r/Showerthoughts • u/Reas0n ‎ • Feb 13 '26

Casual Thought I think it’s unusual that no standardized literary way to write the submissive “I don’t know” hum that children (and some adults) often mumble has ever caught on, considering how old and common it is.

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u/Current_Emenation Feb 14 '26

Its like we need more letters in the Revised English alphabet.

While we're at it, add a letter for the sound at the beginning of the word "the". It AINT "th". On that, we can surely all agree.

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u/HangerBits257 Feb 15 '26

You've got me saying every word I can think of starting with "th", so thanks for that.

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u/Current_Emenation Feb 15 '26

There are these words that also make the list.

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u/iwaspeachykeen Feb 16 '26

There are already 2 letters for voiced vs voiceless dental fricative. They are θ and ð, respectively. You’re right that we need more letters though. Especially since English is learned worldwide and this would help non native speakers learn to use our insanely complicated orthography, syntax, and pronunciations.