MSGID: 2:221/6.0 67348ed0   
   REPLY: 1:153/716.0 7230b342   
   PID: SmapiNNTPd/Linux/IPv6 kco 20241026   
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   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9 2024-03-02   
      
   Hi, Ardith Hinton!   
   I read your message from 31.10.2024 02:48   
      
    AK>> I suspect that "gn" and "kn" are forgotten English diphthongs,   
    AK>> like "th".   
      
    AH> Hmm. Technically, a diphthong is a two-part vowel sound... "th" is   
    AH> a consonant digraph in which two letters represent a single sound   
    AH> (our version of the Old & Middle English thorn)... while "gn"   
    AH> and "kn" are consonant blends.   
      
   And, BTW, "h" and "n" look suspiciously similar. Maybe there were times when   
   gnash and knife were ghash and khife? Somebody, a not very sober monk, maybe,   
   made a mistake when writing a book, and in view of the fact that 98 percent   
   people long ago couldn't read at all nobody noticed anything.  ;-)   
      
    AH>>> I have to keep reminding myself that e.g. the word "venue" is   
    AH>>> pronounced differently in English & French.... :-))   
    AK>> Yeah, the French don't like "e" at the end of words. ;-) As said   
    AK>> one Russian literature personage "there there is some mystery or a   
    AK>> perverted tastes". ;-)   
      
    AH> From a brief scan of my French/English dictionary I conclude that   
    AH> the French use "e" at the end of words but probably don't say it   
    AH> aloud.   
      
   We can guess at why people invented letters at all. ;-)   
      
   Bye, Ardith!   
   Alexander Koryagin   
   english_tutor 2024   
      
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