Great, I begin posting today and must come off like a know-it-all. I think I'll go play with my balls now (and due to my gender ambigous name that sounds really bad).
On 4/26/06,
James <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Could there possibly be a more perfidious language than English?
There are something like 10 vastly different definitions
of "flight". It must be easier to learn Cantonese as a foreign
language.
--- In [email protected], "Ellen"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> yeah I know, bad example--I guess I meant if someone said to
someone
> else, "do you have any trombones at your house?" It isn't
immediately
> obvious if they mean paper clips or musical instruments. I know,
you
> can usually figure it out from the context, but still--I don't
think
> English has too many words spelled and pronounced exactly the same
> that mean completely different things. English is so weird that
I'm
> sure it does, but usually if someone asks me if I have any
something
> or other with no context they could only be asking for 1 thing.
Aha--
> here's a situation--you ask your band director if he has any
> trombones. You might mean paper clips to hold your music
together,
> or you might mean the instrument.
>
> --- In [email protected], "Kate Jones"
> <eutrpist@> wrote:
> >
> > --- In [email protected], "Ellen"
<ellengoodman6@>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > I recently learned that the French word for paper clip is
> trombone,
> > > presumably because they look like little trombones. The paper
> clip
> > > boxes at work are in both French and English, presumably
because
> the
> > > company sells to Canada. The French word for trombone is also
> > > trombone, according to all the online translation websites.
Can
> > anyone
> > > tell me if this isn't really as confusing as it sounds, or
does
> > context
> > > take care of it? I can imagine going to a store and asking if
> they
> > > have any trombones and getting paper clips instead of the
musical
> > > instrument or vice versa. Must make for some interesting
> situations.
> > >
> > There are words in English like that, too, (although I'm
> blanking).
> > I'm sure that if you walk into a music store you get a different
> > answer than if you walk into an office supply store.
> >
>
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/weingartenchatters/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS
- Visit your group "weingartenchatters" on the web.
- To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
- Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
