Why doesn't "father" rhyme with "lather" or "bather?"

[Orrex]

Quick! Before someone buys the Buick!

[Tuesday Afternoon]

1. I do not object to this object. However, I will have to

subject this subject to a series of tests.

[Taverner]

2. WordGeek answer

Father has a word root of 'pa', which is seemingly similar in all languages, even Sanskrit, where 'pater' is the word for father.

Bather and lather come from totally different word roots.

[Dr. Strange]

3. For that matter, why doesn't Orrex rhyme with sex?

And why doesn't Orrex like having sex with a bather in a Buick?

[TZ]

4. !

IBTL.....:spray:
Can I send you the dry cleaning bill for the tomato sauce I just spilled on my shirt?!

[Dr. Strange]

5. Send it to Tony Romo.

He'll know what to do.

[Occam Bandage]

6. Because a father doesn't fathe.

[rockymountaindem]

7. Great answer

I was going to say that we made English a hard language to keep outsiders from learning our cool club secrets.

[Orrex]

8. Nuts to that. A lathe doesn't usually lather, either

[madinmaryland]

9. What's all this blather about??

:wtf:

[Raven]

10. It does, in Bastin!

[RainDog]

11. Vader v. Laver

or latinate v teutonic word origins in English?

am I close?

I mean, what would it have sounded like to hear "Luke, I am your bather."

[Bake]

12. What? You mean I've been saying "lather" wrong all these years???

Damn!

Bake

[realisticphish]

13. Because English is insane

and I like it that way :)