The affricate most commonly represented by CH also can be spelled TI, as in question.
The problem with C is it has too many pronunciations
S as in cell
K as in cat
SH as in ocean
TSH as in cello
Get rid of all those C’s!
But if you agree to spell 'truck as ‘tshruk’ then ‘quite so, judge’ can be ‘kwait so, dzhudzh’ and we’ve gotten rid of ‘j’ and ‘q’.
Meanwhile, there is no letter for ‘th’ as in ‘this thumb’ — and note that these two TH’s are different phonemes.
And do let’s not get started on vowel reform.
“Q” is obviously the worst letter in the alphabet, because it is completely useless. It’s like the staircase in “Fiddler On the Roof” that goes nowhere just for show.
The problem is that we have a bunch of letters and a bunch of phonemes, and no one-to-one correspondence between them.
So here’s what we do.
“C” and “K” and “X”. We should just use K every time. That leaves “C” and “X” as useless letters. So we re-purpose them. Some have suggested using “C” to represent the “Ch” sound. But that’s what “X” is for! Dudes, lets go back to using “X” to represent the “Chi” sound. So “church” is now “xurx”. That still leaves “C”, so we can use that to represent the “Sh” sound. And obviously, no more silent “K”, that’s ridiculous and worthy only of Monty Python sketches. And any time where “X” is supposed to sound like “Z”, we just use “Z”.
For “G” and “J”, new rule is that “G” is always hard G. No more soft G. Soft G is now represented always by “J”. Simple.
And obviously, using “GH” or “PH” to represent the “F” sound is right out. We’ve abolished sticking an “H” onto letters to make a digraph that represents a different sound.
So for “TH” we need to bring back Thorn and Edh. These phonemes are such a distinctive part of the English language that we can just use our own letters. Þ, þ and Ð, ð, let’s make English look badass again.
“Queue” needs a ky.
For all of you voting to get rid of X, how would you spell exit? Egzit? I’ll keep my X, thank-you-very-much.
“Eksit”.
You’ll get my Q when you pry it from my cold dead username.
You have my fealty.
This is much too sensible to belong in this thread. But I have to agree with it, especially the part about bringing back the thorn and eth. After all, most other roman lettered languages use various accents and we can have out own idiosyncrasies.
But the real problem with English isn’t the consonants; it is with the vowels, where 5 vowels have to represent some 20+ sounds. And each dialect has its own repertoire. From Philadelphia, I had an aynt Ann (the first word is spoken like the insect, the second with what is called a lax a) and my daughter’s college roommate, from central Mass, had an ont Aynn. Hopeless.
If a letter can’t stand on its own and needs U to prop it up, it’s less than pointless, it’s actively degenerate.
Q’s gotta go.
Waitaminnit…C is on the list? As potentially pointless? Why…
…you can’t spell America without “c”! Why do you hate America?
Skald, you’ve really gone too far this time.
(reported)
Keep the ones that do double duty. S and J are redundant; get rid.of them.
But without Q, we couldn’t distinguish John Adams from John . Adams. John de Lancie’s character wouldn’t have a name. And adgop the Mercotan will not be pleased.
Can I add W? Like X, in Spanish it’s a pain in the ass because its pronunciation changes depending, not on the rest of the syllable as it happens with other multi-phoneme letters, but on the origin of the word. Fucking pain in the ass, those two. H we’ll keep because it helps you distinguish between hay (there is) and ay (you stepped on my foot).
How about ‘dg’, or going back to Old English ‘cg’?
Both S and J do double duty. J sometimes sounds like Y, and S sounds like Z much of the time, particularly between vowels or win following a vowel as the last letter of the word. In fact, if you consider sugar and sure, S does TRIPLE duty.
Hi I’m sorry for answering late but the most pointless letters are J, Q and X.
J does double duty. Not only could it be replaced with Gi but it also sounds like Y in words like “hallelujah” , and h in words like “halapeno” and “zh” in words like “jabot”. Q could be replaced with Cw and X with Cs, Gz, Z, Csh, Gzh or C. C can be replaced with K or S but S does double duty since it also sounds like a “z” in words like “resolve”, phrase", etc. so we can’t replace C there. C is also useful in the Ch combo. K could be replaced before A, O, and U but not before I and E. G is useful for the [g] sound.
The ones that could easily be replaced are Q, X, and C. Of those, Q is apparently the least common, so I guess it is the most pointless.
I’m not quite sure the alphabet would be adequate without Q. Star Trek TNG would certainly be different.
You can’t replace C in rice though because, in many cases S sounds like a [z] (ex: rise).