English ...jheesh!

[bhaktajan]

Here is one that may seem like a very sobering realisation of the diametrical nature of language:

Terrific [great/grand] vs Terrifying [horrific].

[bhaktajan]

Here is a true story:

Try teaching a spanish person the word, 'Sheet' [as in sheet of paper].

[bhaktajan]

Here is a [another true story] small challenge:

Try teaching a person, of any language, so that they know perfectly the subtle differences of the following words/terms/phrase:

"I can't. But, I would, f I could, but, I can't but, maybe I should"

or alternatively:

"I would have-could have-should have"
aka
"I wudda, cudda, shudda"

[saidevo]

From a mail I received this morning:

ONLY THE BRITISH COULD HAVE INVENTED THIS LANGUAGE

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?

I WOULD LIKE TO ADD THAT IF PEOPLE FROM POLAND ARE CALLED POLES THEN

PEOPLE FROM HOLLAND SHOULD BE HOLES AND THE GERMANS GERMS!!!

[DavidC]

From a mail I received this morning:

ONLY THE BRITISH COULD HAVE INVENTED THIS LANGUAGE[...]

There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger;[...]

It is true about the language, but the line I left quoted is American English. In the British isles, there is a vegetable called aubergine, but probably not 'eggplant,' and as for the demonic food it is called a 'beefburger.'

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

Namasté


nice - is defined as pleasing, agreeable; delightful e.g. a nice visit. How often do you use this word?

If you look at the origin of the word from latin it is 'nescius' meaning ignorant, incapable. This then was used some years back (circa 1300's ) to mean foolish, stupid, silly or simple as it was derived properly from nescius.

The 'ne' part of nescius (nice) is considered a negative prefix or not and and 'sci' is considered scīre which means to know; hence nescius is to 'not know'.

So, if one says 'that's nice to know' , you are saying 'that is foolish or ignorant to know' … 'Oh, that's nice! ' - you can keep with you for a special occasion only you will know about.


unloosen
loosen - is to unfasten or undo. Yet people will say unloosen the bolt or the nut. … This 'un' is to not, or to do the opposite as in 'undo' or undone. So, when you say un-loosen you are saying 'tighten'. One is thinking un-tighten, yet says the opposite.


nice post!

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

Namast�

fly

• A fly can be an insect
• One can fly in an air-plane - or- fly-over a city
• A basedball player can hit a high fly-ball
• The space over a theater stage is called the fly
• A boy can leave his fly open ( his zipper )

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

Namast�


Good-bye

An old valediction (an act of bidding farewell ) is:
God be with you -or- God be with ye , this became:

God-by-you (or ye) -> Good be with you (ye) -> Good-by or Good-bye

So a warm good bye is a very spiritual offer.

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

Namasté

Foul or Fowl ?

Fowl is from fugol, meaning a bird. The Latin word is fuga or fugo : to put to flight, chase away, drive into exile, pursue.

An assocated word that applies is fuga, and is used in 'fugue' , a period of time when a person experiences a loss of memory, as in one's memory has taken 'flight', chased away or into exile.

Foul is considered something offensive in smell, looks e.g. foul smell of stagnant water or contaminated air. Foul is also considered unfavorable, wicked or vile as in one's deeds , like a crime or slander e.g. Something has gone foul with this business deal

Yet a baseball player can hit a 'foul' ball - that is, out of bounds of the playing field. Since it is hit in the air ( like a bird) , should it not be a fowl ball? perhaps a fugo-ball? The ball does not smell bad does it? It has no foul smell, it is only in flight to a place it is not suppose to be.

[Eastern Mind]

Namaste:

So a foul fowl is from road kill, three days later.
Fouls are also committed in many sports. You could also commit the fowl to the oven. Why is the birdy in badminton male? (shuttlecock) If it was called a fowl, it would be confused with the various fouls like double hits, short serves, and the like.
But then that Randy Johnson pitch (For those of you unfamiliar with this incident, a weird circumstance happened in a baseball game a few years back, where a poor pigeon flew across the ball's path about half way between the pitching mound and the batter, hence shattering the poor bird to bits.) really was a fowl ball.

Enjoy, Yajvan, enjoy. So dost thou own a van? it would be a Yajvan van.

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