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As much as we might judge people for their bad spelling, the truth is that English spelling doesn't make any goddamn sense. Just look at that sentence: Why is there an "n" but no "n" sound in "goddamn"? It turns out there's one perfectly good reason for that and many other eccentricities of the language, and that one good reason is actually a bunch of stupid reasons that are all shitty and terrible. Like ...
#5. "O" and "U" (and "C" and "K") Sound the Same Because of Sloppy Handwriting
Photos.com
www.cracked.com/article_20713_5-reasons-english-language-makes-no-freaking-sense.html
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Hemera Technologies/AbleStock.com We know what that sentence has all of you thinking about: that "mouth" is spelled pretty weirdly, too.
Harvard
This says "animal," like you fancy yourself in the sack, or "annnal," which is a rather annoying way to ask for it, or "aiiuiiai," which is the sound you're going to make when you head for your partner's fire door without permission and get punched in the throat. The solution to all this buggery was to just stop using "u" for some words, like "some," "love," and "come," and wow, we just cannot get out of the gutter here. This is the reason why you see an "o" for a "u" sound when it's next to an "n" or an "m," like in "monkey" and "ton," and also why you see a "c" before a "k" when the letter appears next to more minims. The "c" was a good way to separate the "k" from letters it could be easily confused with, which led to spellings such as "lick" and "flick" and ... we're going to open a new tab here and take care of some things before this next entry.
www.cracked.com/article_20713_5-reasons-english-language-makes-no-freaking-sense.html
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Frank Micelotta/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images By which we mean listening to some classic Slick Rick.
#4. Some Words Are Spelled Wrong Because Academics Are Pretentious Jerkwads
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www.cracked.com/article_20713_5-reasons-english-language-makes-no-freaking-sense.html
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Jupiterimages/liquidlibrary/Getty Images "I contain 19 words that have a 'q' not followed by a 'u.' Enjoy guessing, motherfucker."
Photos.com "You've never heard of the silent 'x'? Enjoy your mainstream spelling, sheeple."
www.cracked.com/article_20713_5-reasons-english-language-makes-no-freaking-sense.html
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Changing the spelling to match the Latin origin is at least mildly understandable, if kind of a dick move -- but less understandable is changing spellings to match Latin words they have nothing to do with, which also happened.
Photos.com At least they resisted the urge to use that stupid font.
The origin of the word "island" is the Old English word "yland" or "iland," but since the Latin word "insula" has a similar meaning, academics decided to just throw an "s" in there, because more Latin = more smarter. That one was so influential that it actually changed the word for the central walkway in a church -- up until then spelled "aile" -- to "aisle," because "s" is friggin' sexy, we guess. All those curves. Go ahead and toss it in there. Liven that sucker up.
#3. The Difference Between "-el" and "-le" Is Due to Stubbornly Clinging to Tradition
photos.com
www.cracked.com/article_20713_5-reasons-english-language-makes-no-freaking-sense.html
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Warner Bros. Not that Thunderdome stuck to the two-man rule too closely either.
George Doyle/Stockbyte/Getty Images "The proper spelling of 'rondel'? Right away, sir!"
www.cracked.com/article_20713_5-reasons-english-language-makes-no-freaking-sense.html
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