#this why amateurs like myself should not be recklessly exposed to even small amounts of historical linguistics

[nostalgia-tblr]

i mentioned this in a discord server and nobody seemed to agree but do other native english speakers ever kind of second-guess a word (in this instance 'smitten') because you don't know where it came from but it's just got the... the "vibes" let's say... of something old and Germanic and so you stop for a moment and think "I do not trust all of these vowels. I may be 'smitten' now but in mere moments I could be 'smoten' or 'smattened' or - woden forbid - attacked by an entire herd of 'smeep'."

i think having done german as a second language didn't help (geholpt? gehalpen? helpierendenenen????) but surely someone out there gets me on this? your gut knows the warning signs of an irregular verb or plural form and your brain says "don't worry, mate, i've got this" but the gut panics a bit and starts demanding "are you sure? what if you've getted it wrong this time?"

must the mouses of uncertainty always threaten my carefully-built hice of knowledge???😭