Is it any wonder that some find spelling so difficult when they have to contend with our
Phoney Phonetics.
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,
Then juice becomes a guessing game;
And then I ponder over though,
Is it spelled so, 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 is pronounced 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 just 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 sound 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."
Attributed to Vivian Buchan, NEA Journal 1966/67, USA,
published in Spelling Progress Bulletin Spring 1966