Hare, heir and air

The English language is a quirky language. No-one probably knows, not even those born to speak the language, why 'heir' is not pronounced with a hard 'h' sound, like in the word 'hare', but instead sounds like the word 'air'. If the pronunciation rules (or non-rules?) are hard enough for non-native speakers to understand, what about the many meanings of a word?

Let's take a short simple word, for example, 'fast'. In my English dictionary for advanced learners, the word can mean 'happening, moving or doing something at great speed', 'holding something tightly or firmly', 'colours or dyes that do not come out of the fabric', 'living a life that's expensive or dangerous', or 'not eating food for a period of time'. And then there's usage. Do you get down, get off or get out of a vehicle? Is it 'compare to' or 'compare with'? Does the murderer get hanged or hung?

Fortunately, there are books to help us in getting to grips with the language. So, continuing with my English theme and following up on an earlier post about writing-related books, I'm sharing below three of the books that I often refer to.

The Good Word Guide, edited by Martin H Manser, is a starting point to understanding the use of the English language. It explains the difference, for example, between 'stationary' and 'stationery'; it shows how certain words are pronounced, such as 'foyer' and 'nougat'; it also points out incorrect usage.

Touted as "a writer's best friend" on its cover, the Merriam-Webster's Concise Dictionary of English Usage is a more advanced guide than the above. It not only provides current usage of commonly confused words and phrases, but also explores their historical background. It may interest you to know that the words 'envious' and 'enviable' both meant 'highly desirable' at one time. Along the way, 'envious' lost the meaning while 'enviable' retained it.

Having these two books for reference would be sufficient. Nonetheless, it may be useful to have one more on your bookshelf - The Wordsworth Dictionary of Foreign Words in English by John Ayto. While this book provides thousands of foreign words that have become part of the English Language, it also gives accounts of their origins and backgrounds. A familiar word is 'cul-de-sac', a French word which literally means 'bottom of the bag'. When it became used in the English language in the early 18th century, it referred to a cavity or tube in the body that is open at one end only. Today, the word is used for a road that is closed off at one end.

I'm sure we all share the sentiments of Vivian Buchan, whose lines below were published in the Spelling Progress Bulletin (Spring 1966): 

One reason why I cannot spell,

Although I learned the rules quite well

Is that some words like coup and through

Sound just like threw and flue and who;

When oo is never spelled the same,

The duice becomes a guessing game;

And then I ponder over through,

Is it spelled sow, or throw, or beau?

And bough is never bow, it's bow,

I mean the bow that sounds like plow, 

And not the bow that sounds like row -

The row that sounds like roe.

I wonder, too, why rough and tough,

That sound the same as gruff and muff,

Are spelled like bough and though, for they

Are both pronounced a different way.

And why can't I spell trough and cough

The same as I do scoff and golf?

Why isn't drought spelled like route,

Or doubt or pout or sauerkraut?

When words all sound so much the same

To change the spelling seems a shame.

There is no sense - see, sounds like cents

In making such a difference

Between the sight and sound of words,

Each spelling rule that undergirds

The way a word should look will fail

And often prove to no avail

Because exceptions will negate

The truth of what the rule may state.

So though I try, I still despair

And moan and mutter, "It's not fair

That I'm held up to ridicule

And made to look like such a fool,

When it's the spelling that's at fault.

Let's call this nonsense to a halt."