<p>1185. Today, we look at why English spelling is secretly optimized for readers. Colin Gorrie, linguist and creator of the Dead Language Society newsletter, shared the real history of silent letters, why medieval scribes weren't bothered by inconsistent spelling, and how the printing press and social ambition drove standardization. We also look at the surprisingly dramatic origin of "went" — a past tense stolen from an entirely different verb.</p><br><p><a href="https://www.deadlanguagesociety.com/t/weekly-newsletter" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Dead Language Society newsletter</a></p><br><p>🔗&nbsp;<a href="https://www.patreon.com/cw/grammargirl" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Join the Grammar Girl Patreon.</strong></a></p><p>🔗&nbsp;<strong>Share your familect recording in&nbsp;</strong><a href="https://www.speakpipe.com/GrammarGirl" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Speakpipe</strong></a>&nbsp;or by leaving a voicemail at 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475)</p><p>🔗&nbsp;<strong>Watch my&nbsp;</strong><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/learning/instructors/mignon-fogarty" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>LinkedIn Learning writing courses</strong></a><strong>.</strong></p><p>🔗&nbsp;<strong>Subscribe to the&nbsp;</strong><a href="https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/subscribe" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>newsletter</strong></a><strong>.</strong></p><p>🔗&nbsp;<strong>Take&nbsp;</strong><a href="https://podsurvey.com/GRAMMAR" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>our advertising survey</strong></a><strong>.</strong></p><p>🔗&nbsp;<strong>Get the edited&nbsp;</strong><a href="https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/transcripts/grammar-girl/1185/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>transcript here</strong></a><strong>.</strong></p><p>🔗&nbsp;<strong>Get&nbsp;</strong><a href="https://amzn.to/3LULzLb" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Grammar Girl books</strong></a><strong>.</strong></p><p>| HOST: Mignon Fogarty</p><p>| Grammar Girl is part of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/podcasts" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network</strong></a>.</p><ul><li>Audio Engineer: Dan Feierabend</li><li>Director of Podcast: Holly Hutchings</li><li>Advertising Operations Specialist: Morgan Christianson</li><li>Marketing and Video: Nat Hoopes, Rebekah Sebastian</li><li>Podcast Associate: Maram Elnagheeb</li></ul><p>| Theme music by&nbsp;<a href="https://catherinerannus.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Catherine Rannus</strong></a>.</p><p>| Grammar Girl Social Media:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/@grammargirl" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>YouTube</strong></a>.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@therealgrammargirl" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>TikTok</strong></a>.&nbsp;<a href="http://facebook.com/grammargirl" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Facebook</strong></a>.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.threads.net/@thegrammargirl" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Threads</strong></a>.&nbsp;<a href="http://instagram.com/thegrammargirl" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Instagram</strong></a>.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/grammar-girl" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>LinkedIn</strong></a>.&nbsp;<a href="https://mastodon.social/@grammargirl" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Mastodon</strong></a>.&nbsp;<a href="https://bsky.app/profile/grammargirl.bsky.social" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Bluesky</strong></a>.</p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>