English oddities are perplexing

I wager that most of us, as we learned the English language, had issues with some words. I remember growing up that it was a challenge to remember when to use “to” or “too” or “two” properly in a sentence. I still see folks use “loose” instead of “lose” when writing things like, “I hated to loose that fight.” Really?

My wife and I were blessed to make many South Korean friends when I was working with Korean engineers at Lockheed Martin to build a fighter-trainer jet for their country. After the initial several years of working daily with my Korean friends, they went back home to start finishing the design and build the airplane.

One couple we were very close to asked us to monitor their young daughter as she finished grade school, high school and college in America, which we did. Though she stayed with a Korean family, Judy and I helped her shop, we took her to movies and out to eat, and I did a LOT of homework with her — including teaching her English.

What a challenge! There are a bunch of oddities that our language thrusts on young kids in America, for sure. Silent letters are one of those puzzling things. One does not say the “s” at the end of Illinois or Arkansas, but you do say it in Kansas. And who decided we needed four “s’s” and four “i’s” and two “p’s” in Mississippi? It would save time writing if we just wrote “Misisipi.” When you spell “scent,” is the “s” or “c” silent? And why both? Probably to try to keep the word different from “sent” or “cent.”

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