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A medieval knight, Sir Geoffrey of Kent, was transported through time and found himself in a modern English classroom.
The teacher was reviewing spelling. “Knight. K-N-I-G-H-T.”
Sir Geoffrey raised his hand. “Forgive me, madam, but why the K? And what purpose serves the GH?”
“They’re silent,” said the teacher.
“Silent?” Sir Geoffrey looked genuinely confused. “In my day — 1386 — we pronounced the K. And the GH was a proper guttural, like clearing one’s throat. K-ni-gh-t. Every letter earned its keep.”
“Well,” said the teacher, “the pronunciation changed. But we kept the spelling.”
“Why?”
The teacher opened her mouth. Closed it. Opened it again.
“Tradition,” she said finally.
Sir Geoffrey stared at the board. “So in 600 years, you’ve had time to invent the internet, land on the moon, and split the atom… but you haven’t gotten around to removing a silent K from a five-year-old’s spelling test?”
Class dismissed.
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