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Seems a good time to recommend a book that I found incredibly interesting: Highly Irregular: Why Tough, Through, and Dough Don't Rhyme and Other Oddities of th

Seems a good time to recommend a book that I found incredibly interesting: Highly Irregular: Why Tough, Through, and Dough Don't Rhyme and Other Oddities of the English Language https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/55332395 https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/55332395 Off the main topic, I know. But not enough opportunities arise where I can recommend this fantastic read. Turns out all the stupid aspects of English have very logical reasons for existing. It was mildly mind-blowing to have it all traced back so effectively. There was a great interview with the author on the 99% Invisible podcast, too.

Tagbert 3y ago
If you liked that, you should check out the History of English podcast. It is a great and long running podcast that looks at the history and other factors that gave us this language. https://historyofenglishpodcast.com/ https://historyofenglishpodcast.com/
HideousKojima 3y ago
I realize there are many, many factors that contribute to English spelling being so weird, but doesn't the Norman invasion account for the lion's share of them?
- thaumasiotes 3y ago
  That would be strange, since the same phenomenon - linguistic drift away from ancient spellings - is observed in every language. The reason you see other languages as having spelling that is "less weird" than English is not that English is different from those other languages - it's that the spelling of those other languages is much more recent than the spelling of English is. The Norman contribution to the split between tough, through, and dough, for example, is zero.
- Electricniko 3y ago
  I recommend the Youtube channel RobWords for those kinds of explanations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j07f-cKWRtk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j07f-cKWRtk
throwiforgtnlzy 3y ago
The 3-part documentary Do You Speak American? (2005) is also interesting on the evolution of English (and non-English) accents.

Tagbert 3y ago

If you liked that, you should check out the History of English podcast. It is a great and long running podcast that looks at the history and other factors that gave us this language. https://historyofenglishpodcast.com/ https://historyofenglishpodcast.com/

HideousKojima 3y ago

I realize there are many, many factors that contribute to English spelling being so weird, but doesn't the Norman invasion account for the lion's share of them?

thaumasiotes 3y ago
That would be strange, since the same phenomenon - linguistic drift away from ancient spellings - is observed in every language. The reason you see other languages as having spelling that is "less weird" than English is not that English is different from those other languages - it's that the spelling of those other languages is much more recent than the spelling of English is. The Norman contribution to the split between tough, through, and dough, for example, is zero.
Electricniko 3y ago
I recommend the Youtube channel RobWords for those kinds of explanations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j07f-cKWRtk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j07f-cKWRtk

throwiforgtnlzy 3y ago

The 3-part documentary Do You Speak American? (2005) is also interesting on the evolution of English (and non-English) accents.