The English Language

AllINeedIsMac

Well-known member
My boyf found this on one of his forums....

Reasons why the English language is so hard to learn:

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.

2) The farm was used to produce produce.

3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.

4) We must polish the Polish furniture.

5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.

6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.

7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.

8.) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

10) I did not object to the object.

11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.

13) They were too close to the door to close it.

14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.

15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

18.) After a number of injections my jaw got number.

19) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.

20) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

21) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

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.

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English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France.

Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, or 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 grouse 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?


th_dunno.gif

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?

Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.

In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship?

Have noses that run and feet that smell?

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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 by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.

People, not computers, invented English, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

AND why doesn't "buick" rhyme with "quick"?
:confused:

I just thought it was cute, cuz my English is pretty f** up too...
 

mspixieears

Well-known member
I'm embarrassed by my level of nerddom that I can actually explain some of why those things are the way they are, but it's more fun to read and go "Hey yeah, English is such a kooky language!". I won't spoil the fun *grins*

I admire anyone who dares to learn English when it isn't their first language!
 

n_j_t

Well-known member
Although our slang and phrases can be odd, English is actually (compartively speaking) one of the easiest languages to learn. I used to tutor in college--both English students and second-language students. Guess which group had better grammar and was easier to teach?
 

Melisanda

Active member
Quote:
Although our slang and phrases can be odd, English is actually (compartively speaking) one of the easiest languages to learn.

I thought that too when I started learning English,
now it sometimes makes me
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(btw I have been studying English for 13 years ).
 

Isis

Well-known member
I've always found this kind of stuff interesting :)

Funny you should bring this topic up b/c English isn't the only language it happens in I'm sure.
I just started reading a book called The Dancing Wu Li Masters, which is a book on physics & Quantum Mechanics for people who knokw nothing about it. Anyway, in the first chapter the author explains how he came up with the title. Apparently he met a T'ai Chi Master and some conference and was told that they call the study of 'Physics' 'Wu Li', meaning Patters of Energy ("matter/energy" [Wu] + "universal order/organic patterns" [Li]). However, the T'ai Chi Master went on to explain that Wu Li can also mean:
My Way (Wu = "mine" or "self")
Nonsense (Wu = "void" or "nonbeing")
I Clutch My Ideas (Wu = "to make a fist" or "clutch with a closed hand")
Enlightenment (Wu = "enlightenment" or "my heart/my mind")

Man if that wasn't the geekiest thing for me to think of I don't know what is ... :lamer:
 

jess98765

Well-known member
ummmm very interesting!!!! i usually don't pay that much attention to stuff like this but now that i'm acutally reading about some of the problems the english language has, it makes for interesting knowldge
smiles.gif
 

SonRisa

Well-known member
21) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

shouldn't this be "imitate this to my most initimate friend?"
 

n_j_t

Well-known member
Quote:
Originally Posted by SonRisa
21) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

shouldn't this be "imitate this to my most initimate friend?"


No, "intimate" can also mean to allude, or suggest subtly. E.g.: "She intimated her feelings towards him were more than platonic."
 

Isis

Well-known member
It's all in the inflection. Funny how it works
smiles.gif

Like according to the dictionary:
"No?" with rising inflection = denial
"No!" with downward inflection = refusal
"No..." with no infection = negative
 
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