A lot of people in AH loves to respell English to be more phonetic and/or more logical in it's writing
So why don't we just throw that out the window and instead ask: if English spelling was LESS phonetic than it is now? By this, I mean obsolete and archaic spellings of words, many of them fell out of style in the 19th century, are preserved as the standard up 'till the present. To give some examples:
1. A LOT more seemingly unlogical spellings, and a bunch of variation between spellings.
You have Bringe, Speake, Eate, Abowte, Cleare etc.
(Bring, Speak, Eat, About, Clear)
Some recognisable ones like Plomber, Phantasie, Sowl, Gost etc.
(Plumber, Fantasy, Soul, Ghost)
And the less obvious ones like Cytee, Dymonde, Gowlare, Clypt etc.
(City, Diamond, Gavaller, Clipped)
And of course, "Ay/Ey" being used instead of "Ai"
Spayne, Agayne, Breyde etc. (Spain, Again, Braid)
2. Also, at least in British English, have words we refer to as "Chiefly British" be the standard, such as Gaol, Waggon, Connexion. And have spellings like Publick, Logique, Ambassadour, Doctour etc. also be favoured.
EDIT: as well as all the "Ae/Oe" combos too like Aeon and the very archaic Oeconomy.
With all of this said. I think some things would change despite this though, like distinguishing V & U and possibly over time spell "Ai" being used instead of "Ay/Ey".But at least in that case preserve the silent E's the "Ie" ending over the "Y" ending and many of the archaic spellings overall.