Silent English

    In 1968 an American linguist, answering the question "How do you pronounce TESOL?" (the acronym of the Association of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) answered: "T as in castle, E as in give, S as in island, O as in people, and L as in calm."

    In fact you can, with some use of proper names and loan words, create a complete silent alphabet for English, as follows:

    A as in BREAD
    B as in DEBT
    C as in INDICTMENT
    D as in HANDKERCHIEF
    E as in GIVE
    F as in HALFPENNY
    G as in GNAW
    H as in HOUR
    I as in FRIEND
    J as in MARIJUANA
    K as in KNOW
    L as in CALM
    M as the first M in MNEMONIC
    N as in AUTUMN
    O as in PEOPLE
    P as in PSALM
    Q as in COLQUHOUN (a Scottish surname)
    R as in FORECASTLE
    S as in ISLAND
    T as in CASTLE
    U as in GUARD
    V as in MILNGAVIE (a Scottish place name)
    W as in WRONG
    X as in SIOUX
    Y as in PEPYS
    Z as in RENDEZVOUS

    No wonder we need a phonetic alphabet for English and authors of pronouncing dictionaries get rich.