John_jeni  +  256948 Thu, 17 Aug 06 11:08 PM   There is no egg in eggplant or ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in  pineapple... Is cheese the plural of choose? 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 play, and play at a recital? Ship by truck, and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? Park on driveways and drive on parkways?                                                                                                                                          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, two indices?                                                                                                                     How can the weather be hot as hell one day and cold as hell another? When a house burns up, it burns  down.                                                                                             You fill in a form by filling it out, and an alarm clock goes off by going on. When the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible. And why, when I wind up my  watch, I start it, but when I wind up this essay, I end it? .English muffins were not invented in England or French fries in France.                                                                                                                                                  How can 'slim chance and a fat chance' be the same, while  ' wise man and a wise guy' are opposites?                                                                                                                           Now i know why i failed in english.   It's not my fault but the silly language doesn't quite know whether it's coming or going                                                                                                                                                        yours; John_jeni Joined on Sat, Jun 17 2006 Morocco New Member 14 Plurals, Essays

	Dj Bueno  +  257166 Fri, 18 Aug 06 05:34 PM In what language do people recite at a play, and play at a recital? I know these interesting facts-thanks for sharing Dj Bueno Joined on Mon, Jul 18 2005 Senior Member 2,087 Gulyabani vardır, korkacak bir şey yoktur.

	Nef  +  259366 Sat, 26 Aug 06 12:02 AM Thank you for a lot of laughs! You're right. It's much funnier (and stranger) than English speakers usually realize. I especially liked the lines about the vegetarian/humanitarian and the alarm clock that goes off by going on. Nef Joined on Sun, Jan 1 2006 California, USA Regular Member 638

	simplyblessedwithlove  +  266840 Thu, 14 Sep 06 12:11 PM  John_jeni wrote:   and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. I used to think guinea pig was a pig from Guinea. simplyblessedwithlove Joined on Sun, Feb 27 2005 SF bay area, California Junior Member 90 LT

	adhamdodi  +  800669 Mon, 29 Jun 09 12:18 PM Pretty amazing and smart actually!... There must be a reason for that and only english historians can explain it. I think these kind of paradoxes in English language exist in other languages as well! I am an Arab, and in Arabic we do have these kind of funny "strange" expressions! I think it is kind of sense-of-humor or trickiness whatever applicable, isn't? Cheers.. .. ... .. . adhamdodi Joined on Mon, Jun 29 2009 Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates New Member 24 Countries, United Kingdom, Great Britain, Languages, Expressions