Why do we have "ph" words?

[The Last Conformist]

Later Antiquity, actually.

 

[zanahoria]

Don't get me started on fonics

 

[FreeTerminus]

All the more reason to get read of "ph"

Heh, why is it that "read" and "read" are pronounced differently but read the exact same way?

 

[classical_hero]

Heh, why is it that "read" and "read" are pronounced differently but read the exact same way?

I think he wrote the wrong word. We must get rid of incorrect words.

 

[Narz]

And what the phuck's up with beautiful? Can't we just spell it beuteeful?

 

[classical_hero]

I thought about doing something similar to you, but decided against it.

 

[Princeps]

Tell me, is it Phrank or Frank?

 

[Truronian]

I'v always pronounced 'ph' more softly than 'f', but I agree they are kwite similar

 

[The Last Conformist]

And what the phuck's up with beautiful? Can't we just spell it beuteeful?

The middle 'i' is there to maintain the connection to "beauty" (cf happy~happily, crazy~craziness, and a thousand other -y~-i- pairs). The spelling of the first syllable is just another instance of the English habit to keep original spellings, no matter how misleading, in loanwords.