QUEER LANGUAGE

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVII, Issue 5, 4 February 1909, Page 197

QUEER LANGUAGE

When the English tongue -we -speak - ~" Why is 'break ' not ryhmed withY freak ' ? Will you tell me why it's true We say ' sew,' but likewise ' few ' ; And the maker of a verse ' Cannot cap his ' horse ' with ' worse ' ? ' JJeard ' sounds not the same as ' heard ' : 'Cord' is- different from 'word'; ' Oow ' is cow, but ' low ' is low ; ' Shoe ' is never rhymed with ' foe.' Think of- ' hose ' and ' dose' and '< lose ' ; And of ' goose ' — and yet of ' choose.' Think of ' comb ' and ' tomb ' and 'bomb ' ; : " 'Doll' and 'roll'; and 'home' and 'sonic.' And since ' pay ' is rhymed with ' say,' Why not 'paid' with 'said,' I pray? „ We have blood' and 'food' and 'good'; .-.**^ ' Mould' is not pronounced" like 'could.' Wherefore ' done,' but ' gone ' and ' lone ' ? Is there any reason known? And, in short, it seems to me Sounds and letters disagree. — Exchange.