Oh yes in my last entry I said Chinese is one tough language (personal opinion) as it has many variations and English too is not spared. Thanks to Lee Glen for this and also to Al Lowe who has flashed me the green light. I often asked about weird English just for the fun of it like the plural of box is boxes and why ox is not oxes or why is it we say "raining cats and dogs"? English refers to England, Polish refers to Poland and why not Hollish to Holland? This may not be new to some as with the speed of internet it has been in circulation for some time. Anyway have fun and go bananaz over weird English, good news is links are provided for easy reference. Any idea what is the longest word in any major dictionary? I just learned it's "Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis" a total of 45 letters, with sincere thanks to my English guru, Kevin of "Back To English".
English is Hard! Face it: English is a crazy language.
Try to sight-read these sentences correctly:
- A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
- A guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.
- A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
- How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?
- After a number of injections my jaw got number.
- An alarm goes off when it’s on.
- Boxing rings are square.
- English muffins aren’t from England nor French fries from France.
- He could lead if he would get the lead out.
- How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
- How can we have noses that run and feet that smell?
- I did not object to the object.
- I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
- If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
- If teachers teach and preachers preach, why does a teacher taught, but no preacher ever praught?
- People recite at plays and play at recitals.
- Quicksand works slowly.
- Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
- Sweetmeats are candies, while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat.
- The bandage was wound around the wound.
- The buck does funny things when the does are present.
- The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
- The farm was used to produce produce.
- The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
- The plural of goose is geese, but the plural of moose is not meese.
- The plural of tooth is teeth, but the plural of booth is not beeth.
- The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
- The wind was too strong to wind the sail
- There is neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
- There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger.
- There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row
- They were too close to the door to close it.
- To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
- Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
- We must polish the Polish furniture.
- We ship by truck but send cargo by ship.
- When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
- Why doesn’t Buick rhyme with quick?
- Writers write, but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce, and hammers don’t ham.
- You can make amends but not one amend.
- You fill in a form by filling it out.
- Your house burns up as it burns down.
- How can inflammable and flammable means the same thing?
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.
What is the first thing you do in the morning & the last thing you do at night?
33 Bunchesஇ:
this is interesting
A smile from SJ =)
SJ wow you are first sorry I dont have those FC thingy juz an infant blog. Know something the 2 alphabet 'SJ' itself is smiling all the time:p
Very funny! :) Thanks for sharing!
This is the English good teachers used to teach. I wonder how many of our current straight As students can write such sentences.
Nice blog you have here and love the english lessons!
I beg to differ :) I find Mandarin is a tough language to learn. I find ABCs easier.
iamthewitch, crazy and weird huh!
Autumn Belle, its amazing English
eiling lim, thanks for dropping by.
Mei Ting, think depends on individual and proficiency of the language. Sorry unable to comment on Mandarin, would agree English is easier, merely 26 alphabets. I'm a bananaz not good in English too, bad foundation.:p
haha, yeah, i think those are because of the limitation of vocabs?? how much can you create from that mere 26 alphabets?? :p
SK, 26 alphabets can create very long word, how about this:
[Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (45 letters)]
Not long enough? What about a total of 189,819 letters then? Click below to check it out:
Back To English
All languages are tough, if they are not your first (native) languages. Try Japanese!
Well, maybe Bahasa is slightly simpler.
yea.. i agree english is hard, but also interesting. XD
A friend said French is tougher than English but she's proficient in French now.
If English is tough, there are other languages that have different words for different genders. Now, that's tough.
I suppose every language has its degree of toughness if we are not speakers or familiar with it and every language has its own funny moments too. EngRish is one of them.
Thanks for the laugh..
I think English is not hard to learn; it's the grammar and proper punctuation that make it difficult. You made a good point about why humans would create such a complex language system. Maybe it was designed to make the English language sophisticated?? I think in writing terms, Chinese is definitely harder to remember and write. I hardly remember to write most of the characters I learned in childhood.
khengsiong, grammer is my biggest challenge in English. Bahasa should be easy, and heard those with Chinese language background learn Japanese faster maybe cos of the kanji.
Donna, wah good fighting spirit, hard but still like it.
HappySurfer, Right! some with gender to add in the confusion. I would take the analogy of a circus, 'walking on tight rope', to them is like in Chinese we say 'eating raw veges' but to us it tough. TQ
The first and last thing?
Open my eyes in the morning, and close my eyes at night.
Shingo T, Haha, thanks for adding one more answer.
Yes English seems to be designed to confuse, I am lucky it is the only language I know, it must be very difficult to learn.
Glennis, thanks for dropping by. How nice only one language, of course there is no limit to learn another language which is a choice. As for me had to struggle with English and my mother tongue which caused the generation gap even wider with my parents. Will post about it in future.
I believe it is always hard when we just start to learn any language in this world. Mandarin is hard, so does English.
Jam, yeah the starting is always difficult. I'm OK with English just not very sure about grammar. Love to learn languages can call it a 'hobby' haha.
Try telling Eliza Doolittle, in My Fair Lady.She will tell you English is hard! LOL!
Hi Bananaz
Thanks for linking my blog to yours :) Appreciate it very much. Cheers and happy learning.
Keats, 'Just your wait Henry Higgins with your rain in Spain' haha. Love that movie. TQ
Kevin, you are most welcome cikgu. TQ
Actually, which language is harder depends on the person. For me, Mandarin is tough. But for my Chinese speaking friends, English is hard.
I have to admit however that English can be quite illogical sometimes and I don't blame my Chinese speaking friends for finding it tough to learn!
Oh yes, English is hard sometime...makes me @@~~~~
foongpc, yeah very true no doubt about it depends on which 'platform' you are standing. TQ
Jeannie, you are good at both at English and Chinese. Sometimes is the play about with words. Xiexie
Which language you have in mind after Mandarin? Invite me too!
Dunno yet but would be long time. Yeah will buzz you.
Rose Belle, sorry I missed you out, yeah grammar is my main handicap as for Chinese need lots of practice. Thanks for dropping by.
first thing in the morning? wake up and last thing at night is to sleep =P
I am fine with english but no chinese for me
Ayie slowly you may pick up some Chinese we are also learning day by day.
This piece is highly entertaining,
I love everything in this post,
very witty WORDS play,
as always,
I love your intelligence.
stay cool,
;)
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