[Dom]

Saw this over at WinBeta, thought it was pretty cool...

Here's some trivia about the English language to kick off your weekend...

This little treatise on the lovely language we share is only for the brave.

It was passed on by a linguist, original author unknown. Peruse at your leisure, English lovers, but be sure to read aloud.

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'd be able to lead if he would get the lead out.
6. The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert. [Triple whammy!]
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?

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 nor 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 a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
· If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?
· Sometimes I think all the English speakers 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?
· 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.
· Why doesn't "Buick" rhyme with "quick"... huh, WHY ?
· Alcohol and calculus don't mix... Never drink and derive!

[eyeguy616]

AND THAT'S WHY I HATE ENGLISH! But I'm stuck with it and don't know any other language...

Oh well, at least we all know what each is trying to say, right?
~eyeguy616

[Falstaff]

my sons language, he talks that terrible rap music vernaculer....I think he needs a job and a haircut..

[tek]

Originally posted by fallang_jeff
my sons language, he talks that terrible rap music vernaculer....I think he needs a job and a haircut..

LOL!!! Fix him up Mr. Fallang!!!!

[JavaFox]

English is indeed an insanely difficult language, partially due to its intensely large vocabulary, but mostly, I think, due to the fact that its grammatical rules are so damn arbitrary. Japanese is difficult as well (I actually say that any language is easy), but at least its writing is phoenetical. There is no way to mispronounce a Japanese word once you are familiar with the language and how it should be pronounced because "ka" is ALWAYS pronounced the same way.

In English, on the other hand, the word "phighch" could be read "fish." :P