Urgent help from English native speakers—One highly important English question?

Question

What do you mean when you say ....

1. Unlike most other languages English doesn't have a set phonetic pronunciation for every word. If you have ever seen the musical "My Fair Lady" or read the Book "Pygmalion" then you could easily see this concept.

2. English was "screwed up" long before the modern generation got its grubby paws on it, and jargon and slang have been injected into it for centuries. And in truth, English (and most other languages) has never been exact enough for truly good technical use. Its conjunctions do not reflect any sort of consistent logic system, such as Boolean logic. And its nouns are fuzzy in definition at best. Often times, such as in Law, a special set of rules and definitions must be created for a language to be used in a technical manner, and this set of rules and definitions doesn't always (or even usually) completely line up with the accepted or common definition or use of the word, which creates confusion .

Answer 1

1. Words including "- ough" may be pronounced in up to 7 different ways, for example "tough", "trough", "thought", "through", "though", "bough". A primary reason for this is the numerous languages that have contributed to the English language in addition to the slang of common usage and occasional simplification of spelling.

2. I would agree with most of this statement. i.e. that slang has been injected, some nouns are fuzzy, law requires definitions spelled out and some of these may put the lie to common sense, BUT I think that it's flexibility DOES allow for good technical use once context is established, that conjunctions DO allow for a consistent logic system and definitions of nouns are not always or even usually fuzzy. a given noun may refer to several things (such as "bat"), but in a given context, it is clear that it refers to a very specific thing.

Answer 2

Yes, true in many cases! BUT ... not enough of an issue to get upset over!

Answer 3

English does have a set way of phonetic pronouncion. Otherwise it would not be the universal, vivbrant language that it is.

It's just that it is elastic in its acceptance of exemptions to the rule. To argue your point, I will give the example of three everyday words which have the same phonetic pronounciation but different spelling and different meanings;
there, their, they're.

I have no idea of the cause of these anomolies but they are easily learned in school by the time a child reaches about 10. Hence, must also be reasonably easy to grasp. This attribute, plus its commoness, makes it acceptable as it an International language.

Another charm of the English language is its extensive vocabulary which helps us to convey more accurately our meaning. It is also a living language which means that it is always acquining new words and slang but, at the same time, dropping off those words which are now defunct.

This flux, no doubt, leads to the fuzziness that you mention, but it works fine for the man in the street. He only uses the common words, anyhow, and there are plenty of those.

Which brings me to my next point. Why would you expect an ordinary person like me to know terminology eg. technical, medical, logic. legal etc when I have no need for them in work or daily life conversations?

Medical advances, the internet, movies, space travel etc have all spawned their own specialist vocabulary that is of practical use only to those working in the field. For the rest of us, this knowledge is useless. We would never use it, unless we are working for Wikipedia., and then we would be using it for work. Point reinforced.

Thank heavens, there are strict, commonly accepted legal definitions as we would otherwise never come to a satisfactory agreement either to lay or answer charges. .Assault for an abused wife may be defined as a friendy pat by the husband. In our daily life, however, we do not need to be so legally pedantic.

Your question has made me think. Hope I have covered all your points satisfactorily.