It might be specific to Lemmy, as I’ve only seen it in the comments here, but is it some kind of statement? It can’t possibly be easier than just writing “th”? And in many comments I see “th” and “þ” being used interchangeably.

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    7 months ago

    Voiced is like the th in the, unvoiced is like the th in thin.

    Unvoiced sounds the same whispered, whereas voiced loses its buzz when you whisper.

    Voiced:
    this that then with the then breathe bother those though

    Unvoiced:
    thread thin thanks width breath both youth pithy smith thatch thought throughout thorough

    • Bluewing@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Why is it that the Dutch press operators that Caxton hired to run his printing presses, seldom catch any blame for the spelling changes they made to English? The one I always remember is Ghost. Those Dutch press operators decided that Gost should look more like the the Dutch word Gheest. So Ghost got it’s “h”. As did ghoul because you wouldn’t that to be too different…And other words got the same treatments. Thankfully many of the changes didn’t stick but enough have.

      If only the printing press hadn’t been introduced to English until after the Great Vowel Shift was over, spelling and spoken would be much closer aligned.

      • Soggy@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        The explanation I heard was that “ghost” stuck around because “Holy Ghost” was in the printed bibles and people didn’t question that authority.