Noam Chomsky once called English spelling “a near optimal system.”

You might think he was being ironic. Far from it.

The silent b in bomb reappears in bombard. The silent n in hymn resurfaces in hymnal. The silent g in sign comes back in signal. English spelling keeps these words looking like the family they are, even when pronunciation pulls them apart.

The past tense ending -ed is pronounced three different ways (-t in jumped, -d in played, and -ed in painted), but spelled the same every time. One spelling, one meaning: something happened in the past.

The reason English spelling is full of inconsistencies and silent letters is because it’s not simply encoding how words sound. It’s encoding their meaning and history as well.

This week’s article is the case for the defence: why the most hated spelling system in the world might actually be the best one for the job.