[etni] Fw: The strange language of English...
----- Original Message ----- From: Henry Mullish - hqm2011@xxxxxxx 
Subject: The strange language of English...

Hi there ETNIERS:
I must say that I have strong feelings of support for all you teachers of English. I was wondering how you cope with the following phenomenon: There are many (quite common) words in the English language in which their spelling is contrary to the way the word is pronounced. Here are some examples of what I mean, 'off the top of my head'. I shall include the pronunciation for the benefit of those who are not English experts. balm [barm], buoyant [ boyant], cabaret [ cabaray], calm [carm], column [kollum], cough [ koff], crumb [krum], damn [dam], diaphragm [diafram], doubt [dowt], fasten [farsen], gnat [nat], gnome [nome], guinea [ginnee], hasten [haisen], honor [onner], hymn [ him], knapsack [napsack], knee [nee], knight [nite], knit [nit], listen [lissen], numb [ num], phlegm [flem], pneumatic [numatic], psychology [sykology], receipt [reseet], rheumatic [ roomatik], straight [strait], subtle [suttle], thistle [thissle], though [tho], thumb [thum], thyme [time], tomb [toom], whistle [wissle]. wrap [ rap], wrinkle [rinkle] In some cases the letter is not pronounced at all and in others, the sound is changed. I was wondering whether, as teachers of English, if you allot any time to a discussion of this phenomenon. Also, is there a collection of these inconsistencies on the Internet? 

Henry Mullish


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