English language is of course full of idiosyncrasies..

Sometimes I think all the English

speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.

In what language do people Have noses that run and feet that smell?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and
wise guy are opposites?

How can overlook and oversee be opposites, while quite a lot and quite a few
are alike?

How can the weather be hot as hell one day and cold as hell another.

Have you noticed that we talk about certain things only when they are absent?

Have you ever seen a horseful carriage or a strapful gown?

Met a sung hero or experienced requited love?

Have you ever run into someone who was, gruntled, ruly or peccable?

And where are all those people who ARE spring chickens or who would
ACTUALLY hurt a fly?

I’m an Indian. And you must have probably heard about the explosive population in our country. In
addition to that, we have a wide variety of regional dialects too. As per The Economist, the total
accounts to a sum of 438 languages. Of course, I’m no linguist. In fact, I’m only comfortable in two
languages: English and Hindi. Hindi is my mother tongue and I’ve been getting education in English
medium. But I was never fond of learning English as a kid. (Since elementary school, we were taught
both the languages) But learning new words in English had always been a challenge for me. No, not
because I felt content with my vocabulary, it’s just that, English is not quite a phonetic language. Hence,
every time I come across a new word, I’ve to think of all possible ways in which it could be pronounced
and then chose the one which will (according to me) make me look least stupid. At times, there are
words everyone around me know about, but somehow I don’t, and if I pronounce it wrong, I feel
immensely ignorant and stupid. Hence, my agony!

On the contrary, Hindi is written in Devnagri script, and it is perhaps one of the most phonetic languages
there are, in the world. Even if I can’t speak very fluent pure Hindi, I can easily read a new word almost
flawlessly. (I mean, yeah, I wouldn’t know its meaning but how would those around me know that

unless I tell them explicitly. ) Thus, a little more frustration adds on, on comparison between the
two. Being one of the most commonly spoken languages across the globe, being fluent in English is a
must and one cannot afford to ignore it.

Okay, I hope you know the words, “enough”. “women”, and “nation”. Pretty common words. Now
consider the following picture:

Funny, eh? Well, the word “ghoti” has been constructed only to illustrate the irregularities in the
pronunciation in English language. Thus, I don’t quite acknowledge its existence in English language,
honestly. Yet, it brings out the concerns of those who support English reform movements. George
Bernard Shaw, a famous Irish also supported this cause and this usage of this word is attributed to him. I
took it as a nice joke, but on further consideration, I also came to believe some reforms will only
increase its popularity.

A Dutch writer, traveler and teacher Gerard Nolst Trenite wrote a poem titled “The Chaos”, which till
now is probably the most cited literature exemplifying the spelling irregularities of English language.
Here’s the link to the poem, in case you’re curious to read it:

http://www.i18nguy.com/chaos.html

We’ll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes; but the plural of ox became oxen not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese, yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice; yet the plural of spouse is spouses, not spice.
If the plural of man is always called men, why shouldn’t the plural of pan be called pen?
If I spoke of my foot and show you my feet, and I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth, why shouldn’t the plural of booth be called beeth?
We speak of a brother and also of brethren, but though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him, but imagine the feminine, she, shis and shim

There are nine words in English that contain two "u"s in a row.

14. The only English term ending in -mt is "dreamt," a spelling of

"dreamed" commonly used in British English.

The longest word containing no repeating letters, including every vowel,

is "uncopyrightable," at 15 letters.

"You" is the 18th most common word in English, while "me" only clocks
in at number 50.