Scott H-K, Amy Redfield
I don't think there's anything so remarkable about "five different ways to pronounce the letter 'X'".
There are certainly at least six different COMMON ways to pronounce the sequence "-ough" in US English: borough (usually pronounced as a schwa), bough, cough, dough, tough, through. Two more in British English: hiccough, and lough.
WE have at least four ways for X ourselves. The common one is of course "ks" as in "lax," but it is pronounced like Z in "xylophone." Thus X is pronounced two different ways in the same name "Xerxes." Some times it's pronounced like "ks," but sometimes like "kz" as in "exaggerate" and "exam." And it can be silent at the end of a word, as in "faux." Imagine saying "Max Versatappen just won the grand pricks." I honestly am not sure how to pronounce "beaux arts" or whether that counts as English, but that would get us up to five and just as confusing Portuguese.
Well, languages do change some over time, but that's a bit much (adding more letters?). I guess one would have to know the language to begin with to figure out how the extra letters fit in. Maybe it's like Puerto Rican Spanish and Quebecois French, which are both Greek to me. I can pretty much deal with American and British English, and at my age I will be happy with that! Sounds like you have our trabajo cut out for iyou.
Fascinating. Thanks for writing this. My hair would have hurt. It would have been interesting to have had to spell my last name as Ouebb had the Portuguese not added a W to their alphabet. Poor David has K and Y in his last name. 🤣
I remember being surprised when I took Italian in jr. high to find they don't have j, k, w, x, y. Except in foreign words, which seems to be how all those sneaky letters get in.
That's something I found really interesting about Japanese -- they have a different set of characters for foreign words. Each character is a syllable and words get sounded out ex: ha/i fa/i bi/di/o = hi-fi video. Languages are fascinating.
There is something interesting about two countries with different word pronunciations trying to impose the same spelling AND insisting that be phonetic. I finally learned last year that the reason English spelling is the way it is, is that all languages periodically go through episodes of rapid--rapid as in a century--pronunciation change, and English had the bad luck to be going through one at the exact time that printing was being introduced, so printing "froze" a bunch of inconsistent and different pronunciations.
Interesting.
I don't think there's anything so remarkable about "five different ways to pronounce the letter 'X'".
There are certainly at least six different COMMON ways to pronounce the sequence "-ough" in US English: borough (usually pronounced as a schwa), bough, cough, dough, tough, through. Two more in British English: hiccough, and lough.
WE have at least four ways for X ourselves. The common one is of course "ks" as in "lax," but it is pronounced like Z in "xylophone." Thus X is pronounced two different ways in the same name "Xerxes." Some times it's pronounced like "ks," but sometimes like "kz" as in "exaggerate" and "exam." And it can be silent at the end of a word, as in "faux." Imagine saying "Max Versatappen just won the grand pricks." I honestly am not sure how to pronounce "beaux arts" or whether that counts as English, but that would get us up to five and just as confusing Portuguese.
English is a messy language in its own right. No doubt about that. I do not envy ESL learners one bit.
Well, languages do change some over time, but that's a bit much (adding more letters?). I guess one would have to know the language to begin with to figure out how the extra letters fit in. Maybe it's like Puerto Rican Spanish and Quebecois French, which are both Greek to me. I can pretty much deal with American and British English, and at my age I will be happy with that! Sounds like you have our trabajo cut out for iyou.
The new letters were brought in because they appear often in words from other languages that had made their way into Portuguese culture.
Very interesting.
Explains a lot!
Fascinating. Thanks for writing this. My hair would have hurt. It would have been interesting to have had to spell my last name as Ouebb had the Portuguese not added a W to their alphabet. Poor David has K and Y in his last name. 🤣
Footnote 10 reminds me of being told in Italy that the laws were merely suggestions. Guess it’s a Mediterranean thing!
You mean they're not merely suggestions?
I remember being surprised when I took Italian in jr. high to find they don't have j, k, w, x, y. Except in foreign words, which seems to be how all those sneaky letters get in.
That's something I found really interesting about Japanese -- they have a different set of characters for foreign words. Each character is a syllable and words get sounded out ex: ha/i fa/i bi/di/o = hi-fi video. Languages are fascinating.
That is fascinating. And yet more examples of how we're all interconnected on this big blue marble.
Wow! My head is spinning! 🙃
The obvious and correct answers are water fountain, sneakers, sub and soda. Anything else is wicked stupid. :-)
Agreed!