You think English is easy???

[andywight]

You think English is easy???


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) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.

19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Let's face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg in
eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
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
grocer 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? 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? 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' ?


You lovers of the English language might enjoy this .

There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any
other two-letter word, and that it's UP.'

It's easy to understand UP,meaning toward the sky or at the top of the
list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP ? At a
meeting, why does a topic come UP ? Why do we speak UP and why are the
officers UP for election and why is itUP to the secretary to write
UP a report ?

We call UP our friends. And we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP
the silver; we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock
UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car. At other times the
little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP
for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses. To be dressed
is one thing, but to dress UP is special.

And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is
stopped UP. We open UP a store in the morning. but we close it UP at
night.

We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP ! To be knowledgeable about the
proper use of UP , look the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk sized
dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th of the page and can add UPto
about thirty definitions. If you are UP to it, you might try building
UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your
time, but if you don't give UP,you may wind UP with a hundred or more.
When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP .When the sun
comes out we say it is clearing UP...

When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP.

When it doesn't rain for awhile, things dry UP .

One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP, for now my time is
UP,so........it is time to shut UP!

Oh . . . one more thing:


What is the first thing you do in the morning & the last thing you do
at night? U-P

[JDM]

Well Done!

there are lots of words in the English language that can be diversified into a multitude of grammatical.... UP!

I have talked to many whos first language was not English. They seem to have a general consensus that English is a bastard language and often times difficult to learn. even more so when you start getting into different dialects of English.

Im gladd mye Brocwcer has a speell chekure.

hehe

[Flash]

You think English is easy???


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.

etc etc



Love this post, now you understand my distress, distres, distresse....?? lol and worst with crazy capital letters.

French may beat it though in terms of difficulties (but not for the capital letters)

[Unified Serenity]

Great post. I like the term over whelmed, but no one is ever under whelmed or just whelmed.

[Sowelu]

GREAT POST,

It's kinda sad how many people get on others over typos...nevermind the fact that people at avalon come from all over.
Oh and the first thing and last thing in my day, boiling my water and drinking my tea :P

[Hughe]

I think two dimensional form of language is limitation we have both practical and communication. I'm an bilingual. When I do translate English to the native language, the number of words is about half millions from both language dictionaries. Human languages are shallow, indirect, and superficial.

I like the English most is there is no top-down structure between speakers' age differences. Korean language itself poses submission and obedience to younger generation due to the hierarchic structure. I think whoever invented this language, I admire the brilliant idea of control human consciousness beyond time.

English is being taught and learned by billions of people from 2nd and 3rd world countries like Korea. The younger generation of elite class uses English for their communication and use it as a barrier that the general public can't associate with them easily.

[elysian]

I think this story applies here :)

Dear Signore Direttore,

Noew I am tella you story wot I was a-treated at jour hotella.

I am a-comma from Roma as tourist to London and stay as a-younga christian man at your hotella.

When I comma in my room I see there is no sh*t in my bed - how can I sleep with no sh*t in my bed? So I calla down to receptione and tella.

"I wanta sh*t". They tella me:

"Go to toilet". I say:

"No, no I wanta sh*t in my bed". They say:

"You'd better not sh*t in your bed, you sonna-wa-bitch".

What is sonna-wa-bitch?

I go down for breakfast into restorante. I order bacon and egga and two pissis of toast. I getta only one piss of toast. I tella waitress, and point at toast: "I wanta piss". She tella me:

"Go to toilet". I say:

"No, no I wanta piss on my plate". She then say to me:

"You'd bloody wella not piss on the plate, you sonna-wa-bitch".

That is the second person who do not even know me calla me "sonna-wa-bitch", and why is your staff replying "Go to toilet", is that a modern tella? I do no understand, please tella me!

Later I go for dinner in your restorante. Spoon and knife is laid out, but no fock. I tella waitress:

"I wanta fock". And she tella me:

"Sure, everyone wanta fock". I tella her:

"No, no you don't understanda me, I wanta fock on the table". She tella me:

"So you sonna-wa-bitch wanta fock on the table? Get your ass out of here!"

How comma this christian hotell tella the guest in such bed manner?

So I go to receptione and ask for bill. I no wanta stay in this hotel no more. When I have paid the a-billa the portier say to me:

"Thank you, and piss on You". I say:

"Piss on you too, you sonna-wa-bitch, I now go back to Italy".

Direttore, I never gonna stay in your hotella no more, you sonna-wa-bitch.

Sincerely
Dicci Elgré

[Etherios]

hehe should i start state Greek Grammar? We are very different from English we dont have 1 word having 1 meaning but we have many words having same meaning but a bit different. Just changing the way you pronounce a word can change the Grammar of the hole sentence etc etc... its nice that the universal language is english ... trust me.


I think two dimensional form of language is limitation we have both practical and communication. I'm an bilingual. When I do translate English to the native language, the number of words is about half millions from both language dictionaries. Human languages are shallow, indirect, and superficial.

I like the English most is there is no top-down structure between speakers' age differences. Korean language itself poses submission and obedience to younger generation due to the hierarchic structure. I think whoever invented this language, I admire the brilliant idea of control human consciousness beyond time.

English is being taught and learned by billions of people from 2nd and 3rd world countries like Korea. The younger generation of elite class uses English for their communication and use it as a barrier that the general public can't associate with them easily.

My only problem with english is that it is so easy to speak learn that i think it helps the NWO dumb us down ... At least that what i have heard ... maybe someone with more intel on this matter. Before i started seeing life outside of the programming i was told that english evolves as the society wants so easier is what we want... but now i know society is guided by the NWO so makes you wonder.

p.s. i remember David Icke talking to a few kids About comets and i was shocked of how they couldnt understand him well or talk to him ... but learned to use an ipod immediately ... sad.

[Lumial8]

You think English is easy???


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) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.

19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Let's face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg in
eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
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
grocer 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? 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? 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' ?


You lovers of the English language might enjoy this .

There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any
other two-letter word, and that it's UP.'

It's easy to understand UP,meaning toward the sky or at the top of the
list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP ? At a
meeting, why does a topic come UP ? Why do we speak UP and why are the
officers UP for election and why is itUP to the secretary to write
UP a report ?

We call UP our friends. And we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP
the silver; we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock
UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car. At other times the
little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP
for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses. To be dressed
is one thing, but to dress UP is special.

And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is
stopped UP. We open UP a store in the morning. but we close it UP at
night.

We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP ! To be knowledgeable about the
proper use of UP , look the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk sized
dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th of the page and can add UPto
about thirty definitions. If you are UP to it, you might try building
UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your
time, but if you don't give UP,you may wind UP with a hundred or more.
When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP .When the sun
comes out we say it is clearing UP...

When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP.

When it doesn't rain for awhile, things dry UP .

One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP, for now my time is
UP,so........it is time to shut UP!

Oh . . . one more thing:


What is the first thing you do in the morning & the last thing you do
at night? U-P

I loved this - thank you Andy - my partner occasionally teaches English as a foreign language and he had a Spanish student almost crying with frustration - when he aske dwhat was wrong, she said "When you cut a tree you cut it down, right" He nodded and assured her it was and gently asked her what the problem was with that. She exploded back, "Well, once you have cut it down, what do you locos do? ...but you cut it UP!!!!" I just love that story - it is a crazy language all right...[COLOR="red"]

¤=[Post Update]=¤


I think this story applies here :)

Dear Signore Direttore,

Noew I am tella you story wot I was a-treated at jour hotella.

I am a-comma from Roma as tourist to London and stay as a-younga christian man at your hotella.

When I comma in my room I see there is no sh*t in my bed - how can I sleep with no sh*t in my bed? So I calla down to receptione and tella.

"I wanta sh*t". They tella me:

"Go to toilet". I say:

"No, no I wanta sh*t in my bed". They say:

"You'd better not sh*t in your bed, you sonna-wa-bitch".

What is sonna-wa-bitch?

I go down for breakfast into restorante. I order bacon and egga and two pissis of toast. I getta only one piss of toast. I tella waitress, and point at toast: "I wanta piss". She tella me:

"Go to toilet". I say:

"No, no I wanta piss on my plate". She then say to me:

"You'd bloody wella not piss on the plate, you sonna-wa-bitch".

That is the second person who do not even know me calla me "sonna-wa-bitch", and why is your staff replying "Go to toilet", is that a modern tella? I do no understand, please tella me!

Later I go for dinner in your restorante. Spoon and knife is laid out, but no fock. I tella waitress:

"I wanta fock". And she tella me:

"Sure, everyone wanta fock". I tella her:

"No, no you don't understanda me, I wanta fock on the table". She tella me:

"So you sonna-wa-bitch wanta fock on the table? Get your ass out of here!"

How comma this christian hotell tella the guest in such bed manner?

So I go to receptione and ask for bill. I no wanta stay in this hotel no more. When I have paid the a-billa the portier say to me:

"Thank you, and piss on You". I say:

"Piss on you too, you sonna-wa-bitch, I now go back to Italy".

Direttore, I never gonna stay in your hotella no more, you sonna-wa-bitch.

Sincerely
Dicci Elgré

¤=[Post Update]=¤

elysian thanks, this made me laugh until I cried! xxxx

[The One]

Codswallop thats what i call it.

[str8thinker]

Cutting a tree up doesn't restore it after you've cut it down.

[steve_a]

What time is it on your watch?

Two to two. And on yours?

Two to two too!





You think English is easy???


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) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.

19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Let's face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg in
eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
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
grocer 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? 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? 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' ?


You lovers of the English language might enjoy this .

There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any
other two-letter word, and that it's UP.'

It's easy to understand UP,meaning toward the sky or at the top of the
list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP ? At a
meeting, why does a topic come UP ? Why do we speak UP and why are the
officers UP for election and why is itUP to the secretary to write
UP a report ?

We call UP our friends. And we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP
the silver; we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock
UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car. At other times the
little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP
for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses. To be dressed
is one thing, but to dress UP is special.

And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is
stopped UP. We open UP a store in the morning. but we close it UP at
night.

We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP ! To be knowledgeable about the
proper use of UP , look the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk sized
dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th of the page and can add UPto
about thirty definitions. If you are UP to it, you might try building
UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your
time, but if you don't give UP,you may wind UP with a hundred or more.
When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP .When the sun
comes out we say it is clearing UP...

When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP.

When it doesn't rain for awhile, things dry UP .

One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP, for now my time is
UP,so........it is time to shut UP!

Oh . . . one more thing:


What is the first thing you do in the morning & the last thing you do
at night? U-P

[take]

John, where Paul had had "had had had" had had "had had"; "had had" had had a better effect on the teacher.

[777]

This thread's brilliant!

Much as I struggled with French and the masculine and feminine, I really do feel for those learning English. I mean how would you even BEGIN to justify the phonetics of the following statement:

"What I thought though is that we should plough a thoroughfare straight through the countryside outside the outermost borough of Loughborough".

Our hearts are with you, truly.

[steve_a]

John, where Paul had had "had had had" had had "had had"; "had had" had had a better effect on the teacher.

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

[take]

That that is is that that is not is not that that is that that is is not true is not true.


^^

[Maria Stade]

http://i779.photobucket.com/albums/yy77/Vitabuffeln/Lol1.gif

Yes it is not so easy langage is a tricky thing !

>-------:luv:-------->

Namaste

[silentghost80]

me thinks its easy lol

[karelia]

I love this thread!

Here is a good one on language:

J7E-aoXLZGY

[cloud9]

Thank you! I've never been able to learn all those verbs made up of two words as cut up and down, or kiss away, I really don't understand how you kiss away or open up a door. I try not to use them but for the same reason my english is kind of dry.

[White Rabbit]

why do they say "I before E except after C" That's just wEIrd.... love this thread lol

[Caterpillars Lens]

Hello!


"The European Union commissioners have announced that agreement has been reached to adopt English as the preferred language for European communications, rather than German, which was the other possibility. As part of the negotiations, Her Majesty's Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a five-year phased plan for what will be known as EuroEnglish (Euro for short).

In the first year, "s" will be used instead of the soft "c". Sertainly, sivil
servants will resieve this news with joy. Also, the hard "c" will be replaced with "k". Not only will this klear up konfusion, but typewriters kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik emthusiasm in the sekond year, when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced by "f". This will make words like "fotograf" 20 per sent shorter.

In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.

Governments will enkorage the removal of double letters, which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of silent "e"s in the languag is disgrasful, and they would go.

By the fourth year, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" by z" and "w" by v

During ze fifz year, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou", and similar changes vud of kors be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters.

After zis fifz yer, ve vil hav a reli sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor
trubls or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech ozer.

Ze drem vil finali kum tru."

:)
Enjoy!

[chantelle]

Hello!


"The European Union commissioners have announced that agreement has been reached to adopt English as the preferred language for European communications, rather than German, which was the other possibility. As part of the negotiations, Her Majesty's Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a five-year phased plan for what will be known as EuroEnglish (Euro for short).

In the first year, "s" will be used instead of the soft "c". Sertainly, sivil
servants will resieve this news with joy. Also, the hard "c" will be replaced with "k". Not only will this klear up konfusion, but typewriters kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik emthusiasm in the sekond year, when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced by "f". This will make words like "fotograf" 20 per sent shorter.

In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.

Governments will enkorage the removal of double letters, which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of silent "e"s in the languag is disgrasful, and they would go.

By the fourth year, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" by z" and "w" by v

During ze fifz year, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou", and similar changes vud of kors be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters.

After zis fifz yer, ve vil hav a reli sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor
trubls or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech ozer.

Ze drem vil finali kum tru."

:)
Enjoy!

LOL, I think I broke my brain trying to read the whole thing!:girl_wacko:

[Franny]

English is not that difficult, I spoke it as a little kid. Then I went to Norway and saw little kids speaking Norwegian! Amazing! And Mexico; little kids speak Spanish well there too. I've seen little Greek kids speaking Greek. I wanted to ask them how they did it but I didn't speak Greek. Little kids all over the world easily speaking languages that we have trouble learning. What's up with that?

[The One]

Americans are very keen to show that they are very much different from their British counterparts and interestingly they even hate to talk about their British origin. They hate the way in which words are spelled in British English. Americans have their own set of spellings with the alphabet “Z” replacing the alphabet “S” in many words and the alphabet “A” dropped in many words like “paediatrics.” The American spelling of a word will be more close to the phonetic pronunciation.

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CCsQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmtherald.com%2Famericanism-british-vs-american-english%2F&ei=6vtUTcW4EIjNhAeC9vXDDA&usg=AFQjCNHuv5hhweMnmFvRLR5GfbypWl9i2A

[Fructedor]

"If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?"

ACE

The Stephen Fry video was cool too - he's a real gentleman - he also made a two-part BBC special on manic depression, from which he suffers terribly - worth watching for those of us who have had the same difficulties - the bane of sensitive souls, apparently.

I taught basic English to French 10-year-olds for a few years - try explaining to a non-English-speaker what 'got' means. I used to drive them nuts making them say "Will Smith". The French have no concept of the "th" sound - watching them try can be a load of laughs. When my first daughter was born, I used to speak English to her, while her Mum spoke French. I think she spent a couple of years believing that men spoke English and women spoke French.

I also heard that the UN have some of their legal documents redacted in French, because it's more precise.

Great thread, thanks.

Best wishes

Fructedor

[777]

Americans are very keen to show that they are very much different from their British counterparts and interestingly they even hate to talk about their British origin. They hate the way in which words are spelled in British English. Americans have their own set of spellings with the alphabet “Z” replacing the alphabet “S” in many words and the alphabet “A” dropped in many words like “paediatrics.” The American spelling of a word will be more close to the phonetic pronunciation.

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CCsQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmtherald.com%2Famericanism-british-vs-american-english%2F&ei=6vtUTcW4EIjNhAeC9vXDDA&usg=AFQjCNHuv5hhweMnmFvRLR5GfbypWl9i2A

Very true indeed. Much as I dislike British English being pillaged, the American adaptations of it make FAR more sense.

It gets a bit tricky though when words like "centre" become "center" which makes more sense, but we can't forget that our French neighbours use centre. So over here it's preferable to keep it that way for that euro-feel!

[Unified Serenity]

why do they say "I before E except after C" That's just wEIrd.... love this thread lol

I am going to take you literally on this post. Most words that contain i and e together have the i coming before the e unless he words sounds like aye as in neighbor and weigh. Then there are lots of exceptions, LOL. Thus in school we learn the little saying, "i before e except after c or when sounded like aye as in neighbor and weigh".

[bilko]

Superb bit of writing!

[Fructedor]

why do they say "I before E except after C" That's just wEIrd.... love this thread lol

I am going to take you literally on this post. Most words that contain i and e together have the i coming before the e unless he words sounds like aye as in neighbor and weigh. Then there are lots of exceptions, LOL. Thus in school we learn the little saying, "i before e except after c or when sounded like aye as in neighbor and weigh".

****. I always thought that 'aye' was pronounced like 'eye'.

[andywight]

4486449144894492

[White Rabbit]

why do they say "I before E except after C" That's just wEIrd.... love this thread lol

I am going to take you literally on this post. Most words that contain i and e together have the i coming before the e unless he words sounds like aye as in neighbor and weigh. Then there are lots of exceptions, LOL. Thus in school we learn the little saying, "i before e except after c or when sounded like aye as in neighbor and weigh".

oh nooo lol that's why I capitalized an exception to the "rule" we were taught in school if we went by that then it wouldn't be just weird, but wierd... yea weird. lol ;)

[conk]

And we drive on the Parkway and park on the Driveway.

[Franny]

Years ago I read a book that included a section about the development of the English language. Since it's a mix of several languages, each of them added at different times, it didn't have time to adapt and settle into everyday use before being 'codified' by writing and rules. Many other languages like German were older with fewer additions from other languages and most rules were set before they were widely written.

Something interesting the author brought up is the development of "Pidgin" languages that can be found in the Pacific island areas, the Caribbean Sea and elsewhere. They are a mix of many languages, mostly European, brought into a local language and combined.

Most interestingly he pointed out that the structure of the pidgin languages is very different from any of the old languages. He goes into great detail that I don't remember; but as I recall he believes that it's due to a changing brain structure or organization of the language area -- because the new structure of the pidgin languages is the same everywhere. The implications of that are pretty interesting.

He also believes that English would have eventually settled into a similar simple pidgin language structure given time. But, we started writing the language and it is suspended between older language structures and the new emerging one.

This may account for some of the oddities of the language.

One of the best things about English is nouns aren't gendered - only gendered critters are. No one has to remember if telephones or lamps are masculine or feminine.

I ask you, why would coffee be masculine in German, considering it's a seed from the female shrub?

I just recalled the author of the book, Jared Diamond, but don't recall the book; there are several by this author.