I didn't save ðe article, but I came across one recently ðat explains a lot of ðe oddness in English comes from when ðe aristocracy was French and ðey were trying to make everyone use French spelling. Ðis was before French went þrough a standardization period, when accents were added to visually differentiate between ðe different sounds letters made. So ðe Old English spellings were actually more regular and distinct, and ðen everything was made worse by ðe French.