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This is a discussion thread.
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Eargasms
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264401
Sat, 09 Sep 06 01:01 AM
Apologies if this has been posted before.......... Why ?
is English so hard to learn? |
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(author/s unknown)
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) I did not object to the object. 9) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row. 10) They were too close to the door to close it. 11) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear. 12) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend? 13) I shed my clothes in the shed.
Let's face it - English is a ridiculous language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in a hamburger; neither apple nor pine in a pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England, nor French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat.
You cannot buy boots in Boots, You cannot buy virgins in Virgin, You cannot buy threshers in Threshers and the Superdrug chain is a great disappointment.
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 bakers bake, but grocers don't groce? 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? 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? We ship by truck and send cargo by 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 by filling it out and in which an alarm goes off by going on.
English was invented by 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.
And finally, how about when you want to shut down your computer you have to hit "START"? ![Big Smile [:D]](/emoticons/emotion-2.gif)
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Joined on
Sun, Feb 13 2005
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Tangled
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264519
Sat, 09 Sep 06 09:56 AM
![Big Smile [:D]](/emoticons/emotion-2.gif) ![Big Smile [:D]](/emoticons/emotion-2.gif) ![Big Smile [:D]](/emoticons/emotion-2.gif)
About shuting down computer - that`s cool
And about other things - well in many languages there such words , which sound equally, but have different meaning. That`s creativity of all people no matter what language they speak ![Angel [A]](/emoticons/emotion-13.gif)
Joined on
Tue, Jul 11 2006
near the Baltic sea....
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Logicman
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Sat, 09 Sep 06 10:27 PM
Further to what Eargasms has posted, Richard Lederer wrote the book 'Crazy English' in 1998. You can read an extract here: http://www.ldresources.org/?p=438There are more extracts here: http://www.verbivore.com/arc_ceng.htmI hope you enjoy reading these extracts as much as I have.
Joined on
Tue, Sep 5 2006
London, UK
New Member
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Patrick.
Relax, it's just an opinion. :)
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simplyblessedwithlove
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Sun, 24 Sep 06 02:32 AM
Language is like the air we breathe. It's invisible, inescapable, indispensable, and we take it for granted. But, when we take the time to step back and listen to the sounds that escape from the holes in people's faces and to ex- plore the paradoxes and vagaries of English, we find that hot dogs can be cold, darkrooms can be lit, homework can be done in school, nightmares can take place in broad daylight while morning sickness and daydreaming can take place at night, tomboys are girls and midwives can be men, hours -- especially happy hours and rush hours -- often last longer than sixty minutes, quick- sand works very slowly, boxing rings are square, silverware and glasses can be made of plastic and tablecloths of paper, most telephones are dialed by being punched (or pushed?), and most bathrooms don't have any baths in them. In fact, a dog can go to the bathroom under a tree -- no bath, no room; it's still going to the bathroom. And doesn't it seem a little bizarre that we go to the bathroom in order to go to the bathroom?
I used to think tomboys were boys named Tom or sons of Toms. And silverware must be in silver. ![Embarrassed [:$]](/emoticons/emotion-10.gif)
Joined on
Sun, Feb 27 2005
SF bay area, California
Junior Member
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LT
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simplyblessedwithlove
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271544
Sun, 24 Sep 06 02:34 AM
Why is it that a woman can man a station but as man can't woman one, that a man can father a movement but a woman can't mother one,
I don't understand it. ![Embarrassed [:$]](/emoticons/emotion-10.gif)
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