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English spelling absolutely has rules. The famous 'ghoti' example (where supposedly it should be able to be pronounced 'fish' because of 'gh' in rough, 'ti' in
by mrr54 7y ago
English spelling absolutely has rules. The famous 'ghoti' example (where supposedly it should be able to be pronounced 'fish' because of 'gh' in rough, 'ti' in 'nation', etc.) is nonsense because there's only one way that word can be pronounced in English and that's 'goatee'.
Irregularities don't mean it doesn't have rules. The most common 1-2k words are much less regular than the rest of the language, but learning how they're spelt is not remotely difficult for children (no adult that doesn't have a learning disability struggles to remember how to spell 'much' or 'about'). The rest of the language is pretty much regular.
- shaded-enmity 7y agoObligatory "What if English were phonetically consistent": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8zWWp0akUU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8zWWp0akUU
- shard 7y agoFunny, I always pronounced "ghoti" like "Gotti".
- Dylan16807 7y agoSlight difference in vowel, otherwise the same, that's valid enough. English isn't great at telling you the exact vowel, probably because people keep making them shift.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 7y agoEnglish is spoken with such a wide variety of accents that you can just about get away with using random vowels sounds and still be understood.