Democratic Underground Latest Greatest Lobby Journals Search Options Help Login
Google

English language insanity!

Printer-friendly format Printer-friendly format
Printer-friendly format Email this thread to a friend
Printer-friendly format Bookmark this thread
This topic is archived.
Home » Discuss » The DU Lounge Donate to DU
 
KurtNYC Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-18-06 03:23 PM
Original message
English language insanity!
This is from a widely circulated email:

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 play and play at a recital? 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, 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.

PS: Why doesn't "Buick" rhyme with "quick"?
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
Kajsa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-18-06 05:21 PM
Response to Original message
1. Because the spelling in the English language is
Edited on Fri Aug-18-06 05:49 PM by Kajsa
one of the most complicated, contradictory set of rules
ever!

No wonder it's do damn hard to learn.
We have way too many silent letters.

Thought- pronounced thaht.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Xipe Totec Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-18-06 05:48 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. Ever wonder why only English has spelling bees?
English has no spelling rules, the spelling and the pronunciation are both adopted from the original languages from which the words are borrowed. It is just a matter of memorization.

Other languages do have rules, which is why it would be pointless to have spelling contests in Spanish or Russian for example.

In these languages, words are spelt just as they are pronounced.

Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Kajsa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-18-06 05:54 PM
Response to Reply #2
3. That's interesting, Xipe Totec.
Spelling bees are for English words.

Yep, you're right. Although grammar teachers will argue
otherwise, we have no set rules for spelling in English.

'i' before 'e' except after 'c'- baloney- Look at the name "Keith".

Again, no wonder people have one hell of a
time learning the grammar and spelling.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Xipe Totec Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-18-06 06:03 PM
Response to Reply #3
4. Rendezvous, Entrepreneur
Tostada

Hoosegow

Fillet Mignon

Risotto

Schlemiel

Kilo

Scherzo

Vibrato

There isn't a language from which we have yet to borrow.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Kajsa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-18-06 06:05 PM
Response to Reply #4
5. Don't forget 'ombudsman'

from my family's native country, Sweden.

;-)
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Xipe Totec Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-18-06 06:07 PM
Response to Reply #5
6. And Smorgasbord
:toast:
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Kajsa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-18-06 06:08 PM
Response to Reply #6
7. Yep!
;-)
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Dangerously Amused Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-18-06 06:53 PM
Response to Reply #3
9. That "'i' before 'e' except after 'c'" rule is just...




...weird.



Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Kajsa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-18-06 09:35 PM
Response to Reply #9
11. And it's wrong!

I can't think of more words,(Keith)
but just checking in the dictionary under 'h'
we have;

height
heinous
heir
heist

and that's just 'h'.

it's wrong,wrong, wrong.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
ZombieNixon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-18-06 06:49 PM
Response to Original message
8. Millennia of sound change, few if any spelling reforms.
That is all.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Kajsa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-18-06 09:38 PM
Response to Reply #8
12. You're right, ZombieNixon.
Edited on Fri Aug-18-06 09:50 PM by Kajsa
The sounds change, the spelling seldom if
ever does.

:hi:

PS- See my post to pink-o
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
pink-o Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-18-06 07:06 PM
Response to Original message
10. Fire can burn a house down
or burn it up.

Personally, I love English etymology, I'm a real wonk about it. To me, language is a window onto a people's culture and history. And English is full of homophones (no, not gay people with cells) so it seems to lend itself really well to puns and double entendres.

I've asked my Russian, French, Spanish Italian, Arabic, Urdu and Hindi speaking friends if puns are prominent in their language, and most have said no. Such as this one: Living in San Francisco I have a very small studio, and when I invite people over, I say Mi Caja es Su Caja (caja is Spanish for box) yet it doesn't carry the same cultural meaning to a Spanish speaker.

So submitted for your consideration, here're 10 really corny puns to further my point that this crazy language really does rock!



1. A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at him and says, "I'm sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger."


2. Two fish swim into a concrete wall. The one turns to the other and says "Dam!"


3. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.


4. Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says "I've lost my electron." The other says "Are you sure?" The first replies "Yes, I'm positive."


5. Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root canal? His goal: transcend dental medication.


6. A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse. "But why?" they asked, as they moved off. "Because," he said," I can't stand chess-nuts boasting in an open foyer."


7. A woman has twins and gives them up for adoption. One of them goes to a family in Egypt and is named "Ahmal." The other goes to a family in Spain; they name him "Juan." Years later, Juan sends a picture of himself to his birth mother. Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wishes she also had a picture of Ahmal. Her husband responds, "They're twins! If you've seen Juan, you've seen Ahmal."

8. A group of friars were behind on their belfry payments, so they opened up a small florist shop to raise funds. Since everyone liked to buy flowers from the men of God, a rival florist across town thought the competition was unfair. He asked the good fathers to close down, but they would not. He went back and begged the friars to close. They ignored him. So, the rival florist hired Hugh Mac Taggart, the roughest and most vicious thug in town to "persuade" them to close. Hugh beat up the friars and trashed their store, saying he'd be back if they didn't close up shop. Terrified, they did so, thereby proving that only Hugh can prevent florist friars.

9. Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and, with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him a super calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.


10. And finally, there was the person who sent ten different puns to friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did.



Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Kajsa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-18-06 09:49 PM
Response to Reply #10
13. LOL! These are great, pink-o.
I'm into English etymology, also.

I once asked my stepfather why the words
knife and knight( to name a few) all had the letter 'k' in them.

" It's so damn confusing when you never hear it spoken" I lamented.

" Well", he replied" what are those words in Swedish?"( they are all Germanic languages)

"Kniv and Knave !( you hear the 'k' pronounced)

Well, well, they were there, we just took out the 'k' sound in
modern English.

btw; My stepfather was Hungarian, and spoke many languages.
I miss him. ( he passed in 2002)
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
DU AdBot (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view 
this author's profile Click to add 
this author to your buddy list Click to add 
this author to your Ignore list Wed Apr 24th 2024, 08:48 AM
Response to Original message
Advertisements [?]
 Top

Home » Discuss » The DU Lounge Donate to DU

Powered by DCForum+ Version 1.1 Copyright 1997-2002 DCScripts.com
Software has been extensively modified by the DU administrators


Important Notices: By participating on this discussion board, visitors agree to abide by the rules outlined on our Rules page. Messages posted on the Democratic Underground Discussion Forums are the opinions of the individuals who post them, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Democratic Underground, LLC.

Home  |  Discussion Forums  |  Journals |  Store  |  Donate

About DU  |  Contact Us  |  Privacy Policy

Got a message for Democratic Underground? Click here to send us a message.

© 2001 - 2011 Democratic Underground, LLC