Reply #2: Also, the regional accents in England were very different every few miles you traveled.

[pink-o]

When I lived there in the 70s, it was still that way! Brits felt like it was the journey of a lifetime to get on a train and go 15 miles to the next town.


When English spelling was standardised, many of the words were still pronounced the way they were spelt. But some regional pronunciations dominated, and the sound of the word changed, whereas the spelling didn't.

I just accept that this confounding/awesome language of ours can only be learned by rote and by reading.