I still don’t understand the English insistence on borrowing words from other languages, yet refusal to standardize spelling into ways that actually make sense within the language.
So I still blame English for being silly with their transliteration.
But also, English spelling can’t standardize because English pronunciation isn’t standard. West Coast vs Midwest vs South vs East Coast have vastly different accents. Any spelling reform that makes English phonetic for one would be wrong for the others.
And it keeps changing! People keep moving and interacting with other languages, adding and dropping words and accents over time.
I always want to pronounce the American versions of these words phonetically when I see them.
And what the heck is going on with the US pronunciation of “buoy”? None of those syllables are in that word.
Buo-y
Apparently we have the Dutch to blame for that one, as the verb form is apparently descended from Spanish.
I still don’t understand the English insistence on borrowing words from other languages, yet refusal to standardize spelling into ways that actually make sense within the language.
So I still blame English for being silly with their transliteration.
Blame the French actually, they invaded and screwed everything up beyond repair.
Blame the great vowel shift.
But also, English spelling can’t standardize because English pronunciation isn’t standard. West Coast vs Midwest vs South vs East Coast have vastly different accents. Any spelling reform that makes English phonetic for one would be wrong for the others.
And it keeps changing! People keep moving and interacting with other languages, adding and dropping words and accents over time.
ʤəst stɑːt ˈjuːzɪŋ aɪ-piː-eɪ
Do it backwards, pronounce the British versions