[custos]

I think this has more to do with how our brain processes words written in a phonetic alphabet.

When reading words we are familiar with, our brain treats the word as a single symbol linked to meaning (or pronunciation).

When we encounter words that we aren't familiar with, the brain has to revert back to "manual mode", sounding it out to see if there is a link to any known meaning.

If you use one of the spellings you currently consider bad regularly, it will eventually be recognized as a symbol and treated as such.

For instance, reading "knife" shouldn't provoke a negative reaction unless you're not familiar with the word; despite it having a silent K which is just silly.