[degun]

The explanation you gave is already contained in the cited Wikipedia article. I think this "ghoti" example is more of a tongue-in-cheek mocking of pronunciation inconsistencies. If you want a jarring example, consider laughter and slaughter. I know, i know, they have different origins, but still, it confuses foreigners like me while learning the language.

[mousethatroared]

But English orthography isn't meant to serve foreigners.

Im ESL, I struggled with English spelling as much as the next latin speaker who's already learned to read and write in foreigner.

But now that I get the reason behind it, I love it. I consider English orthography worthy of UNESCO protection, even. In fact, I am annoyed at the regular spelling of my two latin languages that have left so much history behind.

[akst]

English Orthography doesn't exactly serve native speakers either.

[hyperpape]

> But English orthography isn't meant to serve foreigners.

Or natives. It is slower for children to learn to read English than other languages.