English is my first language and I kind of pride myself on my reading ability (I can also write, but I like it less, and please don't trawl my hexbear account for proof I'm a good writer, you won't find it), and I have no idea when you're supposed to add a -cal suffix! Every one of your examples there I'm like, huh, I don't know. I'm sure there's some rule about it, I bet you could look in a style guide and find the answer, but most native speakers don't know it, we kind of just say one or the other based on a whim (or at least I do). It might also be that there's not one correct answer, I wouldn't be surprised if different style guides had different advice about this.
It's a very reasonable pet peeve for you to have, all in all!
Not only is English mashed together from different language families (Romantic and Germanian), it has random ass loan words, phrases, and grammar outside of its phylum. It's why the C in "cyst" is pronounced differently than the one in "cat," then you have bullshit like "tsunami" (Japanese) or "kefir" (Russian, Turkic) that use the same sounds for Cs without having any Cs.
Letting the English escape from their island was a mistake.
English is my first language and I kind of pride myself on my reading ability (I can also write, but I like it less, and please don't trawl my hexbear account for proof I'm a good writer, you won't find it), and I have no idea when you're supposed to add a -cal suffix! Every one of your examples there I'm like, huh, I don't know. I'm sure there's some rule about it, I bet you could look in a style guide and find the answer, but most native speakers don't know it, we kind of just say one or the other based on a whim (or at least I do). It might also be that there's not one correct answer, I wouldn't be surprised if different style guides had different advice about this.
It's a very reasonable pet peeve for you to have, all in all!
Vibes based language.
The spelling and pronunciation is overall inconsistent to the absurd degree.
Yeah, that happens when you have a Germanic base slathered with french and Latin vocabulary and sprinkled with loanwords from nearly every continent.
And never having a spelling reform.
Jesus Christ, we only invented spelling a few hundred years ago and you want to reform it already?
Not only is English mashed together from different language families (Romantic and Germanian), it has random ass loan words, phrases, and grammar outside of its phylum. It's why the C in "cyst" is pronounced differently than the one in "cat," then you have bullshit like "tsunami" (Japanese) or "kefir" (Russian, Turkic) that use the same sounds for Cs without having any Cs.
Letting the English escape from their island was a mistake.