Shouldnt: tomb, comb and bomb all rhyme?

Question

they all end in -omb. What is up with that?

Answer 1

Ideally, yes -- though always remember that SPOKEN language comes first. When it changes the spelling doesn't always catch up (and the history of spoken languages --esp. one with a variety of accents/dialects-- is much more complex than that). And we don't usually then change our pronunciation to match the spelling.

As far as this particular variation, and English pronunciation vs. spelling more generally, consider the following:

1) The three words are actually unrelated, and came into English from different languages at different times.
See the following entries on the words' histories/etymologies:
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=bomb
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=comb
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=tomb

2) The 'standardization' of Modern English spelling due in part to the invention of the printing press in the 15th century was at a very 'unlucky' time... early in a period of rapid change for the language, JUST as Modern English was taking shape. As a result a number of spellings became fixed (or nearly so) shortly BEFORE their pronunciation changed. This included the "Great Vowel Shift".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift

These shifts, in fact, also explain some of the most annoying things in English spelling -- many of the 'silent' letters -- most famously the "-ough" sound. At the time they were still pronounced... during the next century or so, because of sound changes, they ceased to be). There is a great deal of debate about these great changes, esp. the vowel shift. It appears that one major factor was massive shifts in population related at least in part to the plague DEATH of a large percentage of the British population, and contact/mixing of dialects. . . Thus it often happened the that the printed spelling of words began to be standardized according to ONE dialect, but then these changes caused that dialect to change OR to lose its prominence.

http://www.historyhouse.com/in_history/spelling/

3) Related to the last point -- note the importance of dialects in all this! English has ALWAYS had a number of dialects. These distinctions go back to the very beginnings of Old English, when various groups immigrating from the continent brought the differences with them. In the complex interaction of the dialect groups Modern "standard" English pronunciations of these words did not necessarily all come from one region or dialect.

(On the varieties of English throughout its history, see *The Stories of English* by David Crystal)

Incidentally, as one of the entries above notes, the final B in actually began to become silent as early as the 14th century. But note that such changes only gradually filtered through various British dialects -- some shifted LONG before others. Also, the 'silencing' of FINAL letters like this is related to the fact that in Middle English they were NOT silent at first, but were often followed by vowels (esp. 'case endings') which were pronounced. When the endings were dropped or no longer pronounced (as in many words with the final 'magic'-e, e.g., "tame" "nice") those consonants were difficult to pronounce and became silent as well. (Note, for example, how easy it is to pronounce the B in "bombardier" or the Italian version "bomba", with a following vowel sound, as compared with "bomb", without one.)

4) COMMON words in a language (ANY language!) are the ones most prone to 'misbehave' -- to refuse to follow the sort of general rules of form, pronunciation and usage that less common words typically submit to. (Note, for instance, how our verbs with "irregular" past tense [e.g., go/went, come/came, am/was], and our irregular noun plurals [e.g., men, mice, geese, children] are usually common, everyday words.) It's not too surprising that the same has sometimes happened with pronunciation, that is, that words we USE a lot are more likely NOT to follow the general "rules" of spelling.

Answer 2

The English language makes no sense. It has no rhyme or reason to it. That is why it is one of the most difficult languages for people to learn as a second language.

Answer 3

Because the English lanuage is the hardest language to learn. It has so many rules, and each rule has a ton of exceptions.

Answer 4

Yes-omb, they-omb should-omb.

Answer 5

It's the English language, baby...it doesn't always make sense!

Answer 6

Geez, I love English. It always a challenge. (I'm sure glad I don't have to learn it over again.)
-MM

Answer 7

They do if you're a song writer. It's called artistic...something

Answer 8

on paper they do...but sadly, we butcher our own language so so they clearly don't anymore