...or is that whilst you...

It has come to my attention that "work" seems to be the only "-ork" word (similar to "word") that is pronounced "werk" (here in the vast Midwest US), when "cork, dork, fork, Mork, pork" retain the "or" sound. Why - when - what made this happen? And, "ward" sounds like "word"'s spelling and we don't even have a word popular spelled "werd" or "werk" (not that we need them, but it would explain a few things) ...and there's another one "wood = would" why bother confusing...? ...just decide on one or the other.