this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2023
239 points (93.5% liked)

Asklemmy

43963 readers
1123 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy πŸ”

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_[email protected]~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I'm picking "Colonel" needs to be respelled to match how it's pronounced.

Try to pick a word no one else has picked. What word are you respelling?

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 74 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In this thread, a lot of folks who would use their one wish to make the language better.

But I would change "their" to be spelled "the're" and pronounced "all'y'all's".

I hope I do grow up to be more like the rest of you, and make better choices, in the future.

[–] [email protected] 46 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

People like you being in charge is how English got to this position in the first place!

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Your rite, and I regret my choices.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 61 points 1 year ago (13 children)

Nesscary

...Neccisary

.......Neseccary

Fuck it, it's now "Nesisary"

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

Do the needful.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (12 replies)
[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago (7 children)

English orthography is awful. Hard "c" AND soft "c"? Are you crazy? How about that "k" that is already the hard c sound? It should be "kat" and "kar". And it only goes downhill from there (or their?!?).

We should clean it up someday. But we'll probably end up with LOL-WTF-speak.

load more comments (7 replies)
[–] whointhewhatnow 28 points 1 year ago (2 children)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago (13 children)

Macabre. Why do you need two silent letters?

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago

Blame the French.

load more comments (11 replies)
[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Might start an argument but:
GIF -> GHIF

[–] [email protected] 56 points 1 year ago (5 children)

It’s actually pronounced β€œJIF”

It stands for the Jraphics Interchange Format

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago

Giraffics? πŸ¦’

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (6 children)
load more comments (6 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago (22 children)

It's aluminium you stupid Americans.

load more comments (22 replies)
[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago (5 children)
[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (6 children)

"Arkansas" and "Kansas" are both from the Osage language, but the former passed through French on its way to English.

load more comments (6 replies)
load more comments (4 replies)
[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Since Queue has already been posted: Quay. Now spelled Kee.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (8 children)

You and I pronounce 'quay' very differently.

load more comments (8 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I just wish we spelled things in a more German-'esk' fashion. They use K more appropriately. Examples such as "panik" and "akkordeon" for accordion. I find their spelling to be more straightforward and sensical.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (7 children)
load more comments (7 replies)
[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (7 children)

Thou shalt spell the word "Pheonix" P-H-E-O-N-I-X, not P-H-O-E-N-I-X, regardless of what the Oxford English Dictionary tells you.

load more comments (7 replies)
[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (10 children)

Wednesday to Windsday or Wensday.

load more comments (10 replies)
[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I like this one because I instantly knew what word it was despite it having a brand new spelling. Almost like letters should have meanings.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (7 children)

Though shall now be spelled: Tho.

load more comments (7 replies)
[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago

Aisle should become something like ile.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I think the main issue with this is that pronunciation changes over time, in addition to varying by area. So if we keep changing the spelling, written works will became unreadable faster.

But I would suggest that any band names that use umlauts/foreign letters should be pronounced accordingly.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (4 children)

All those words that are pronounce the same but have completely different meanings. Particularly the common words.

To two too

No know

Their there

By buy bye

Then there there ones spelt the same but two different meanings and silent letters to even be better.

Go right, you're right.

Didn't know how messed up English spelling/pronunciation is till I started to learn Spanish and nearly every word is pronounced exactly as spelled.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

By buy bye

N'SYNC intensifies

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (9 children)

Oh boy, a word wouldn't be enough.

I would make English as consistent as Spanish is regarding phonetical consistency, or even more.

Oh, you have never seen this word ever before and you don't know how to pronounce it? No worries, these universal rules will allow you just get it right, because letters always sound the same!

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

β€œSpanish regarding phonetical consistency”

Checking in from Oaxaca

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (8 replies)
[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Highpurrbolley.

I pronounced it hyper-bowl in my head for a loooong time until I had to say it out loud one time and got laughed at.

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] thelsim 15 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Segue
I always trip over that one and start reading it as French.

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (3 children)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] pp99 12 points 1 year ago (10 children)
load more comments (10 replies)
[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (6 children)
load more comments (6 replies)
[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (4 children)
[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (3 children)

The pronunciation already matches the spelling!

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

Arkansaw.

IF KANSAS IS PRONOUNCED "KANSAS"
THEN WHY ISN'T ARKANSAS PRONOUNCED "ARKANSAS"

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (3 children)

February. (US pronunciation)

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments
view more: next β€Ί