Why English spelling looks like it lost a bar fight with history
English spelling did not standardize. It fossilized with the confidence of a middle-aged suburban parent at their child's soccer game.
English spelling is not broken so much as visibly injured. A video by Airlearn Language Show explains how the printing press, the Great Vowel Shift, dead gods, French-Italian beef, Dutch typesetters, and Renaissance Latin nerds left English looking like it staggered out of a tavern with “Wednesday” in one pocket and “colonel” i…
