American Reacts: How English Would Sound if Silent Letters Weren’t Silent 😭🇬🇧 | BBC

Added: 2026-05-15

[00:00:00]Hello and welcome back to the Runaway American UK edition. Hey guys. Uh this is how the English language would sound if silent letters weren't silent. Um I would imagine it would sound quite odd, but let's let's give it a listen. I'm excited to hear what would it sound like. I don't I don't English people. I don't know when. But we decided to get letters to form words so we can communicate. But we also decided to sprinkle for no apparent reason. letters within the most silent sh forever.

[00:00:33]>> Why?

[00:00:34]>> Like the word hour, for example. Why is the word hour spelled with an H? Why is there an H? The silent H. Nobody has ever said I'll see you in a sing.

[00:00:47]>> I'm just going to pick up the sandwich.

[00:00:49]I'LL BE BACK IN A half half a half in half. Has has an L in it. IT'S A HAL HALAH.

[00:00:58]How long is the journey about halah to a sandwich shop? This is hal away. It's a waste of everybody's time. The word subtle. Would anybody object if it was spelled s u t l e? Not a single person would. But there's a b in the middle going just ignore me. Just ignore me.

[00:01:20]I have been left here left behind.

[00:01:24]I don't KNOW. I WAS DESTINED FOR ANOTHER WORD, BABOON. BUT HERE I AM WITH YOU.

[00:01:31]How I long to be in the word baboon where I have a purpose.

[00:01:36]Like all those words that should begin with N but have a K of all the letters that why would a K BE SILENT? KNUCKERS.

[00:01:43]WHY IS it knuckles? Knuckles. So, I've been thinking about this as you can probably tell and I think we should have a day.

[00:01:52]We should have a day, silent letter day.

[00:01:56]We all come out to play.

[00:01:59]It would be on a witness day. On a witness day sometime in the autumn in the autumn the autumn the autumn could be in February. I haven't February or the autumn spend the day together. families together. Taling, taling, ting.

[00:02:27]And climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing, committing. A lot of committing. People will save up their >> I can't believe he's coming up with these like on the spot like that. Oh my god. Why did we do this? Like what hap who decided that? That is such a good That's such a good point. Like why are we taling walking like w walk wing like knuckle knitting >> do on silent letter day and the knife is the only cutlery that you're allowed to use the knife. No other cutlery is allowed on silent letter day food is buffet style style. You go along with your knife. There's salmon and swordfish and sandwiches and your heart your heart and you use your canite.

[00:03:27]All the flavors are very subtle. Very sub flavor. The gnome will be the symbol of silent letter. The gnome places for Christmas. The gnome.

[00:03:40]Everybody gives each other a gnome to celebrate. Happy silent letter day. I got you a gnome.

[00:03:47]I kept it hidden in the cupboard for I wrapped it up. Do you like it? I wrapped it up.

[00:03:56]I cut the wrapping paper with scissors.

[00:03:59]I use scissors to get the wrapping paper. I'm so sorry. I forgot. I didn't realize. Is it really so I don't Is it honestly? Is it honestly so I don't do it? You mean honestly? Yes, it is honestly.

[00:04:12]You should have gone. You've never listened. You'll never listen.

[00:04:18]I'm not giving you a gnome. I'm sorry.

[00:04:20]I'm taking it back to the shop.

[00:04:22]Receipt. I'm receipt.

[00:04:27]And at the end of the day, And at the end of the day, that's amazing. That was fantastic. We will celebrate with shamp maybe just a splash.

[00:04:45]There's a can knock at the door.

[00:04:48]>> Oh, it's Chloe and Isa. Sorry, Chloe and Isla. My friends from Skoohul. Friends from Skoohul.

[00:04:57]Grab a knife. Help yourself to Lasagna.

[00:04:59]The same.

[00:05:02]And at the end of the day when we are connected, we go to SLEEP AT HALF PAST THE HOUR.

[00:05:09]HEY.

[00:05:12]>> OH, that was phenomenal. But when you think about it, it is so odd. It's like trying to teach my son now how to spell.

[00:05:20]It wasn't so hard teaching him how like reading was still reading is still odd.

[00:05:25]Like when you're teaching them to read cuz you're like, "Oh, yeah, yeah, you know, you don't pronounce that word like that letter." No, no, no, it doesn't.

[00:05:31]But in that word, yes, it is pronounced.

[00:05:33]Yes. In that word, yes. And no, no, not that one. And then you're like learning how to spell knife. And you're like, okay, N I F E. That makes sense. No, no, no, no, no. You're forgetting the K.

[00:05:47]There's a K in knife. Why is there a K in knife? It just is there. It's there.

[00:05:50]Don't question it. Just learn it.

[00:05:54]Why are you Why are you questioning this? Why do you care? Just like a read.

[00:05:58]Like we have like read re e d but read can also be re e a d and then and then read I read the book it's the same thing spelled the same way. You're just saying it different because it's past tense. The English language doesn't make sense. Not really.

[00:06:16]Not really. I don't know why. Everyone has said that to me. And I remember grow like when I was teaching English in many different foreign countries and they all were like, "We just don't understand your rules. Like the rules make no sense. They're not logical." I'm like, "Uh, yeah, I know. I can't really defend it. It just is the way it is. I didn't make the rules. They just are that way.

[00:06:41]So, just listen to me and yeah, like implement them, please." That's what I'm having to do with my son now because he's very logical. So he doesn't really understand. He's learning Thai and he really likes Thai because it's very again logical. It makes sense the way it's done. Um versus he's also learning Mandarin currently and he doesn't like it as much. And his teacher his like principal has said it's not that shocking because Mandarin is a very contextual language. So, it's kind of more in the English standard of it depends on the way that it's being used and of how things sound or how they're pronounced or what tones are used where.

[00:07:19]And Thai is more contextual. There's still like the weird odd things cuz every language has them. Just like in Spanish, like whether something is masculine or feminine, I don't understand. Why isn't an inanimate object? Same with French, I think. Like, why is an inanimate object have a masculine or feminine? I don't understand that. How does that make sense? But um that's neither here nor there. The silent letters are hysterical. We should start it. It's very, very, very funny. I can't even imagine how many words I say every single day that do have silent letters that I just don't even think about pronouncing because it's just so normal not to.

[00:08:00]You don't think about it. So when you when you actually spell it out, you're like, "This is crazy. who came up with this system. Brilliant. He's wonderful.

[00:08:08]I've loved him for a really long time. I think he's hysterical and I love the way he speaks. Like it just like his intonation is fantastic.

[00:08:16]If you like this video, please give it a thumbs up. Subscribe to my channel for more videos like this and I will see you all next time. Thank you and goodbye.