At least you can learn which letters to ignore when pronouncing a word. But English pronunciation is completely f-ed up. How do you pronounce “read” or “lead”?
When the English tongue we speak.
Why is break not rhymed with freak?
Will you tell me why it’s true
We say sew but likewise few?
And the maker of the verse,
Cannot rhyme his horse with worse?
Beard is not the same as heard
Cord is different from word.
Cow is cow but low is low
Shoe is never rhymed with foe.
Think of hose, dose,and lose
And think of goose and yet with choose
Think of comb, tomb and bomb,
Doll and roll or home and some.
Since pay is rhymed with say
Why not paid with said I pray?
Think of blood, food and good.
Mould is not pronounced like could.
Wherefore done, but gone and lone -
Is there any reason known?
To sum up all, it seems to me
Sound and letters don’t agree.
One reason why I cannot spell,
Although I learned the rules quite well
Is that some words like coup and through
Sound just like threw and flue and Who;
When oo is never spelled the same,
The duice becomes a guessing game;
And then I ponder over though,
Is it spelled so, or throw, or beau,
And bough is never bow, it’s bow,
I mean the bow that sounds like plow,
And not the bow that sounds like row -
The row that is pronounced like roe.
I wonder, too, why rough and tough,
That sound the same as gruff and muff,
Are spelled like bough and though, for they
Are both pronounced a different way.
And why can’t I spell trough and cough
The same as I do scoff and golf?
Why isn’t drought spelled just like route,
or doubt or pout or sauerkraut?
When words all sound so much the same
To change the spelling seems a shame.
There is no sense - see sound like cents -
in making such a difference
Between the sight and sound of words;
Each spelling rule that undergirds
The way a word should look will fail
And often prove to no avail
Because exceptions will negate
The truth of what the rule may state;
So though I try, I still despair
And moan and mutter “It’s not fair
That I’m held up to ridicule
And made to look like such a fool
When it’s the spelling that’s at fault.
Let’s call this nonsense to a halt.”
They’re pronounced differently (although there’s a difference between British English and American English but for these that difference is quite consistent and you just omit the r):
People have tried reforming English spelling many times to make it make sense, the only time a reform has actually succeeded is Webster’s reform, which is the reason why American English and British English have different spellings.
At least you can learn which letters to ignore when pronouncing a word. But English pronunciation is completely f-ed up. How do you pronounce “read” or “lead”?
- Lord Cromer, 1902
Or “The Chaos”, Gerard Nolst Trenité, 1922
There are a few of them. There’s also
- Attributed to Vivian Buchan, 1966
Horse and worse rhyme.
Also so does cord and word.
Did I miss something or were they pronounced differently 123 years ago?
They’re pronounced differently (although there’s a difference between British English and American English but for these that difference is quite consistent and you just omit the
r):horse [hɔːs]/[hɔːrs] - worse [wɜːs]/[wɜːrs]
cord [kɔ:d]/[kɔːrd] - word [wɜːd]/[wɜːrd]
How do horse and worse rhyme?
Neigh.
whore sea
wore sea
seems straight forward sea
People have tried reforming English spelling many times to make it make sense, the only time a reform has actually succeeded is Webster’s reform, which is the reason why American English and British English have different spellings.
With debatable levels of “succeded”.
Indeed, some of his ideas never caught on, like masheen