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I wish English kept some of its runic hold overs like the letter thorn “þ” (th sound).

“þe fox ran þurh þe field.”

I could imagine the confusion for non native English speakers when they encountered:

through thought brought bought daughter

All hold overs from old English when the “gh” came from the throat and was spelled with a “ȝ”



If you've never seen Gallagher's routine on English you'll enjoy it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mfz3kFNVopk


No discussion about inconsistent spelling and pronunciation is complete without The Chaos by Gerard Nolst Trenité, a non-native speaker!

http://www.businessinsider.com/english-spelling-pronunciatio...


Thank you! I recalled seeing this this as a young kid. Great re-watch.


Why are those words confusing in the context of one another? They seem pretty consistent to me as long as you aren't confused about the order of the adjacent t and h pairs.


Having dabbled in text-to-speech algorithms, I wish English had kept both eth and thorn, or had SOME way to distinguish voiced vs unvoiced th. There are few clues.


Daughter. Tochter.

Oh!




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