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You can change the spelling of one word in the English language to match how they are pronounced. What word do you pick? (lemmy.world)
submitted 3 years ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
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I'm picking "Colonel" needs to be respelled to match how it's pronounced.

Try to pick a word no one else has picked. What word are you respelling?

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[–] 23 points 3 years ago (2 children)

I just wish we spelled things in a more German-'esk' fashion. They use K more appropriately. Examples such as "panik" and "akkordeon" for accordion. I find their spelling to be more straightforward and sensical.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 years ago

    German has the awesome ability to just shove words together to make new words and the language accepts it. It's unambiguous (so I understand).

    This is another great opportunity to promote a book that I enjoyed as a fan of language:

    Highly Irregular: Why Tough, Through, and Dough Don't Rhyme―And Other Oddities of the English Language

    Interview with the author here (got me to buy the book):

    In 1920, a Dutch writer named Gerard Nolst Trenité published a poem in English titled The Chaos, designed to draw attention to English spelling and pronunciation — and all the confusion its absurdities have let loose upon the world. It begins “Dearest creature in creation; Studying English pronunciation; I will teach you in my verse; Sounds like corpse, corps, horse and worse” and ends: “Hiccough has the sound of ‘cup’…. My advice is—give it up!”

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