Much colder here today. Did it really get near 90 yesterday? Wwaaaahhh. It was so nice yesterday, sat outside on the driveway, went to the park. Now, we're burning furniture for heat.

Back to previous comments about how Russian is mostly a phonetic language, i.e, words are pretty much spelled the way they sound and sound the way they are spelled.

English is not like that. Here are a few examples. The first is from George Bernard Shaw.

***
How do we pronounce the word "ghoti"?

His answer was "fish".

How can "ghoti" and "fish" sound the same? GBS explained it like this:

the gh = f as in rouGH
the o = i as in wOmen
the ti = sh as in naTIon
***

The second is from Dr. Seuss, good examples of same letters being pronounced different ways...

***
The Tough Coughed as he Ploughed the Dough
***

here's a similar example...

***
A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed."
***

let's pity all those who have to learn English as a second language...