Use the International Phonetic Alphabet.
/rɛːd/, /riːd/
/ˈlɛd/, /ˈlɛd/Or make everyone switch to a language that is orthographically transparent, like Finnish, Serbo-Croatian, and Spanish.
read deed redemption, the farm flipper spinoff.
reed deed redemption: a game about the ownership of a plant
Great podcast.
As someone who speaks 3 languages, I can confirm english is a weak ass language.
It’s strong point is that daily and normal speech and formal writing or speech are almost the same. Thats not the case with most languages, specially the older and more complex ones.
Do u happen to speak german? I’m studying it rn and it’s making me very grateful we live in an English speaking world :/
I kind of like how it’s ever changing and evolving, I know that sours some people’s pickles but I think it’s neat. I like how it incorporates and is built on so many other languages. I enjoyed reading a short story posted here a while ago that progressively walked backwards in time as a language and it was really neat to me. I’m an idiot though so most other languages probably do this also.
American English has never be bashful about filing the serial numbers off a word and then claiming it as our own. It can lead, (lead/lead/led?) to confusion even among us native speakers. At least until we sort it out.
Personally I blame the French, (for no reason other than I can), for all the ills in the English language.
This entire thread is /c/badlinguistics.
I genuinely read that as ba-se-lin-e
do u mean bejslajn or baseliin?
the 2nd one, but “base” has two syllables.
I would like to recommend Highly Irregular: Why Tough, Through, and Dough Don’t Rhyme—And Other Oddities of the English Language.
It’s a pretty quick read and it explains exactly how the English language became such a mess. For each thing that doesn’t make sense, it provides a reason that explains it. Short version: the timing of the Great Vowel Shift relative to the invention of the printing press really screwed it over. There’s quite a bit more (Norman invasion in particular), but that was what codified all the badness.
Learning the “why” of so many previously preposterous language and spelling rules was gratifying and enlightening. They’re still preposterous but slightly less maddening now.
There’s also an excellent podcast interview with the author on 99% Invisible. Check it out. It made me buy the book and I definitely recommend it every time a post like this comes up.
IMO, the more important reason is that English is crusty af. Lots of languages had massive changes since the printing press was invented, but that didn’t stop them from changing their orthography. Germany even had an official spelling reform in the 1990s.
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.
Well, one is a compound noun and the other is a trademark that became a common word.
English is a bastard offspring of a four way language orgy.
All the good will that I had had had had no effect on my disdain for this language
It’s phunny how fotographs phunction in filosofy.
There is nothing more useless than ph.
until youre being eaten alive by acid
This is also funny.
Phuck ophph
🤣😂
All languages are beautiful
Base and bass (sound the same) and bass (sounds different)
Foundation
Instrument /deep sound
A Fish
How anyone learns English is beyond me
i still remember the best joke i told my entire time in college. a professor was talking about turnpikes and asked if anyone knew what a pike was, with a specific answer in mind..
well, i knew what a pike was
worst part was i played DnD, i knew exactly what he was asking. i just saw a low hanging fruit and an opportunity to be a smartass and you really can’t set me up like that.“You said you were a great bass player!”
Me struggling to hold onto a huge wet slippery fish “Grimmie a second, geez!”
A Fish
That’s actually spelled ‘ghoti’.
In a way I think these things are what make English a beautiful and poetic language
To call any language shit immediately discredits any opinion on it you might have
