English words makes me crazy...

Hey at least my spoken and written language is keeping you on your toes Margarit! lol. I do have to admit that there are many strange word combinations that defy logic in the English language, yes. I can't imagine what a challenge it must be for many people trying to learn it and my own wife has some funny moments with it I can tell you! Eggplant arguably makes sense 'cos of the shape; but the others certainly do raise some questions! One I think I shared in another discussion some time back was in regards to buildings...... The term "building" or "build" means something under construction or being developed right? So why don't they call completed buildings "builts" then?

You have a point, but there are some. For example, we called them blackboards and the term goes back to the days when the boards were made from slate and were black - or blackish anyway. The ground meat we call hamburger comes from a Hamburg steak that came from Hamburg Germany. Boxing rings did used to be round. Heck, a guinea hen didn't always come from Guinea either. And you forgot mouse/mice and moose/mise...

hahaha yes when you put it that way the english language is a funny one, I guess it must be hard for people to learn even when there are words that are spelt the same but are pronounced differently, it must be very hard for people of other countries to learn...

You have ask some very interesting question about the English language. I can tell you that many many years ago whrn I was in school the blackboareds were black and the chalk was white. I noticed when my kids were in school the calk had become yellow maybe that is why the boards became green. Did you know that when we speak of bugs in our computers that in the early days there really was bugs getting into the computers and eating the coverng off the wires? Maybe when the frankfurter came to the world's fair a long time ago it resembled the dashounf dog so the name stuck. The thing I find interesting is that cool isn't just a Tempature any more neither is hot. Now they mean something great. languages are always changing. The word guinea comes from West Africa and was a British gold coin now what that has to do with that cute furry little animal that came from South American is anyone's guess.

i have a few goodies for you. dyslexics can very rarely spell their affiction. a person that has a lisp can't say the word lisp. if you had this condition: "hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia" you would be terribly afraid of it, as it is the fear of long words.

Wow...you really did some research on the words huh? You made me smile after reading the last part of your post. I do wonder what humanitarian eats? .

yup,some words are really bonkers.a cowboy rides horses,why isnt he called a horse boy??????????

Yes, sometimes I wonder why but and put are not pronounced in the same manner.he he he

in my place too we have a food called UPPID in this UPP means salt but really we cant have any food which has more salt than its required, not only in english we do have these funny creatures in languages too..these all are for PANDAs'

Must be why they say that the English language is the hardest language to learn. With all of our slang and different words that make no sense at all, to anyone else but us, that is, I can see why.

Hi margarit, really fun of you in this discussion and what you mentioned is really correct. speak this as fast you can "she sells sea shells on the sea shore". like this i have plenty of stock. tell me a sentence which has 3 times continuously the word "Because".. dont say its impossible. its possible. if you know, you can tell me.. very soon, i planned to start a discussion about this.. Happy Lotting!

You've got it friend! how hard to understand english in their way of expressing. Like what you have told hotdog actually it is not came from dog. And it became hot after cooked. One time my kids asking me why is that food hotdog have that name she insisted that it was came from a dog. So they could hardly to eat hotdog first but later on they were addicted to this food. And many words still confusing to our mind. So we need really to study hard english to more about why this word and that word have in common and with the same meaning in one word. Oh my... :)

Well, do are indeed a very good observant. I never happen to think of such problems on some English words.lol.Well if thats the case, it only means one thing: Not all English words should be define literaly.I guess those English words were made to confuse us Especially you. Happy mylotting!

Though I have been reading these kinds of examples,somehow I am not amused; instead you may read below what amuses me most aboout why English, any language for that matter. I do not know it may be just because, I simply enjoy learning languages. Some of the funniest English is produced by non-native speakers of English, who have had some introduction to the language, but had to describe complex situations. I happened to read a letter written to the Divisional Railway Manager reproduced in a Newspaper a few years ago [way back in the days of the Raj- well those days the official addressed was not called a DRM), by a harried passenger who expressed his woes of travelling by third class compartments of trains. He was in particular referring their not having a toilet.But that hilarious piece got the desired response from the Railway! Toilets were added to Third Class compartments. Thus the communication was very effective. The other example of hilarious writing I came across was from typist's errors. I had a typist who used to type my letter drafts with such mistakes that some splitting humor and endless amusement was possible. If only I had held the copies of the unedited drafts, I could have a peculiar kind of joke book. The third kind of English humor that non-native speakers could contribute is by translating thoughts that occur in their language and idiom straight into English, sometimes unwittingly. What you have called craziness of English is partly due to [despite] English being an out-growth of Germanic languages of yore enriched by Latin and Greek had left the growth of the language to every speaker, instead of letting it be the prerogative of the elite speaker to form the words. Hence the craziness if studied well would still be seen to have a pattern.

On the contrary, I found it's easier for me to remember these words as they are funny. English is my second language. Remembering some new words are difficult. But the words like you mentioned are easier to remember in my opinion. I love Chiina

Yes, you have a very great point on this discussion! I have asked myself many times what does these words have to do with their meaning! And it is nothing alike what you are seeing! I guess this is something that people just have made to go along with what something is..

and another thing? Why is this topic under "Panda Spanking"? You people are friggin weird

humanitarians eat humans. Didn't ya know?

And, also..if you stop and think about it..why do we park in driveways and drive on parkways? If you have 24 odds and ends on a table and 23 fall off, what do you have left..an odd or an end? Then there is the hemmoroids and asteroids thing.

Have you tried driving on a parkway or parking in a driveway yet? Happy MyLotting!