this particular case, I think it's the formalization of lazy speech patterns that has produced the disconnect.

Language changes over time: sounds, meanings, and grammar. Nothing you or I can do about it. My favorites are the c in perfect and the d in admiral. Both are pronounced today because people were confused by the etymological re-spellings of Middle English parfit and amiral. In the former case, the c is etymological sound, the Latin word being perfectus, but in the latter it is a false etymology, the Arabic word being a variant of emir.

Two pronunciations which annoy me, though realize I'm on the wrong side are the pronunciation of err as air and pronouncing the t in often: both of which are some kind of wrong-headed hyper-correction based on back-formation from the pronunciation of error and spelling pronunciation respectively.

In a sober and intelligent spelling system, would the spelling of words change as the pronunciations shift? There's nothing more tedious than a Spanish spelling bee, since words are soberly and intelligently spelled the way they sound. So should "hola" now be spelled "ola," since the aitch has evolved to silence, or is it worthwhile to retain these oddities as indicators of the history of the language?

Well, spelling bees only work for languages that have screwed up spelling systems. It's a way for folks to feel better about their hopeless situation. wink

Yes, there's no real reason to put in the h in Spanish ola or English humor.

Many languages change their spelling over the years to bring them into conformity with changes in the language. The real problem with many folks is what to do with regional accents. While it is important to distinguish between a phonetic and a phonemic spelling system. (Nobody who knows which end is up linguistically speaking advocates the former, but rather the latter.) I think, you just bite the bullet and choose a standard and base the orthography on that. (It will cause trouble with folks who merge sounds like in cot-caught or pen-pin, but it will still be less onerous than the status quo.

Ceci n'est pas un seing.