this post was submitted on 16 Dec 2024
159 points (93.0% liked)

Showerthoughts

30023 readers
710 users here now

A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.

Rules

  1. All posts must be showerthoughts
  2. The entire showerthought must be in the title
  3. Avoid politics
    • 3.1) NEW RULE as of 5 Nov 2024, trying it out
    • 3.2) Political posts often end up being circle jerks (not offering unique perspective) or enflaming (too much work for mods).
    • 3.3) Try c/politicaldiscussion, volunteer as a mod here, or start your own community.
  4. Posts must be original/unique
  5. Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
159
The letters "gh" in the word "ought" are silent but "ought" is not pronounced like "out" (lemmy.world)
submitted 6 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
44 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

At least in my dialect/accent of English

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 34 points 6 days ago (2 children)

The oddities of the English language will lead you down a strange and fascinating historical rabbit hole. It's great reading, but be ready to spend some time.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 6 days ago (1 children)

tl;dr once upon a time everyone spelled words guided only by vibes, then spelling was standardised-ish, then after that there was a great vowel shift where the now standard-ish spelling became less intuitive. add the linguistic influence from French and latin (sprinkle in some germanic & a pinch of skandinavian), add the power balance between classes favouring fancier words (the nobles ate pork, beef, poultry, the peasants tended to pigs, cows, chickens). add some more stuff and there you go! a "functional" language of ~~Anglonic~~ ~~Britonic~~ English!

[–] [email protected] 12 points 6 days ago

Also, the first printing presses that came to England were accompanied by Dutch type setters. They sometimes made spellings more Dutch (changing gost to ghost for example). They were also paid by the line, so would occasionally add unnecessary letters to words.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

I would highly recommend the History of English Podcast. This particular observation made by OP is thoroughly covered in this particular episode: https://youtu.be/T0ED-FV7O50