As much as some enjoy Spelling Bee contests, others are fed up with this infinite inconsitancy · photo by For Ever Soul

You are not alone… Confusion rules over English as a rule in terms of vocabulary, phrasal verbs and so on. We know that. Being an English as a Second Languagespeaker I am more than familiar - compellingly - with the phonetic unreliability as The Guardian describes the messed up pronunciation and spelling relation of English words. If you know how to pronounce a word in - say - Italian, you automatically can construct the word’s spelling for there are clear rules. This rule does apply for many languages, but English does not feature this consistency as a world language. Unfortunately this gives English speakers (both natives and ELS speakers) a really hard time. What do these 100 words have in common? Visible for you and you only, after the jump.

Orange, foreign, rhinoceros, properly, vomit, tambourine, tournament, tourist, heaven, engine, exquisite, opposite, advertisement, gnarled, rigid, risen, sinister, spinach, video, vinegar, tie, wheelie, quiet, science, crier, pliers, soldier, Monday, mongrel, monkey, courage, magic, manage, palace, four, journey, gnash, gnaw, gnome, ghastly, guard, miracle, miserable, pigeon, pity, prison, month, mother, nothing, once, smother, son, sponge, tongue, wonder, almost, both, comb, ghost, gross, most, only, post, programme, deny, reply, July, obey, caterpillar, chapel, damage, dragon, fabulous, family, famished, garage, glacier, habit, hazard, hexagonal, imagine, panic, radish, miaow, powder, cauliflower, plant, pyjamas, raft, rather, salami, task, vast, kiosk, kiwi, machine, encourage, somersault, swollen, souvenir.

Answer: Although some of these 100 words show the same letter sequences, the phonetics differ. The most famous example for this is, and I am not kidding, fish. How that?

The word fish, as in the animal that populates very wet areas with a high concentration of oxygen molecules accompanied by two hydrogen atoms on Planet Earth (maybe Mars, too, who knows), can be also written as - and now there’s the shocker - ghoti… If you just went “What the heck is GHOTI,” you will appreciate this explanation: 

Fish = Ghoti (Trust me)

gh as in enough phonetically equals f as in father, wolf,…

o as in women phonetically equals ɪ as in it, wish,…

ti as in nation phonetically equals ʃ as in ship, station,…

Ough = ow, off, uff, …

• bough rhymes with cow
• cough rhymes with off
• rough rhymes with puff
• though rhymes with joe
• through rhymes with two

More examples of spelling and pronounciation fluctuations (that’s a fancy word for irregularities and that is a fancy word for aint-the-same) you can find at the ESLdepot.com. Great resource I often surf for information related to the English language per se.

Whereas the Spelling Bee contests (competitions really smart kids show off their spelling skills) would be subject to extinction, issues with the spelling and pronouncation spreading all over the English speaking countries could finally be resolved. The Spelling Society favours the approach that first allows the old and new system and then gradually makes English speakers use the superior (newer) spelling rules. A new set of rules fighting the phonetic unreliability would renew pronunciation that stems from centuries ago like through (although America has already - nearly - adopted a shortened version thru, in traffic signs and bill boards for instance) and eliminates “surplus letters” like i in friend, u in shoulder, u in four, … This list could go on.

A Major Change For People, that is hard to get used to.

Naturally, progressive suggestions like these call out loud for people screaming “No, No and No.” Various languages, German, Turkish and even English (from olde to old and worlde to world) have passed certain adjustments to modern times, so why would you possibly want to stop a language’s dynamic flow? ”It would be such a major revolution that people would find it very difficult to contemplate”, the spokesman for the National Primary Headteachers’ Association said and confirmed that this inconstancy slowed down English children. Well, for those out there screaming “No, No and No” without even hearing out ideas like that, I have a lovely concept of life: Change is the only constant in life.

Discuss with me and my liebe Readers

• What do you think? Is it time for English to take measures to fight literacy problems or is this illiteracy caused by other factors like cuts in education funds, less reading and so on?
• Are there words you stumple upon when reading and spelling? 
• Is there a spelling mistake that gets your goat and makes you judge a person making it?
• If we change the spelling of words, are people going to ask for easier grammar too?
• Is this laziness?