English is fun if it's your mother tongue, and otherwise... well, just remember "ghoti" for an example of how the spelling works*. I liked this quotation of a Canadian writer, James Nicoll, circulated by Michael Quinion in his free weekly email (available via http://www.worldwidewords.org):
"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary".
* See earlier post.
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