english letter q

#1   Mon Feb 15, 2010 5:52 pm GMT
why is there a letter q when it is pretty much only used before u's and has the same sound as a k.? i'm guessing it has something to do with how the words evolved from french or latin? it would also look weird to use kuestion, but it would be more phonetic

also, why is y part of the alphabet when it has the same sound as i? and c can stand for either s or k. instead of having these excess letters, there should be separate ones for sounds like ch, sh, and th.
I survived Poughquag   Mon Feb 15, 2010 6:12 pm GMT
<<there should be separate ones for sounds like ch, sh, and th>>

The problems is that the Latin alphabet is poorly suited for English.
--   Mon Feb 15, 2010 6:30 pm GMT
Why should it be more phonetic? See the various dialects of English! Which one to choose for that 'phonetic' spelling of English?
GGGUUUEEESSSTTTUUUSSSEEER   Mon Feb 15, 2010 7:30 pm GMT
There really is no reason for a writing system to be phonetic anyway. I prefer English the way it's presently written.
.   Mon Feb 15, 2010 8:07 pm GMT
<<i'm guessing it has something to do with how the words evolved from french or latin?>>

The spelling derives from Old French, but the staff-combination 'qu' can be found in native words as well (queen, quick, qiake, etc).

'y' is also used as a consonant (eg. yellow, yard, etc)
Steak 'n' Chips   Mon Feb 15, 2010 8:08 pm GMT
Since we don't read phonetically (we recognise whole words), there's no need for people fluent in English to write phonetically.

The strange spellings of English may be hard to learn, but they do make the strange words easier to distinguish.
Damian in Edinburgh   Mon Feb 15, 2010 11:45 pm GMT
Well, it's probably the strong influence of French as the English Language developed in its early days, and French did indeed feature very strongly in England back then.

I think the "Qu" format is quite attractive, probably because of this influence of another beautiful language. May it never be substitued by a "K" - that would make English look more Germanic - horridly foreign and alient - German is bursting with "Ks" all over its dictionary.

Besides, who could possibly pay due homage to our gracious Kween Elizabeth II? How could my fellow Scot Andy Murray ever display his skill at the Kweens Club? And how on earth could any self respecting Brit kwench his thirst down the Kween's Head pub or the Kwill Pen and Parchment pub? All too, too foreign - banish it completely! As it will soon be General Election time in the UK let's all join the "Save the Qu Party".
Qwaggmireland   Mon Feb 15, 2010 11:56 pm GMT
Like German and Norweigian, English has got bequganed words:

Queen
Quick
Quack
Quaggmire
Quake
Queer
Quirk
Queasiness
Quaff
Quass
Quark
Quean
Quisling
Quemend
Quern
Quiff
Quern
Queath
Quoth
Quass/Qwass
Quaff
Quark
Quean
Quisling
Quemend/Qwemend
Quern
Queath
Quike
Quwhomb/Qwwhomb
Quoor/Qwoor
Quing
Quoon/Qwoon
Quill
Quilming/Qwilming/Qwylming
Qwohn/Quohn
Queezer/Qweezer
Quither
Quink
Queeld/Qweeld/Qwyld
Qudd/Qwudd
Quellming
Quist
Quiss/Qwiss
Quedding
Quichelmes/Qwichelms
Quim/Qwim
Quell
Quoth
Queth
Quock
Quip/Qwip
Qualt/Qwalt
Quelp/Qwelp
Quiness
Queight
Quow/Qwow
Queckle
Quirk
Qwhiters
Qurwn
Quoot/Qwoot
Qwellhull
Qwickington
Qudditch
Qwife
Queef
Quiggle
Quonk
Quigby
Qweenwise
Quifth/Qwifth
Qwitchener
Quiss/Qwiss
Quaver
Quiver
Qualm
Quarenden
Qwuck
Quench/Qwench
Quitch
Qwitch
Qwoman/Quoman
Qualkster
Quander/Qwander
Quigh
Qwhearten
Qwordbegan
Quackbridge

*note: this list is not a full list. All words are in English use.Also left out Latin rooted bequganed words. Hope you enjoyed these qwords.
what   Mon Feb 15, 2010 11:57 pm GMT
<<I think the "Qu" format is quite attractive, probably because of this influence of another beautiful language. May it never be substitued by a "K" - that would make English look more Germanic - horridly foreign and alient - German is bursting with "Ks" all over its dictionary.>>


What a retard. English is a Germanic language, how the hell is that FOREIGN and ALIEN. God damn it, if anything is alien, it is that French infestation. Only a gay would find French beautiful, oh wait...
interesting...   Tue Feb 16, 2010 12:26 am GMT
German Qu's...

Quabbelig
Quader
Quacksalber
Quaken
Quakend
Qualken
Qual
Qualerei
Qualgeist
Qualmen
Qualvoll
Quark
Quarz
Quelle
Quatschkopf
Quecksilber
Quellenangabe
Quer
Quicklebendig
Quieken
Quillt
Quirl
Quittung
Quoll
Quatsch
Q
Q
Bremner   Tue Feb 16, 2010 12:32 am GMT
<as the English Language developed in its early days>

Old English is usually defined as the form of the language spoken between the 5th and 11th centuries.

It would therefore be ingenuous to say that the English language was in its "early days" at the time of the Norman invasion.
Armada   Tue Feb 16, 2010 1:02 am GMT
<<The problems is that the Latin alphabet is poorly suited for English. >>

In reality the Latin alphabet is poorly suited for most of the languages that use it, including many Romance languages like French , Portuguese or Romanian. Contrarily other languages that do not use the Latin alphabet like Arabic and Japanese would do well with it.
Armada   Tue Feb 16, 2010 1:38 am GMT
<<What a retard. English is a Germanic language, how the hell is that FOREIGN and ALIEN. God damn it, if anything is alien, it is that French infestation. Only a gay would find French beautiful, oh wait... >>


Q with U looks nice but Q without U looks odd in some words. For example look at "Iraq". Not good. I prefer Irak in this case. As a footnote let me say that youngster in Romance speaking countries like mine use and abuse from the letter K. It's fashionable for them. There are two reasons. First one, the most obvious :SMS's get shorter so K saves them time and money. The second one is very subjective, but here I go: K has a kind of strength Q lacks. This may be a crazy aesthetical and psychological digression but perhaps the reason is that K has two phallic straight strokes whereas Q is rounded , more "vaginal". Also K abounds in the German language, which is associated to virile values in contrast to the more bland Romance languages and in Russian , the language of the communists. Hence K might be perceived as "revolutionary" in contrast to the more conventional Q (with it's conventionally and uselessly attached U).
aestheticus   Tue Feb 16, 2010 4:14 am GMT
<<Q without U looks odd in some words. For example look at "Iraq". Not good. I prefer Irak in this case>>

I think "Iraq" stands out better than "Irak" or "Irakh", just like "burqa" looks more distinctive than "burkha". I suppose you could also write "Iraque", but this looks overly ornate to me.

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There is a theory, sometimes espoused by Spanish posters here, that most compound straight line letters (k, z, w, x, y, v, and many capitals) are ugly, and English would look better if these were replaced (by c/q/qu, s?, uu, cc/cs, ie, bh).

Examples:

work -- uuorq/uuorc
valve -- bhalbhe
eyes -- eiees
very -- bherie
excercise -- ecccercise
Qwaggmireland   Tue Feb 16, 2010 11:08 am GMT
Your habhin a bhubhin laugh.

Anyway, shouldn't the French be spelling Dunkerque (Duinkerke) as 'Dunquerque' 'Douneouerque' 'Duneglise' or something. Why did the French Imperialists leave in the Flemish K?

English beQuginings all mostly come from Old English 'Cw' and very naturally all work other spelled as 'Qw' Even though German, Norweigan etc have qustarting quwords/qwords, I like a tad bit happier 'Qween' rather than 'Queen' or the Dutchman-like 'Kween'

I don't think there is that much wideness between German, Dutch and English placenames begining (bekganed) with 'K' infact about 50 years ago, lots of German beKganed placenames begining with 'K' began with 'C' i.e. Koblenz was Coblenz and Krefeld was Crefeld.