Grammar doesn’t rule English. We do.

English isn’t perfect. words like “disingenuous” “inflammable” “behead” mean the opposite of what they appear to mean. Languages are constantly evolving; words are borrowed from other languages and their meanings change over time.

Consider the word “forte”. There are two forms of this word; one from French and one from Italian. The former, which means “strong” was originally pronounced “fort”. Over time people assumed this word was pronounced the Italian way—“fortay” which means “fast” in relation to music. I’m not sure when people started pronouncing “forte” “as fortay” but the incorrect pronunciation caught on and now both forms are accepted.

English needn’t be perfect. It simply another construct for us to communicate.