Close
Our English language may not be the craziest in the world, but it must surely be in the running. Take, for example, the word “close”. If you mean “to shut”, as in “close the door”, the word rhymes with “those”. But if you mean “nearly”, as in “close to home”, the word rhymes with “dose”. If you are in sales, you want to be close to a close, don’t you?
Modern English makes no sense from any linguistic analysis, whether pronunciation, grammar, spelling, or lexicon. And yet, it is the world’s foremost language.
We can’t even get it straight amongst English speakers– in England and south of the Equator, “saw” rhymes with “sore”, and “car” rhymes with “bah!”, but not so in Canada, most of the US, Scotland and Ireland. Over here, “caught” rhymes with “cot”, over there, it rhymes with “court”.
And exactly what is the point of silent letters, such as the “k” in knot or the “g” in gnat? Why pronounce “sight” and “site” the same, yet spell them differently?
But about one thing there is no dispute: today is election day in Canada, one of the most consequential in our lifetimes. If you love this country, get out and vote!