English quirks

Q. Is English an odd language

A. English is not in itself any odder a language than any other, though it is not a regular language in the way that Malay is. The spelling system, however, is one of the more eccentric aspects of written English. Quirky and inconsistent� - or, indeed, downright illogical -�would be fair ways to describe some of the spellings we are required to put up with.

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Unlike almost every other language that uses an alphabetical writing system, most of which use phonetic spellings, English has chosen to adopt a system where the etymology, or 'history' of the word, is often expressed.

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Q. Such as

A. Knight and knife are two oft-cited examples. The silent k denotes the fact that it was once pronounced. So cniht in Anglo-Saxon meant hero, and cnif meant the same as it does now. Most words ending in -ough, whether now pronounced -ow or -off, were once aspirated, rather like a modern Spanish j or Scottish -ch.

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Q. So, why, when pronunciation changes, can't English spelling keep up with the language

A. It would be very hard to devise a new system that would then be adopted by everyone. And, irritating or not, the current system does work.

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Q. Has anyone tried to do it

A. Playwright George Bernard Shaw was so disgruntled by the illogical spelling of English words that he left money in his will to pay for the creation of a new alphabet. One was devised and published in the early 1960s, but it never caught on. Shaw complained that if you could spell the word 'fish' as 'ghoti' and still be consistent, something was wrong.

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It works: f as in 'tough', i as in 'women',�sh as in 'nation'.

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Q. What about words that look the same but sound different

A. Because we don't use accents to show where the word is stressed or that a letter is in some way modified, a lot can depend on context. For example: POLISH. Someone from Poland or something you clean your shoes with A sentence starting, 'Polish is hard . . .' could refer to the language or to a particularly tough cleaning aid.

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Another example is compact. Say, 'this computer is compact,' and 'compact disc'. The stress falls in the second syllable in the former and on the first syllable in the latter. Same word, though.

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Q. Any other quirky spellings

A.

The only word in the English language with a double i is skiing

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The only word with three pairs of double letters in it is bookkeeper

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There is only English word that changes from plural to singular when you add an s: princes becomes princess

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Q. Any other quirks apart from spelling anomalies

A. Many English words have several meanings, but none more so than set, which means, among other things:

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To put something into position (set a table)

To plant (set bulbs out in the flower bed)

To show how determined you are (set your jaw)

To decorate (a brooch set with precious stones)

To bring something into contact with something else (set a match to a haystack)

To make something ready (setting a trap)

To adjust (set your watch)

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You can set a broken bone, you can set your hair after you wash it, you can set a poem to music, set sail or sit in front of your television set while a jelly sets in the fridge.

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Q. While we're on the subject of spelling, what about texting

A. Very zeitgeist. English lends itself well to doing away with proper spelling altogether. So:

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B (bee, be)

B4 (before)

C (see)

CD (seedy)

FEG (effigy)

FX (effects)

I (eye)

J (jay, as in blue jay)

L (hell)

LEG (elegy)

LO (hello)

U (you)

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...and so on. Mind you, this is hardly unique. Some writing systems hardly ever use vowels at all, such as Hebrew, while Tibetan doesn't use any symbol for a, as the reader is to assume that there is an a in every syllable unless otherwise indicated by the presence of another vowel.

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Q. And DS

Yes, the classic Citro�n DS, which first appeared in the mid-1950s - and still seems technologically advanced today -�was christened 'the goddess'. Why DS in French is pronounced 'dayess'. And what's the French word for goddess D�esse.

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For more on Phrases & Sayings click here

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By Simon Smith