We really do have a stupid language. I have a funny feeling that in a warehouse somewhere are all the leftover letters that got chopped out somewhere and a small bloke in mucky overalls frantically making the other letters that we overuse. 'L's for instance. Take the word 'full'. Thing one contains as much of substance two as thing one's capacity can hold. Full. Nice little word. Does what it says on the tin. 'Fullness', still perfectly fine. Take the idea of being full and turn it into a quality. But then as soon as we prit-stick it on to the end of a word a small goblin sneaks out and pinches one of the 'l's. We wind up will silly unbalanced words like 'careful' and 'fearful' which just look daft. Their only hope of rescue is to wait for transformation from adjective to adverb and wind up being 'carefully' and 'fearfully' made. I grew up in a place called Fulwell. How can a well be full when we don't let it keep all if the 'full'? Silly town. Other words do the same thing in different places. Why not make like the Germans and just clag words together by making them budge up till there's no space between them? Quit pinching letters, there are enough out there to go round! Once you become 'able' to 'use' a thing we chop out one of the 'e's. Now really, we've certainly got enough of them, the most common letter in the flippin' language. Can't cite shortages on that one. Poor things. No wonder our yoofs can't spell and the little bloke in the warehouse is going bonkers. Bonkers, now that's a decent word. No messing about with chopping it up and sliding it in elsewhere. Just a nice simple, usable word. I should use it more often.
And yes, I feel better now. Off to fry some eggs.
Well, a lot of the reason behind this complete bodge-up of a language we have , is that its come together from all over the show, (mostly) over about the last 1400-ish years! We have the original Pictish/etc types, most of whose language has disappeared from English, followed by the Romans, where a fair chunk of Latin has made it into the roots of English words. You then have assorted Scandinavian/Germanic invaders over the next while, introducing certain elements of Norse, then an awful lot of German origin, which is then topped off with Norman French as of 1066. This when stirred together until now, leads to a language that doesn't know if its coming or going!
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