-Ghrrrr.

This blog is quick becoming simply an aggressive attack on the English language. I don't mind though, English definitely deserves it.

English is ridiculous. A good example of this is words that end with -gh.
There seems to be literally no rule for what the -gh actually sounds like. Contrasting examples are numerous to say the least:

Laugh is an "f" sound.
Hiccough (so often misspelled "hiccup" that the word has entered the language) is a "p" sound.

Then you have:
Sigh is an "i" sound.
Bough is a "w" sound.
(The difference here is that the -gh is basically silent, or at the very least there is a slightly implied "h" or "y" sound at the end.)

So, we have established that rule is:
-gh is an almost silent ending, with an implied "h"y sort of sound, but can also be an "f" or a "p".

Genius? I think not.

EDIT:
I made a point about "hiccough" being misspelled as "hiccup", but it seems I have made a mistake, or at least wandered into a bit of a grey area. I am fascinated by etymology, and I wanted to make sure that what I thought I knew about hiccough/hiccups was correct. I'm sure I had read it somewhere online, but as it turns out this is a good reason not to trust someone because they sound like they know what they are talking about.

In "The concise dictionary of English etymology" (1993) Walter W. Skeat argues that "the spelling hiccough seems to be due to a popular etymology of from cough, certainly wrong; no one ever pronounces the word. Properlly hiccup, or, in old books hicket or hickcock which are still better forms."

So there you go. "Hiccup" is correct.