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A Strange Language - ENGLISH
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06 Aug 2009 Thu 11:43 am |
We´ll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes, But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes. One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese, Yet the plural of moose should never be meese. You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice, Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice. If the plural of man is always called men, Then shouldn´t the plural of pan be called pen? If I speak of my foot and show you my feet, And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet? If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth, Why shouldn´t the plural of booth be called beeth?
Then one may be that, and three would be those, Yet hat in the plural would never be hose, And the plural of cat is cats, not cose. We speak of a brother and also of brethren, But though we say mother, we never say methren. Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him, But imagine the feminine: she, shis and shim!
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.
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? 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 folks who grew up speaking English should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.
In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?
We ship by truck but send cargo by ship. We have noses that run and feet that smell. We park in a driveway and drive in a parkway. And 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.
And, in closing, if Father is Pop, how come Mother´s not Mop?
AND IF PEOPLE FROM POLAND ARE CALLED POLES THEN PEOPLE FROM HOLLAND SHOULD BE HOLES AND THE GERMANS, GERMS...
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2. |
06 Aug 2009 Thu 12:27 pm |
We´ll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes, But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes. One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese, Yet the plural of moose should never be meese. You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice, Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men, Then shouldn´t the plural of pan be called pen? If I speak of my foot and show you my feet, And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet? If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth, Why shouldn´t the plural of booth be called beeth?
Then one may be that, and three would be those, Yet hat in the plural would never be hose, And the plural of cat is cats, not cose. We speak of a brother and also of brethren, But though we say mother, we never say methren. Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him, But imagine the feminine: she, shis and shim!
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.
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? 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 folks who grew up speaking English should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.
In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?
We ship by truck but send cargo by ship. We have noses that run and feet that smell. We park in a driveway and drive in a parkway. And 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.
And, in closing, if Father is Pop, how come Mother´s not Mop?
AND IF PEOPLE FROM POLAND ARE CALLED POLES THEN PEOPLE FROM HOLLAND SHOULD BE HOLES AND THE GERMANS, GERMS...
That was brilliant, I had forgotten how crazy our language can be! and I moan about Turkish.
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3. |
06 Aug 2009 Thu 03:46 pm |
AND IF PEOPLE FROM POLAND ARE CALLED POLES THEN PEOPLE FROM HOLLAND SHOULD BE HOLES AND THE GERMANS, GERMS...
I love this post.....this part made me laugh hard! So, why aren´t people from Turkey called Turkeys?
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06 Aug 2009 Thu 03:57 pm |
I love this post.....this part made me laugh hard! So, why aren´t people from Turkey called Turkeys?
just not to make you laugh even harder!
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5. |
06 Aug 2009 Thu 06:20 pm |
Great post! We have something like that about Dutch as well. Alpha, why don´t you give us the Turkish variant?
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6. |
06 Aug 2009 Thu 07:48 pm |
I love this post.....this part made me laugh hard! So, why aren´t people from Turkey called Turkeys?
because poles are not called polands and germans are not called germanys. is it that hard to understand this?
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7. |
06 Aug 2009 Thu 07:58 pm |
Well, there are poles in Poland, some Dutch are a**holes, and some places (and some people too) are fulls of germs in Germany
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06 Aug 2009 Thu 08:00 pm |
I love this post.....this part made me laugh hard! So, why aren´t people from Turkey called Turkeys?
if people from Finland are called Fins, why aren`t people from America called "Ams". that would sound even funnier in Turkish
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9. |
06 Aug 2009 Thu 08:21 pm |
LOOL
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10. |
06 Aug 2009 Thu 08:27 pm |
because poles are not called polands and germans are not called germanys. is it that hard to understand this?
I would still like to call you a Turkey......can´t you just let me??? PLZZZZZZZZZZZZ
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06 Aug 2009 Thu 08:43 pm |
I would still like to call you a Turkey......can´t you just let me??? PLZZZZZZZZZZZZ
that`s fine, and don`t worry, I won`t call you an "Am" for the sake of courtesy. I`m such a gentleman.
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06 Aug 2009 Thu 08:51 pm |
that`s fine, and don`t worry, I won`t call you an "Am" for the sake of courtesy. I`m such a gentleman.
You´re courtesy is overwhelming!
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13. |
06 Aug 2009 Thu 08:57 pm |
I would still like to call you a Turkey......can´t you just let me??? PLZZZZZZZZZZZZ
I think we should call them Turkeys..... But then again you know what we do to Turkeys..
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14. |
06 Aug 2009 Thu 09:09 pm |
I think we should call them Turkeys..... But then again you know what we do to Turkeys..
and do you know what we do to ... ehm (I won`t use the word again)
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15. |
06 Aug 2009 Thu 09:29 pm |
if people from Finland are called Fins, why aren`t people from America called "Ams". that would sound even funnier in Turkish
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06 Aug 2009 Thu 10:33 pm |
if people from Finland are called Fins, why aren`t people from America called "Ams". that would sound even funnier in Turkish
I know what you mean, I guess not all do. Why don´t you explain? Or don´t you dare to do so?
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06 Aug 2009 Thu 11:01 pm |
I know what you mean, I guess not all do. Why don´t you explain? Or don´t you dare to do so?
not everybody has to understand everything
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18. |
06 Aug 2009 Thu 11:59 pm |
not everybody has to understand everything
Translation: ´I do have a big mouth but I´m too chicken to explain my previous words´.
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19. |
06 Aug 2009 Thu 11:59 pm |
We´ll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes, But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes. One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese, Yet the plural of moose should never be meese. You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice, Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men, Then shouldn´t the plural of pan be called pen? If I speak of my foot and show you my feet, And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet? If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth, Why shouldn´t the plural of booth be called beeth?
Then one may be that, and three would be those, Yet hat in the plural would never be hose, And the plural of cat is cats, not cose. We speak of a brother and also of brethren, But though we say mother, we never say methren. Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him, But imagine the feminine: she, shis and shim!
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.
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? 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 folks who grew up speaking English should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.
In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?
We ship by truck but send cargo by ship. We have noses that run and feet that smell. We park in a driveway and drive in a parkway. And 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.
And, in closing, if Father is Pop, how come Mother´s not Mop?
AND IF PEOPLE FROM POLAND ARE CALLED POLES THEN PEOPLE FROM HOLLAND SHOULD BE HOLES AND THE GERMANS, GERMS...
great post . it really made me smile. Although i am not a native English speaker but I lived in England for I while during my childhood. So I take the language for granted, and never thought of it in this very nice , well presented funney rhyming way.
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