Why is the English language so weird?

[Soubriquet]

I mean.. cough and rough are spelled almost the the same and yet not pronounced the same at all

Same to womb, tomb and then bomb..

We say double-yew for W but don’t say double-enn for M.

Why?

Why is it 1 goose, 3 geese, but 1 moose and 3 mooses?

We say an umbrella..but we say a unicorn not an.

We get in a car but on a bus.

There are obviously a lot more examples but come on! English is just weird right?

It’s because it isn’t one language, it’s a mixture of many different languages which reflects the UK’s interesting history.

W is literally from two u's: U U, but M is not a double N and never has been If you look at it, it's not a connected N : M NN . If you slowly say one of the few words that still has a double U and pay attention to the shape of your mouth in the middle, you'll find the W: continuum. But if you say NN there's no M that emerges in the middle. It's a different consonant entirely.

I’m aware of that but there doesn’t really seem to be “rules” like most languages have

It’s no wonder people who have English as a second language and learn it later in life struggle

Here’s another weird one

Horror, Horrible, Horrific. All words to say that something is awful

Terror, Terror, Terrific. Should be all words for something that is scary but no. Terrific is something that was super awesome

It's not true that there aren't rules, there are but most people don't need to learn them as they assimilate the language gradually. Foreign learners often do learn the rules. And yes, a lot of the differences in pronunciation are due to the origin of the word - I find that foreign students often have a far greater idea of whether a word comes from Greek or Latin or French than a native speaker!

howtospell.co.uk/spelling-tip-number-2

There is no one set of rules, because English didn't develop from one language.

But most languages have areas which don't always follow a pattern

Certainly both French and Spanish have irregular verbs - some being very irregular!

And English doesn't get so hung up on tenses, or the cases that you get in eg German.

Typically, 'older' animals have older plural forms. For many centuries, English has been shedding its complexity in this way, but we still keep some very old, very core words with their older forms. Examples:

child : children
ox : oxen
mouse : mice

But you won't find those irregular forms in any animals that aren't native to Britain as their plural forms entered the language after Middle English had disposed of all this.

historyofenglishpodcast.com/2015/01/15/episode-56-the-weak-vs-the-strong/

It is, OP. I agree. Also agree it's because it's a mix of different languages.

W is literally from two u's: U U, but M is not a double N and never has been If you look at it, it's not a connected N : M NN

Technically, W is from 2 VVs (possibly the small letter is from 2 conjoined uu) and m (small letter) has two conjoined nn.

Also meanings change over time. Terrific did have a negative meaning 400 years ago!

...As well as some people making up/changing the rules as they go.

You ought to read The Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson, it is all about the English language. It has these questions and some answers to them.

I will add it is very interesting, easy reading.

@BlackCatShadow

It’s because it isn’t one language, it’s a mixture of many different languages which reflects the UK’s interesting history.

This is the main reason. We have a Germanic root language - formed from the languages of all the peoples who moved here in the ‘dark ages’ - that combined with a large amount of spelling and then spent a couple of centuries or so being suppressed in favour of French. That makes grammar a bit weird and introduces loads of loan words.

You’re also asking about spelling rules. That’s partly because of the multiple language issue above, with different dialects spelling their sounds in different ways. Then remember that writing re-developed and become common much later than spoken. We did not regularise spelling until later than that, and it was largely an ad hoc unplanned process. All of which gives us a language with tremendous amount of flexibility and power of expression. Win some, lose some.

Now one that’s even weirder

Chuffed means:-

Delighted. Pleased. Satisfied
But it also means
Annoyed. Displeased. Disgruntled

Then you have egregious which means:-

Outstanding bad. Shocking
Or
Remarkable good.

Finally there is non plussed which means:-
Surprised or confused or unable how to react
Or
Not at all bothered

Umbrella and unicorn - the pronunciation of unicorn is younicorn so the vowel sound at the beginning is lost, unlike with umbrella.

What technicality are you depending upon there? V is the voiced labiodental fricative U, which is why we have pairs like wine and vine.

Combined with a large amount of Latin. And then some clever person invented phones with autocorrects that have their own minds!

Bath...is pronounced bahth in most places

Yet we say varse not vayse

Mouse-mice but house-houses

You aren’t half talking about a lot of different things in one place!

Meaning changes through use. We’ve developed a sense of irony which is why some words are now taking up the opposite meaning to that which they had originally.

The different vowels are due to differences in accent, which happens in all languages (and again are passed on through use). I’ve heard that the replacement of a short ‘a’ vowel by a long “ar “ sound was a deliberate pretension among southerners to sound more continental. Dunno how true that is.

@Beforeiwasrichandfamous

You ought to read The Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson, it is all about the English language. It has these questions and some answers to them.

I will add it is very interesting, easy reading.

That sounds interesting. Thanks for the recommendation!

Terror, Terror, Terrific. Should be all words for something that is scary but no. Terrific is something that was super awesome

We've words in English that are contronyms - words that can also mean they're opposite. One theory is that people used it sarcastically to the point it became common use. This might also explain things like terrific which did used to go with terror.

With spellings, that wasn't standardized until a couple centuries ago so we've all that time before that of mixed spellings. Those who standardized it based it on their own accents and preferences on the previous spelling and how much they wanted the etymological roots to be involved (which is how the UK/US split in so many spellings happened). It never matched how most people talk, but as accents shifted, it's does so even less, which is one of the arguments for spelling reform.

Phrasal verbs. Native speakers never even notice what a mindfuck they are!

I mean you have: make. (Create).
And the preposition “up” meaning in a skyward direction.

Put them together and you can have

Cosmetics, reconcile, invent, decide (make up your mind), recover (make up the time).

Some prefer to put out when they’ve put the lights out but others prefer to get the lights on before they get it on because turned off lights are a turn off!

@molojoko

That was interesting about plurals. Thanks!

Also, there are 14 recorded pronunciations for the combination OUGH!

How many can you get without Googling!?

(I’m in my element!!)