Thanks Jim. Great illustration about the difficulties of a language
with words borrowed from many others. I'm glad I was born in an
English speaking country so I didn't have to figure it out for myself.
On Apr 23, 2007, at 9:56 PM, jim phillips wrote:
ALL:
The discussion on the correct spelling of tyer vs tier reminded me
of this litany of verbiage
Can you read these right the first time?
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 could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
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) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
20) 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; and no dogs in hot dogs. 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 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 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 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.
PS. - Why doesn't "Buick" rhyme with "quick"?
You lovers of the English language might enjoy this .
Here is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any
other two-letter word, and that is "UP."
It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top
of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP?
At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP and why
are the
officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write
UP a report?
We call UP our friends. And we use it to brighten UP a room,
polish UP the silver, we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP
the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old
car. At other times the
little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble,
line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses.
To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special.
And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it
is stopped UP. We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP
at night.
We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP! To be knowledgeable about
the proper uses of UP, look the word UP in the dictionary. In a
desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th of the page and can
add UP to about thirty definitions. If you are UP to it, you might
try building UP a
list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your
time, but if you don'tgive UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or
more.
When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP.
When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP
When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP.
When it doesn't rain for awhile, things dry UP .
One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP, for now my time is
UP, so......... Time to shut UP.....!
Oh..one more thing:
What is the first thing you do in the morning & the last thing you
do at night? U---P!
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