John Popelish wrote:
rewboss wrote:
also the silent "k" in "knife" (from French "canif") and "knie" (from German
"Knie", pronounced /kni:/).

According to wwwebster "knife" is "akin to middle low German 'knif'
knife", no mention of any French connection, and "knee" is "akin to
Old High German 'kneo' knee", ie. it is not derived from present-day
German "knie".

Interestingly, the Spanish (I'm not sure about Latin Americans) have
problems with words beginning with "sp" and "st"; no Spanish words begin
with those clusters, but "esp" and "est" are common. I remember one year

And not only those two combinations. Same goes for initial "s"
followed by any consonant.

CV