Weird English Word Pronunciations and Mike’s Wandering, Questioning Mind
In the past few weeks, a meme has circulated on Facebook (and elsewhere) which will be familiar to some of you. It talks about the oddity of how certain words in English are pronounced, relative to their spelling. Here is the list from that meme:
The fact that Kansas and Arkansas are pronounced differently bothers me more than it should.
Pronouncing words that end in “ough”: cough, bough, rough, dough, through, tough.
Is it the “s” or “c” in scent that is silent?
Why does fridge have a “d” in it, but refrigerator doesn’t?
Why are Zoe and Zoey pronounced the same way, but Joe and Joey aren’t?
Why can you drink a drink but not food a food?
The word “queue” is really just a “q” followed by silent letters.
Why is “w” called a double-u when clearly it is a double-v?
At its core, American English resulted from the input of several languages. Our language is heavily dependent upon British English (a language amalgam all its own, thanks to its origin as a West Germanic language and the influences of Latin, French, Dutch, and Greek), but has morphed–and continues to do so–with words and slang from who knows how many other languages. Because of that, we have even more words that have spellings and/or pronunciations that defy immediate understanding. Allow me to illustrate:
Why does “colonel” have an “l” when we pronounce it as an “r?”
Why does “asthma” have a “th” when they’re pronounced as a “z?”
Why does “island” have an “s” when it’s never pronounced?
Why don’t we pronounce the “d” in “Wednesday?”
Why is there an “o” in “Jeopardy” when it doesn’t serve any purpose?
Why is there a “ch” in “yacht?”
Why is there a second “s” in “Arkansas” when it should be a “w?”
Why do we put a “u” in minuscule when it should be an “i?”
Why are organ meats called sweetbreads, but sweetmeats are confections?
OK, this latter one clearly crossed the border into the land of unanswerable—or, at least, not easily unanswerable—questions. Questions such as,” If I skip breakfast but eat lunch, aren’t I really having breakfast?” So now that my train of thought has derailed, ponder the following:
If what you see is what you get, why shouldn’t you judge a book by its cover?
Scientists say that in the event of a nuclear explosion cockroaches will survive. So, what exactly is in a can of Raid ®?
When someone talks about me behind my back, aren’t they really in front of me?
Inasmuch as our brains are composed of atoms and atoms act in a probabilistic manner, can we ever really have free will?
If the police have to arrest a one-armed person, how do they apply the handcuffs?
What is the purpose of having the word “dictionary” in the dictionary? You already know what it means.
Do Jewish vampires cower at the sight of crosses and do Italian vampires react negatively to garlic?
Many of these unanswerable questions have their origins in popular music. This is something that occurred to me many years ago when I started to wonder …
Did Barry Mann ever find out who put the bomp in the bomp-bah-bomp-bah-bomp (or, for that matter, the ram in the ram-a-lam-a-ding-dong)?
The Baha Men never did learn who let the dogs out. Does anyone know? Please call, if you do. Inquiring minds want to know.
Frankie Lymon died without ever finding out why fools fall in love and, honestly, I’d still like to know.
Even though he searched, Jimmy Ruffin never found out what became of the brokenhearted. Do you know? I surely don’t.
Michel Legrand romantically asked what were you doing the rest of your life but, as far as anyone knows, he only got an Academy Award nomination for best song of the year; never an answer. Wow, he lost out twice! Sheesh!
The Who pretty much beat us over our heads asking who we were, but I never told them—did you?
And for goodness’ sake, has anybody seen my sweet Gypsy Rose? Well, at least Connie Francis found out who’s sorry now.
This week’s Street Advertising Smile:
