Bookaholic

My fascination with the English language, the one I grew up with but didn’t pay that much attention to, has led me to understand it from various angles. Lately I rediscovered a little booklet I had done called the Deadword Dictionary. DD was devoted to all those words that seemed unnecessary or were “orphaned” words — by which I mean words which in previous ages may have had a connection to a root word that has since been lost. “Unbeknownst” is a good example. We don’t say “beknownst” and I’ve never heard “beknown” or even “beknow” used in a sentence, so the branch to “know” has been severed, although “unbeknownst,” floating off by itself, continues to haunt our dictionaries as a lost orphan. Do we really need it in a rational language?

Well, the point I’m coming to is that English is somewhat irrational. Pronunciation is another quirky aspect of English. I woke up thinking about “flange,” the ending of which is not pronounced the same as in “change” or even “orange.” And there’s the famous “I had a cough even though the bough had been through enough.” That’s five different pronunciations for one ending! And neither “g” nor “h” are sounded.

So, I was thinking of calling my new minim opus Quirky English, but now I’ve decided on “Exceptional English” for a double-edged title. Think of it as advanced English; a lot of the “correct English” sounds, spellings, and vocabulary are exceptions to one rule or another. By putting all the exceptions to rules in one place, I’m hoping to provide a handy resource for struggling English learners. Plus, it’s a lot of fun for me to point out the warts and anomalies of my own language.

If you enjoy puncturing the prissy as much as I do, I invite you to send me examples that you think should be in such a booklet. Exceptional exceptions will be acknowledged if and when I publish the work.