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Anonymous Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

Spelling.

My question is simple. Or one would think it would be. And I am not being silly about this. Why is the English language so difficult to spell? Meaning, we have the word Phonetically, but nothing is spelled that way. We have things like "I" before "E" except after "C". Why is it so hard. Why do we have two words that sound the same but are spelled differently and mean different things. We drive on parkways, but park in driveways. This is crazy. Comedians have talked about this for years. Any ideas people?
Thanks a lot!
Kevin
  

Top answer

English words have Old English, Scandinavian, German, Celtic, Latin, Greek, French and other origins. Many of the spellings have lingered.

— Mister Micawber

  • English words have Old English, Scandinavian, German, Celtic, Latin, Greek, French and other origins.
  • Many of the spellings have lingered.
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2 Answers
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English words have Old English, Scandinavian, German, Celtic, Latin, Greek, French and other origins. Many of the spellings have lingered.
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In the days of Old English when illiteracy was the norm, it was common even for an educated person to spell a word in more ways than one in one document. Uniform spelling wasn't even strived for. There were no magazines and newspapers that might have given people ideas and models about "correct" spelling.

Centuries later, the British never had a language academy which might have tried to
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