This is doing my head in

Tannin · September 2023

What If English Were Phonetically Consistent?

CavemanGrogg · September 2023

That is brilliant.

Chalky · September 2023

English is not a phonetic language. Its graphical representation is at word-level and context-level, not letter-level. You may as well argue why you can't use your hands in football the way you can in rugby....

Tannin · September 2023

If you want to get technical, @Chalky, you usually can and indeed should use your hands in football, certainly this is the case in 5 out of the 6 major codes played around the world.

merlin · September 2023

Tannin said:

If you want to get technical, @Chalky, you usually can and indeed should use your hands in football, certainly this is the case in 5 out of the 6 major codes played around the world.

Quite right and it would be mighty difficult for most players to tie their own laces without using their hands.

drofluf · September 2023

Tannin said:

What If English Were Phonetically Consistent?

Sean Bean would be having an identity crisis

elstoof · September 2023

Sounds like the English copper off Allo Allo

TheBigDipper · September 2023

Tannin said:

If you want to get technical, @Chalky, you usually can and indeed should use your hands in football, certainly this is the case in 5 out of the 6 major codes played around the world.

What colonists did to the purity of association football is their own affair.

And, let's be honest with ourselves - after the first "major" code, the others are a long way behind in terms of participation or world reach, wouldn't you say?

Anecdote - at my posh school, which awarded "colours" for sporting achievement, I never stopped being angry at the use of the term "Football XV" for rugby union and "Soccer XI" for football.