*ice_queen*
Rising Member
- Messages
- 17
- Reaction score
- 9
There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hambuger; 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 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 u have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do u 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 people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race (which, of course, isn't a race at all). That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.
More Examples:
1. The bandange 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. He could lead if he could get the lead out.
5. The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
6. Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
7. When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
8. I did not object to the object.
9. I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
10. The form was invalid for the invalid.
11. There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
12. They were too close to the door to close it.
13. The buck does funny things when the does are present.
14. A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
15. The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
16. After a number of injections my jaw got number.
17. Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
18. Use water to water the plants.
19. Get the cook to cook.
oh:
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 u have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do u 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 people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race (which, of course, isn't a race at all). That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.
More Examples:
1. The bandange 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. He could lead if he could get the lead out.
5. The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
6. Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
7. When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
8. I did not object to the object.
9. I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
10. The form was invalid for the invalid.
11. There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
12. They were too close to the door to close it.
13. The buck does funny things when the does are present.
14. A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
15. The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
16. After a number of injections my jaw got number.
17. Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
18. Use water to water the plants.
19. Get the cook to cook.
oh:
