'Read' and its past tense are spelled the same. How should they be spelled?
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It's because the people who set the rules for the English language, could barely speak it.
The first guy to popularize the printing press was Dutch, so the guy who bought England's first one didn't know how it worked and neither did any English speaker
So he hired a bunch of Dutch who knew how to operate it.
And they got a bunch of handwritten books and were told to mass reproduce them.
Sometimes it was a mistake in the original, sometimes the typesetter made a mistake. Sometimes the writer just disagreed with how it should be written, and sometimes even the typesetters who couldn't speak English made choices to change it
No one gave a fuck about accuracy, it was about pumping out as many books as possible. Because just owning a book was a huge status symbol still from when they were handwritten and crazy expensive.
But all those books eventually got read, and the people who learned to read them were very proud that they could read. So they insisted that all the random bullshit was intentional and had to be followed to a T by everyone forever.
Most other languages had a noble class who kept it sensical, but for a long ass time only peasants spoke English, the wealthy in England all spoke French, cuz they were French.
Anyways, that's why English doesn't make any sense. There was also a natural thing happening where vowel pronunciation was changing. So when the typecasters solidified everything, it was already in a state of flux. That's why pronunciation doesn't line up with spelling.
This also occurred in the middle of the Great Vowel Shift, a period when spoken English pronunciation was changing significantly.
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What about similar oddities in English?
(This question is inspired by this comic by https://www.exocomics.com/) (I couldn't find the link to the actual comic)Fast can mean moving with great speed or fixed securely in place (among other things).
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Fast can mean moving with great speed or fixed securely in place (among other things).
The alarm went off so i turned it off.
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Pretty sure there’s a chemical element named “lead”
And German has a word for it: Blei
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Pretty sure the past tense of "lead" is actually "led."
Unless of course you're referring to the type of metal, lead, which I guess the meme isn't clear on.
I had to look this up.
And today I learned ALL my brit friends are spelling it wrong. That's more than two!
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This also occurred in the middle of the Great Vowel Shift, a period when spoken English pronunciation was changing significantly.
Yep...
There was also a natural thing happening where vowel pronunciation was changing. So when the typecasters solidified everything, it was already in a state of flux. That’s why pronunciation doesn’t line up with spelling.
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Yep...
There was also a natural thing happening where vowel pronunciation was changing. So when the typecasters solidified everything, it was already in a state of flux. That’s why pronunciation doesn’t line up with spelling.
I missed that, my bad.
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Pretty sure the past tense of "lead" is actually "led."
Unless of course you're referring to the type of metal, lead, which I guess the meme isn't clear on.
It's not saying anything about past tenses in that meme, it's just saying that each word has two different pronunciations that rhyme with the other.
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What about similar oddities in English?
(This question is inspired by this comic by https://www.exocomics.com/) (I couldn't find the link to the actual comic)The primary accent for 2-syllable words that are used as both a noun and a verb depends on the part of speech. The noun places the primary accent on the 1st syllable, the verb on the 2nd syllable.
Examples:
The musician records a record.
The farmer produces produce.
You're not permitted to fish without a permit. -
What about similar oddities in English?
(This question is inspired by this comic by https://www.exocomics.com/) (I couldn't find the link to the actual comic)It's "its," by the way.
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I had to look this up.
And today I learned ALL my brit friends are spelling it wrong. That's more than two!
Brits aren't "spelling it wrong" any more than those in the US are. It's just cultural differences. Do you also claim Germans spell things wrong? Or the Chinese?
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Pretty sure the past tense of "lead" is actually "led."
Unless of course you're referring to the type of metal, lead, which I guess the meme isn't clear on.
It's all about led vs lēd.
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And German has a word for it: Blei
That would explain why a pencil, which contains a "lead" (actually a polymer or graphite now) is Bleistift
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Bought, caught, taught, fought, thought, sought, and wrought are all past tense verbs and all rhyme. The present tense forms are buy, catch, teach, fight, think, seek, and work, none of which rhyme.
Spanish is awesome. All its verbs in their regular form do end in "-ar", "-er" and "-ir".
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Brits aren't "spelling it wrong" any more than those in the US are. It's just cultural differences. Do you also claim Germans spell things wrong? Or the Chinese?
Also the language is called English. By default, the English are doing it right and anything else is wrong. Maybe better, the argument can go for decades longer, but if anyones wrong its everyone else.
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Bought, caught, taught, fought, thought, sought, and wrought are all past tense verbs and all rhyme. The present tense forms are buy, catch, teach, fight, think, seek, and work, none of which rhyme.
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Also the language is called English. By default, the English are doing it right and anything else is wrong. Maybe better, the argument can go for decades longer, but if anyones wrong its everyone else.
My point is no one is wrong. Well, you are, but not for the way you spell things.
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The primary accent for 2-syllable words that are used as both a noun and a verb depends on the part of speech. The noun places the primary accent on the 1st syllable, the verb on the 2nd syllable.
Examples:
The musician records a record.
The farmer produces produce.
You're not permitted to fish without a permit.Potential exception: "Adult." Arguably because it generally isn't a verb when emphasis is on the second syllable, some people do that even when it's a noun.
I'm an Adult vs. I'm an aDULT. *
Use as of "adult" as a verb is non-standard and where to emphasise that is even less clear-cut for those of us who put the emphasis on the first syllable of the noun. Interestingly, "adulterate" is less strange as a verb and the emphasis is definitely on the second syllable there.
We could tie ourselves in knots analysing the late emphasis form as a verbified noun, re-nounified. Ow.
* The underlying truth of said statement is irrelevant. Chronologically, I have been one for some time. Mentally... ehh.
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The alarm went off so i turned it off.
My ally turned on me and then I turned her on
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What about similar oddities in English?
(This question is inspired by this comic by https://www.exocomics.com/) (I couldn't find the link to the actual comic)The Chaos by Gerard Nolst Trenité (1922)
https://ncf.idallen.com/english.html
Dearest creature in creation
Studying English pronunciation,
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse and worse.I will keep you, Susy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy;
Tear in eye, your dress you'll tear;
Queer, fair seer, hear my prayer.Pray, console your loving poet,
Make my coat look new, dear, sew it!
Just compare heart, hear and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word.
...Very long. Highly recommended
