2024-05-23

[public] 112K views, 14.3K likes, dislikes audio only

TED-Ed

Explore the evolution of English spelling conventions throughout history, and find out why it's such an inconsistent language.

--

Spelling reformers have been advocating for changes to make English spelling more intuitive and less irregular. One example of its messiness: take the “g-h” sound from “enough,” the “o” sound from “women” and the “t-i” sound from “action,” and you could argue that “g-h-o-t-i” spells “fish.” So, how did English get like this? Arika Okrent explores the complexity of English spelling conventions.

Lesson by Arika Okrent, directed by Emily Howells, Aaron Brady.

Support Our Non-Profit Mission

----------------------------------------------

Support us on Patreon: http://bit.ly/TEDEdPatreon

Check out our merch: http://bit.ly/TEDEDShop

----------------------------------------------

Connect With Us

----------------------------------------------

Sign up for our newsletter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdNewsletter

Follow us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/TEDEdFacebook

Find us on Twitter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdTwitter

Peep us on Instagram: http://bit.ly/TEDEdInstagram

----------------------------------------------

Keep Learning

----------------------------------------------

View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/why-don-t-tough-and-dough-rhyme-arika-okrent

Dig deeper with additional resources: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/why-don-t-tough-and-dough-rhyme-arika-okrent/digdeeper

Animator's website: https://www.emilyhowells.com and https://aaronbrady.uk

----------------------------------------------

Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Jay M, Constantino Victor Delgado, Andrea Galvagni, Andrew Tweddle, Laurel-Ann Rice, Fernando A. Endo, Helen Lee, pam morgan, sarim haq, Gerardo Castro, Michel-Ange Hortegat, Enes Kirimi, Amaury BISIAUX, ND, Samyogita Hardikar, Vanessa Graulich, Vandana Gunwani, Abdulmohsin Almadi, AJ Lyon, Geoffrey Bultitude, Mi Mi, Thomas Rothert, Brian Elieson, Oge O, Weronika Falkowska, Nevin Spoljaric, Sid Chanpuriya, Anoop Varghese, David Yastremski, Noah Webb, Roberto Chena, Oliver Koo, Luke Pisano, Andrea Gordon, Aleksandar Donev, Nicole Klau Ibarra, Jesse Lira, Ezekiel Raui, Petr Vacek, Dennis, Olivia Fu, Kari Teffeau, Cindy Lai, Rajath Durgada Manjunath, Dan Nguyen, Chin Beng Tan, Tom Boman, Karen Warner, Iryna Panasiuk and Aaron Torres.