Language is a funny thing

I’ve been thinking about the English language recently. I have been slowly learning Italian and it’s wonderful that most Italian words are spelled as they sound. English - not so much. 

We were doing the crossword this morning and I thought the answer to one of the clues was ‘reckless’* but Tim didn’t think it fit because he was thinking about a wreck - so wreckless would be too long. Why isn’t reckless spelled wreckless? Or why isn’t wreck spelled reck? I know that English as we know it originated from a few different language groups (my father called it a dog’s breakfast of a language) rather than having a single root, such as Latin. It must be an incredibly difficult language to learn, and not just for its spelling. 

Take, for example, the word pitch. For many people in the UK, their first thought would be of a football or rugby pitch, the field upon which the game is played. My first thought as a Canadian is a baseball pitch thrown by the pitcher. (Even in cricket that player is called a bowler and, to be fair, the throw is more like bowling.) Tim’s first thought was of a sales pitch, which also has North American roots. Two countries (or more) separated by a common language.

And this led me to a wonderful instalment of Desert Island Discs; a Radio 4 programme I dearly love. I was listening to a repeat of Donald Sutherland’s appearance on the show. I don’t hear Canadian accents very often and his was such a pleasure to listen to, as were his musical picks. On his choice of The Ballad of John and Yoko, he says “what terrible grammar, though. I mean, when John says ‘it’s good to have the both of you back’. There’s no such thing as ‘the both of you back’.” Sue Lawley replies “It’s a very English thing, that.” 

Sometimes I forget which side of the Atlantic I’m on. By the way, you can hear the Sutherland episode, and many others, on the BBC Sounds app which I think is available on both sides of the Atlantic.

Hey ho!

* The answer turned out to be ‘feckless’.