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The English language can be so confusing! email this discussion to a friend?

myLot reputation of 99/100. Trace86 (2739)   ranked 375 out of 4,688 in writing5 months ago

I got this in my email today from a friend and had to really think about how some of the words would sound. Can you think of anymore examples?


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?

There is neither egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger,

neither apple nor pine in pineapple.

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


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?

Park in a driveway,

and drive on a parkway?

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 lunacy of a language

in which your ouse 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.



I'm sew confused.....





 
 
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Elixiress (2560) response was accepted on 6/10/2008.
denotes best response.
tags:  english, confusing, language, words, giggle
 
1. myLot reputation of 92/100. drannhh (5188)   ranked 127 out of 4,688 in writing   5 months ago

Some people, it "seams" do think humanitarians eat humans, or "sew" they say. I think the reason we have so many funny words is that our language is a reflection of the many different cultures which came together to make our nation interesting and great.

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2. myLot reputation of 99/100. JoyfulOne (3081)   ranked 3,891 out of 4,688 in writing   5 months ago

Hahaha, that's a good one Trace! I enjoyed reading it. Yes, the English language is so confusing to people, especially to those who are learning it as a second language. I like the one about vegetarians and humanitarians lol. No wonder people get so confused while learning our language, it's filled with all kinds of things that make no real sense and it's filled with all kinds of strange grammatical rules! Thanks for sharing:-)

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3. myLot reputation of 97/100. liuqian (256)   ranked 3,895 out of 4,688 in writing   5 months ago

English is so confusing!!!When i read this,i just cann't help laughing because i made several mistakes while speaking it out.LOL.And some sentence i cannot understand it when reading...Maybe i can show them to my friends!o(n_n)o...

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4. myLot reputation of 76/100. bhaskarsrkr (583)   ranked 3,896 out of 4,688 in writing   5 months ago

there is a lot of difference in pronuncciation of "put" and "but".When I was achild I did not y there was a difference.

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5. myLot reputation of 74/100. Piscesmoon (1375)   ranked 3,890 out of 4,688 in writing   5 months ago

Hahaha. That is so funny Trace86. No wonder English is such a difficult language to learn when we have so many words that sound the same but have different,even opposite meanings like raise - to lift up or raze - to demolish. If we execute something are we carrying it out or are we killing it and, why is it that if extinguish means "to put out" we don't extinguish the cat?


myLot reputation of 99/100. Trace86 (2739)   ranked 375 out of 4,688 in writing  5 months ago

Alot of good examples! Thanks. Yes you can put out the fire or extinguish it, but you might go to jail if you extinguish the cat!

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6. myLot reputation of 86/100. Elixiress (2560)   ranked 2,321 out of 4,688 in writing   5 months ago

English is really confusing on contradictory but you get used to it, I was told that it is because as England was invaded so many times in the past it adapted to the language of the invaders as their invaders invented new things and called old things new names.

It is like a living cow is called a cow, whereas an eaten cow is called beef, this is because the poor English would call it a cow and they would see it in it's live form, whereas the rich Normans would eat it and only see it in its dead form and they called it beef.

The other thing with English that I find confusing is "Over there is their slide that they're playing on".


myLot reputation of 99/100. Trace86 (2739)   ranked 375 out of 4,688 in writing  5 months ago

"Over there is their slide that they're playing on"

That is a great example!
Also, chicken is still chicken whether it is alive or fried on your dinner plate.

Whether and weather can be confusing too.
"She didn't know whether the weather would change or not."

"Billy was learning to read the red book even though he had read it before."


myLot reputation of 86/100. Elixiress (2560)   ranked 2,321 out of 4,688 in writing  5 months ago

Yeah, there are so many of them. We just get used to them and usually only notice them when we see others using them incorrectly.

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7. myLot reputation of 99/100. Liasonfan (1121)   ranked 3,892 out of 4,688 in writing   4 months ago

LOL. Thanks for the giggle, Trace. Yep, the English language can be very confusing. I do not know how I would EVER learn it if it was not my first language.

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8. myLot reputation of 81/100. nic_knick (588)   ranked 4,682 out of 4,688 in writing   2 months ago

lollollollol

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