“rooves???
Must be the german plural for roofs!”
I’ve wondered about this, so I did a search on it. Apparently in some areas the normal pronunciation of the plural of “roof” is “rooves”, although the spelling is “roofs” (which really doesn’t make any sense). “rooves” has also been considered a valid spelling, which does make sense if it’s going to be pronounced that way. Certainly the very similar word “hoof” has “hooves” as a common spelling and pronunciation of the plural, although “hoofs” is also used for some (and pronounced that way). English really is a confusing mess at times. I still think the plural of “moose” should be “meese”, based on the “goose/geese” spellings. No, really, why not?
“English really is a confusing mess at times.”
As someone who learned English in his teens, and especially having grown up with a very phonetic language (Italian), I would have to go one step further and say that English is a mess most of the time. I amuse myself sometimes thinking of all the “messy” stuff in it.
Here’s a quick few - how many different ways can you spell the word that sound like “to”?
How on earth does “one” get pronounced “won”?
You could write a real thick book with all these idiosyncrasies.
A Møøse once bit my sister