Am a woman, find your channel fascinating, especially as I work with Americans (I live in the UK). Many of their pronunciations actually make sense... schedule (as in school) & router or route as in "out" or "our". I spend a lot of time explaining how to pronounce place names in the UK 😁🤣
When you figure out how to pronounce place names (or indeed any proper nouns) from the UK without asking the people who live there how they say it, you will please let all of us Brits know too! 😂
These are the impressions I'm currently under: 1) Æ fell out of use around 1250 after its long value merged with the long value of EA and its short value merged with the short value of A. 2) Ð lost its (redundant) role to Þ around 1250. 3) Þ survived the Normans. It's not unusual to see it in English manuscripts from like 1400. 4) Ƿ started getting swapped out for a French style W ligature shortly after 1066.
You could be right about Number 1. Maybe Norman scribes really did ask Anglo-Saxons how to pronounce Æ, and maybe Norman scribes found it redundant and ditched it, leading to a new spelling trend. I didn't mean to imply I think you're wrong about Number 1.
Bad characters took an exit especially when folks got a good look at the hen scratch handwriting of professors, doctors and lawyers. You realize the need to keep the letters as simple as possible!
It always seems to me that English would be so much better if the spelling was sorted out. But as soon as one small change is made, the Daily Mail mob emerges shouting “down with woke, save our heritage, we didn’t win the war to lose our language” and so on.
the problem is everyone does these things which SEEM good but actually aren't - getting rid of c, q, x - using only one accent - making MULTIPLE spellings for EACH accent - making a different script
@@DaveHuxtableLanguages Ha ha. Actually … in Americaland the SI system has officially been the preferred system for trade and commerce. It’s just that no-one uses it.
So much to love here but you talking to your multiple personalities is my fav.... ❤ but seriously, discovering the origin of the unusual spelling is glorious
Wonderful video, it's interesting to learn why English language is how it is. The skits and VFX are nice too, it's all very Huxtable. Also, would love to see more on accents and slang. Keep on rockin Mr H, you're a damn good teacher. Apologies for my English, I'm English and we don't speak that round here 🤔
@DaveHuxtableLanguages and thank you too. I'm glad you had fun making it and I'm glad that you're glad that I enjoyed it. Through tough thorough thought n all that. Joking aside, I look forward to the next video. It really is a fascinating subject. Have a nice evening.
@GonadNomad10 Not to worry about 'I'm English and we don't speak that round here'; English is also not spoken in the Americas. Despite the country Belize over there being multi-lingual in English (4 different flavours: UK-English, US-English, Belizean Kriol, & the mix of those 3).
I wonder sometimes whether bringing back Latin into schools could reverse falling standards in education. A few years back there were some primary schools teaching it for fun and the after-school classes were said to be heavily oversubscribed. Left-leaning academics 50 years ago told us it wasnt what you learned at school that was important, but that it was the learning process itself that was the main thing. Consequently the argument that 'it's a dead language, what's the point' is, according to them, an irrelevant one. On the plus side it seems to help with logic and higher cognitive function. I think learning latin as useful in that respect as learning chess, or contract bridge. Apologies for waffling on.
That would have led to me playing truant. I even hated French, mainly because when I started it at age 11, everyone else had already done it for several years, and no attempt was made to help me catch up. 50 years later, and it still rankles. No, I’m joking. But languages have to be taught in a more interesting way.
@@StillAliveAndKicking_ I think its popular because they make it fun and its aimed at 9 and 10 yearolds before theyve become jaded by too much learning. I share your difficulty with French, we could never get our mouths round their vowels without laughing or sounding ridiculous. The French teacher was a 1-eyed Welshman who gave us 5 words a day to learn, which we wrote on our arms or knees rather than memorize. Only 3 or 4 of a class of 25 passed the exam in my school.
According to the site "Wiktionary", "o" was pronounced as [u] or similar sound in Old French. Is it the reason why in words like "move, money, love" is spelled "o", but is pronounced [u] (in northern parts of England)?
A woman word nerd here! 0:47 "About 300 years later when English started to rise up again". That's interesting. I didn't know English had ever gone away. So does this mean that there's no direct descent of ME from OE?
Under the Normans, English had become a peasant language which people thought incapable of expressing nuances and advanced thinking. It didn’t go away, but it lost prestige. I’d say there’s indirect descent from OE to ME since ME has so much French and Scandinavian. OE- speaking time travellers wouldn’t understand ME.
Just discovered your channel today, and I’m already utterly charmed and mesmerised. As an ESL teacher (female, too!😅) I often have debates with my students regarding the oddities of English spelling versus pronunciation. This channel definitely will become one of my favourites. Thank you so much for sharing your linguistic knowledge in such an engaging way.
I'm a woman too!!! Yaaay. But seriously I love this channel. Its all very fascinating. My love for my own language (english) started once I began learning another language (spanish) and could compare so much. Now I love watching all this history of language. Thank you xx
OMG! so you aren’t really Australian!? I just came from your other video about Australian accent, and I swore you must’ve been an Aussie. Good on you! Bonza mate!
Another great video! I've been reading 'The Loom of Language' 1943 Bodmer. UK is like America, we are surrounded by water and people don't attempt to speak another language. Yet English is such a mongrel language, and therefore an advantage over others.
Awesome video! Have you done a video on why english spelling and pronunciation vary wildly, to the point of dropping entire syllables? Leicestershire = Lester As west coast American, I'm sure we do the same thing in our own way and don't notice, but it makes some words unpredictable.
Leicestershire = Lestershə I think it often happens with place names in that local people say them over and over for hundreds of years and they get shortened. Others then learn that pronunciation to show that they're in the know. US examples would be Poughkeepsie, Arkansas, Des Moines. The only one that comes to mind on the West Coast is Van Nuys, which is pronounced locally with just one /n/.
@@DaveHuxtableLanguages Hi Dave, I'm pretty sure that the pronunciation vs writing mismatch of US place names like Poughkeepsie, Arkansas and many others comes from the native American origins of the word for which no writing system existed (at least none understandable to the Europeans)
Well, the Soviet Union got rid of its Communist system and survived. I know it does sound impossible to do but I would love the British to come up with a new spelling system that matche their pronunciation
1:11 à 1:15 His explanation delivered PARFAIT !! I was literally laughing out loud hard and almost fell of my sofa. About the 17% maybe UA-cam is wathed mostly by men so wie so. (I have to admit my sofa is a bit wobbly) .
What did the letter yogh (ʒ) do to offend you that it was dropped from your list of lost letters? Such a blatant example of anti-yoghism! It's still remembered by using a z in names such as Dalziel (Dee-ell), Menzies (Ming-ees) and MacFadzean )MacFadyen). 😄 P.S. I loved the video, especially the VFX.
This one took a while but I had fun with the VFX. It’s part of a series on English spelling that can be watched in any order.
The bit with the Nirman guy speaking Swedish French is hilarious 😂
Glad you enjoyed that.
I once worked with a teacher who taught Spanish with a broad Lancashire accent, not as a joke either!
@@peterdean8009 😂
Am a woman, find your channel fascinating, especially as I work with Americans (I live in the UK). Many of their pronunciations actually make sense... schedule (as in school) & router or route as in "out" or "our". I spend a lot of time explaining how to pronounce place names in the UK 😁🤣
When you figure out how to pronounce place names (or indeed any proper nouns) from the UK without asking the people who live there how they say it, you will please let all of us Brits know too! 😂
Great video Dave, love the skits, the enthusiasm and the inclusivity. Top stuff.
Haha, glad you enjoyed the skits! I try to bring the laughs and keep things entertaining. Thanks for watching!
I am a woman who loves your channel. So thank you 😊
Thank you!
Brilliant, and I loved the skits which I'm sure were much harder to film than it appears 🤓
Good to hear it! That make the effort worthwhile.
These are the impressions I'm currently under:
1) Æ fell out of use around 1250 after its long value merged with the long value of EA and its short value merged with the short value of A.
2) Ð lost its (redundant) role to Þ around 1250.
3) Þ survived the Normans. It's not unusual to see it in English manuscripts from like 1400.
4) Ƿ started getting swapped out for a French style W ligature shortly after 1066.
Fascinating. Thanks for sharing that in-depth knowledge. Looks like I got Number 4 right, at least.
You could be right about Number 1. Maybe Norman scribes really did ask Anglo-Saxons how to pronounce Æ, and maybe Norman scribes found it redundant and ditched it, leading to a new spelling trend.
I didn't mean to imply I think you're wrong about Number 1.
Bad characters took an exit especially when folks got a good look at the hen scratch handwriting of professors, doctors and lawyers. You realize the need to keep the letters as simple as possible!
This makes so much sense, thanks for explaining my dyslexia problem.
Woman word nerd here! Our language is so fascinating!
It is indeed.
Your channel was randomly suggested to me by UA-cam. Interesting and educational - thank you! \o/
It always seems to me that English would be so much better if the spelling was sorted out. But as soon as one small change is made, the Daily Mail mob emerges shouting “down with woke, save our heritage, we didn’t win the war to lose our language” and so on.
Ðe Meil wud lav it. Kan’t sii ol ðe kantriz agriiing iiðe. US stil dasn’t hæv metrik sistem!
the problem is everyone does these things which SEEM good but actually aren't
- getting rid of c, q, x
- using only one accent
- making MULTIPLE spellings for EACH accent
- making a different script
@@DaveHuxtableLanguages Ha ha. Actually … in Americaland the SI system has officially been the preferred system for trade and commerce. It’s just that no-one uses it.
So much to love here but you talking to your multiple personalities is my fav.... ❤ but seriously, discovering the origin of the unusual spelling is glorious
Glad you like it.
Wonderful video, it's interesting to learn why English language is how it is. The skits and VFX are nice too, it's all very Huxtable. Also, would love to see more on accents and slang. Keep on rockin Mr H, you're a damn good teacher.
Apologies for my English, I'm English and we don't speak that round here 🤔
Thanks. Glad you liked it.
@DaveHuxtableLanguages and thank you too. I'm glad you had fun making it and I'm glad that you're glad that I enjoyed it. Through tough thorough thought n all that. Joking aside, I look forward to the next video. It really is a fascinating subject. Have a nice evening.
@GonadNomad10 Not to worry about 'I'm English and we don't speak that round here'; English is also not spoken in the Americas. Despite the country Belize over there being multi-lingual in English (4 different flavours: UK-English, US-English, Belizean Kriol, & the mix of those 3).
I wonder sometimes whether bringing back Latin into schools could reverse falling standards in education. A few years back there were some primary schools teaching it for fun and the after-school classes were said to be heavily oversubscribed. Left-leaning academics 50 years ago told us it wasnt what you learned at school that was important, but that it was the learning process itself that was the main thing. Consequently the argument that 'it's a dead language, what's the point' is, according to them, an irrelevant one. On the plus side it seems to help with logic and higher cognitive function. I think learning latin as useful in that respect as learning chess, or contract bridge. Apologies for waffling on.
I think there should be a greater emphasis on language learning, but I’d prefer modern languages. Learning any language has cognitive benefits.
That would have led to me playing truant. I even hated French, mainly because when I started it at age 11, everyone else had already done it for several years, and no attempt was made to help me catch up. 50 years later, and it still rankles. No, I’m joking. But languages have to be taught in a more interesting way.
@@StillAliveAndKicking_ I think its popular because they make it fun and its aimed at 9 and 10 yearolds before theyve become jaded by too much learning. I share your difficulty with French, we could never get our mouths round their vowels without laughing or sounding ridiculous. The French teacher was a 1-eyed Welshman who gave us 5 words a day to learn, which we wrote on our arms or knees rather than memorize. Only 3 or 4 of a class of 25 passed the exam in my school.
I'm a woman and I find your channel incredibly interesting! you just popped up on my feed and I'm already in love.
According to the site "Wiktionary", "o" was pronounced as [u] or similar sound in Old French. Is it the reason why in words like "move, money, love" is spelled "o", but is pronounced [u] (in northern parts of England)?
I love the videos! Keep them up man ❤
Thanks, man! I'll keep making them as long as you keep watching and I don't run out of ideas!
I as a woman have already pointed more women to this channel…
Þakka þér Freyja!
A woman word nerd here!
0:47 "About 300 years later when English started to rise up again". That's interesting. I didn't know English had ever gone away. So does this mean that there's no direct descent of ME from OE?
Good question
Under the Normans, English had become a peasant language which people thought incapable of expressing nuances and advanced thinking. It didn’t go away, but it lost prestige. I’d say there’s indirect descent from OE to ME since ME has so much French and Scandinavian. OE- speaking time travellers wouldn’t understand ME.
Why are one and two not wun and tōō? Were one and two pronounced "oan" and "twoa?" Are eight and ate homonyms in British English?
I love these videos Dave, keep 'em coming. They are just so interesting! :)
Glad to hear it. Thank you, I will.
Just discovered your channel today, and I’m already utterly charmed and mesmerised. As an ESL teacher (female, too!😅) I often have debates with my students regarding the oddities of English spelling versus pronunciation. This channel definitely will become one of my favourites. Thank you so much for sharing your linguistic knowledge in such an engaging way.
woah the vfx is great
Glad you like them. It a fun learning experience for me.
I've been calling them Clowns all this time. I should have guessed that the Clowns were actually intellectuals.
You’re so cute and adorable. Love your creativity
I laughed so hard at "E pluribus omnibus" XD
Glad you liked that.
I'm a woman too!!! Yaaay.
But seriously I love this channel. Its all very fascinating.
My love for my own language (english) started once I began learning another language (spanish) and could compare so much.
Now I love watching all this history of language.
Thank you xx
So glad you like it. Thank you!
OMG! so you aren’t really Australian!?
I just came from your other video about Australian accent, and I swore you must’ve been an Aussie. Good on you! Bonza mate!
That’s cool. Thanks for letting me know. Now you know why I got the date of the first fleet wrong!
My whole family loves your stuff Dave. Thanks for making it.
Thanks for letting me know. So glad to hear that.
You are very hilarious 😂 6:14
Excellent.
Gordon really IS an inkhorn, too.😂
Glad you thinks so. Yes, poor Gordon.
Noice shirt Davo!
Fraggle rock 5:35
I’m a woman 😂
Another great video! I've been reading 'The Loom of Language' 1943 Bodmer. UK is like America, we are surrounded by water and people don't attempt to speak another language. Yet English is such a mongrel language, and therefore an advantage over others.
William the Conq may not have been familiar with loose Persian trousers.
Really well done! Informative, precise, neat, brief and entertaining. Thanks a lot, sir.
Awesome video! Have you done a video on why english spelling and pronunciation vary wildly, to the point of dropping entire syllables?
Leicestershire = Lester
As west coast American, I'm sure we do the same thing in our own way and don't notice, but it makes some words unpredictable.
Leicestershire = Lestershə
I think it often happens with place names in that local people say them over and over for hundreds of years and they get shortened. Others then learn that pronunciation to show that they're in the know. US examples would be Poughkeepsie, Arkansas, Des Moines. The only one that comes to mind on the West Coast is Van Nuys, which is pronounced locally with just one /n/.
Right on! Thank you :)
@@DaveHuxtableLanguages
@@DaveHuxtableLanguages Hi Dave, I'm pretty sure that the pronunciation vs writing mismatch of US place names like Poughkeepsie, Arkansas and many others comes from the native American origins of the word for which no writing system existed (at least none understandable to the Europeans)
When we say 'chunky monkey', why is it not 'munkey'. How long have we pronounced it Munkey?
As far as I can tell, we've always said it with a - originally like in . I don't know where the spelling comes from.
Could you do a video about the west country accent and why in some respects it seems similar to Canadian and American English?
I need to do research on different accents in the west - people rightly said I shouldn't lump them all together.
Thus Guillaume was responsible for W?
He's who I blame.
i didnt know i was so boyish😂
I hate digraphs. I will never forgive William...
And he harried the north
i love digraphs, except when they're inconsistent
Fascinating. Thank you
Thank you so much for your kind words! I'm thrilled that you found it fascinating!
Brilliant! 🤣
OU taught me something I never knew!
I see what you did there.
I love my dad
Glad to hear it.
@@DaveHuxtableLanguages Thanks uncle Dave!
Well, the Soviet Union got rid of its Communist system and survived.
I know it does sound impossible to do but I would love the British to come up with a new spelling system that matche their pronunciation
We'd have to get lots of countries to agree - some of which are very resistant to change.
:)
1:11 à 1:15 His explanation delivered PARFAIT !! I was literally laughing out loud hard and almost fell of my sofa.
About the 17% maybe UA-cam is wathed mostly by men so wie so.
(I have to admit my sofa is a bit wobbly)
.
😆. Hope you had a soft landing.
can we all agree that the long s was uſeleſs for ſpelling?
It was the Sinclair C5 of spelling.
What did the letter yogh (ʒ) do to offend you that it was dropped from your list of lost letters? Such a blatant example of anti-yoghism! It's still remembered by using a z in names such as Dalziel (Dee-ell), Menzies (Ming-ees) and MacFadzean )MacFadyen). 😄
P.S. I loved the video, especially the VFX.
I was bitten by a rabid yogh as a child.
We should set up some yogh classes. Filled with middle aged women in leotards.