Re: USAGE: Language revival

John Cowan wrote:
>
> Nik Taylor wrote:
>
> > Well, that only applies to English English, American English uses
> > "jail".
>
> Okay, if you don't like "gaol", then contemplate "through" /Tru/,
> "though" /Do/, "rough" /rVf/, "cough" /kO:f/, "bough" /bau/,
> "furlough" /fVrlo/, "borough" /bOr@ ~ bOro/, "hough" /h0k ~ hak/,
> and "hiccough" /hIk@p/.  The last two are probably singletons.
>
        Compared to that, even the French orthography is phonemic :) . Although
we do have our spelling monsters too (perhaps the most used are the -ez
/e/ ending of 2nd person plural - the z is very sparingly used in French
- and the -ent /@/ or silent! of 3rd person plural). Every year, the
"Dicte'e" of Bernard Pivot is full of such monsters (when I think that
there are people that would never miss this program... masochists! :) ).
I can't think of one right now though (I'm switched in mode "English
language" for the moment :) ).

> --
>
> John Cowan      http://www.reutershealth.com            jcowan@reutershealth.com
> Schlingt dreifach einen Kreis vom dies! / Schliess eurer Aug vor heiliger Schau
> Den er genoss vom Honig-Tau / Und trank die Milch vom Paradies.
>                 -- Coleridge (tr. Politzer)
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