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English Language 101 “Let’s face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren’t invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why is it that writers write but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce and hammers don’t ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn’t the plural of booth beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn’t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it? If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? In what language do people recite at a and at a recital? Ship truck and send cargo ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form filling it out and in which an alarm goes off going on. English was invented people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race (which, of course, isn’t a race at all). That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.” — via be-killed *Artchive  "Men need to hunt. She obviously understands this. She’s offering herself as prey. Not easy prey. But willing.” |
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2/20/2021 6:00 am |
Someone put some thought into this, I did enjoy reading this and I am sure I would enjoy meeting this person
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If a bus stops at a bus station & a train stops at a train station. What happens at a work station? As an Englishman, if I turn the pedantic filter off briefly. I would have to point out that, eggplant, hamburger, english muffins & french fries aren't english. They are what we might refer to as Americanisms, however I agree, it can be a crazy language. Other languages strike me as odd as well. When I was maybe eight years old, they started teaching us French. They started going on about female tables & male chairs, or was it the other way around? I very quickly concluded that any language where you have to assign a sex to an inanimate object was stupid & not worth learning. I had a German aunt & would rather have learnt German, which they weren't offering at that age. Of course it was much later that I was told German & other langauges assign a sex to objects. I regret not learning German though. All the best - stay safe. I understand what you mean. I speak Portuguese, Italian, and, Spanish fluently. Portuguese, is a second language for me. Italian and Spanish, I studied in school. It can be confusing. But, the language I have the most difficulty with (writing) is "proper" English. Or, as a good friend once told me, "The Queens English" There are so many twists and turns in the English language, it's enough to drive you mad! I cannot imagine trying to decipher German! Although, both of my kids took it in high school as a second language, and they manage to zip right through it. Go figure? Thanks for sharing your language woes.  Be Well "Men need to hunt. She obviously understands this. She’s offering herself as prey. Not easy prey. But willing.”
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If a bus stops at a bus station & a train stops at a train station. What happens at a work station? As an Englishman, if I turn the pedantic filter off briefly. I would have to point out that, eggplant, hamburger, english muffins & french fries aren't english. They are what we might refer to as Americanisms, however I agree, it can be a crazy language. Other languages strike me as odd as well. When I was maybe eight years old, they started teaching us French. They started going on about female tables & male chairs, or was it the other way around? I very quickly concluded that any language where you have to assign a sex to an inanimate object was stupid & not worth learning. I had a German aunt & would rather have learnt German, which they weren't offering at that age. Of course it was much later that I was told German & other langauges assign a sex to objects. I regret not learning German though. All the best - stay safe.
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ali LOL - Yes, English is paradox A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing. George Bernard Shaw Jenny
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love it. but that's so true about English.
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 "Pois sim" and "pois não" come to mind in Portuguese.
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The two things that people seem to have the most trouble with are "they, there, and they're". Might want to substitute a their here. Is there any iron in irony? Make Women Female Again
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Ahhh... Very clever blog this morning. I loved all the explanations you gave about our crazy ass language... Thanks for making me think... ~ Physical strength is measured by what we carry. Inner strength is measured by what we can bear. ~
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2/16/2021 5:00 am |
ahhh...the English language. The two things that people seem to have the most trouble with are "they, there, and they're" and "you, your, and you're". You've got to love it.
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This started my day with a smile......
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he is right. it is one messed up mess LOL Miss
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"Men need to hunt. She obviously understands this. She’s offering herself as prey. Not easy prey. But willing.”
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