I'm the first to admit I don't know grammar I don't even know if "oddities" is a word. I'm a former history teacher who turned to the investment world. But I've seen some very odd things in the English language throughout my years, especially as a teacher, and so many words and things I don't know. Post some interesting things you've seen or questions you've had.
I'll start: There are some insane plurals out there. For example I was referring to a book the other day and in the back is Appendix A and Appendix B. Are both of them together appendixes, appendixi....?
Originally posted by PocketKingsThat depends upon which English one thinks one is using!
I'm the first to admit I don't know grammar I don't even know if "oddities" is a word. I'm a former history teacher who turned to the investment world. But I've seen some very odd things in the English language throughout my years, especially as a teacher, and so many words and things I don't know. Post some interesting things you've seen or questions yo ck is Appendix A and Appendix B. Are both of them together appendixes, appendixi....?
If English from the British isles then it would be appendices.
And how about an ostentation of peacocks?
There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; there is neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren’t invented in England nor French fries in France. If beef comes from a cow and ham comes from a pig, why do they put beef in hamburgers? A French horn is not French and an English horn is neither a horn nor English. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which isn’t sweet, is meat. Catgut does not come from cats. The World Cup is not a cup, the Super Bowl is not a bowl, and the Queen’s Plate is not a plate. The Stanley Cup is a bowl, not a cup.
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? If the plural of foot is feet, why isn’t the plural of boot, beet? So, is it one moose, two meese?
Isn’t it 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 don’t preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Why do we park in the driveway but drive on the parkway? If we get olive oil from olives, from where do we get baby oil?
Sometimes I think all English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what nutty language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Why do we send a shipment by car and then send cargo by ship? Why do we have noses that run and feet that smell? How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same thing, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? Why aren’t ‘flammable’ and ‘inflammable’ opposites?
You have to marvel at 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. If you have a bull dog that is female, why is it still called a bull dog? Shouldn’t it be called a cow dog?
Let’s talk about “edible” words. What does ‘corny’ mean? (Think about it; that’s not an easy question to answer.) You can fudge something. You can stew over something. You can egg someone on or butter someone up. You can milk a person or a situation. You can take someone’s statement with a grain of salt. You can pepper your conversation with idioms. You can use your noodle. You can ride the gravy train. Someone can be a fruitcake. The person may be nuts. You can have a nutty idea. You can do doughnuts with your car in the parking lot. Maybe you can have your cake and eat it too.
A tall, skinny person is a string bean. An adored child is the apple of his parent’s eye. A ham is a bad actor. An egghead is an intellectual. A good egg is not the same as an egghead, and a bad apple is not necessarily rotten fruit. A couch potato doesn’t like to get off the couch and the Big Cheese doesn’t like to make his own coffee.
Why does ‘fishy’ mean suspicious? Why does ‘chicken’ mean scared? Why can certain intoxicants leave you fried or baked, but not half-baked which is something else entirely? What does ‘cheesy’ mean? How can someone have nice buns without having any bread rolls? – What has any of that got to do with food? This is a tough nut to crack. It’s no piece of cake. That’s not my cup of tea. – I think I’m going bananas.
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.
Is it the Netherlands or is it Holland, and why are they called the Dutch? Why doesn’t ‘Buick’ rhyme with ‘quick’? Why isn’t ‘fish’ spelled “g-h-o-t-i,” (“gh” as in enough, “o” as in women, and “ti” as in caution)? And why isn’t ‘phonetics’ spelt the way it sounds? If the police arrest a mime, do they tell him he has the right to remain silent? If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the ‘terminal’? Why is ‘abbreviation’ such a long word?
Finally, why are there more horse’s asses in the world than there are horses?
Originally posted by AttilaTheHornGreat stuff
There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; there is neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren’t invented in England nor French fries in France. If beef comes from a cow and ham comes from a pig, why do they put beef in hamburgers? A French horn is not French and an English horn is neither a horn nor English. Sweetmeats are cand ...[text shortened]... ch a long word?
Finally, why are there more horse’s asses in the world than there are horses?
Originally posted by PocketKingsWhat we know as the Stanley Cup is a very common piece of silver ware in England where it was originally made. Virtually exact original replicas (and perhaps better made ones at that) can be purchased for around $3000, perhaps a bit more at auction, but you can get them through antique dealers on occasion. It is a centre piece for a dinner table made as a bowl to hold flowers.
Just going through the beginning, the Super Bowl is a bowl, as the word meaning here is quite different from a trophy or a bowl you eat of of. And the Stanley Cup is most definitely a cup. But thats pretty good stuff though
Originally posted by AttilaTheHornGreat post. Rec'd.
There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; there is neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren’t invented in England nor French fries in France. If beef comes from a cow and ham comes from a pig, why do they put beef in hamburgers? A French horn is not French and an English horn is neither a horn nor English. Sweetmeats are cand ...[text shortened]... ch a long word?
Finally, why are there more horse’s asses in the world than there are horses?
C
Try to explain "cleave" to someone learning the language. It means to split apart, or to bind together and adhere to. It has two entries in the dictionary giving it's opposing definitions, because it's two different words. I believe it's unique in English, can't think of any other word that is it's own antonym.
Originally posted by Sam The ShamSanction, fast, buckle.
Try to explain "cleave" to someone learning the language. It means to split apart, or to bind together and adhere to. It has two entries in the dictionary giving it's opposing definitions, because it's two different words. I believe it's unique in English, can't think of any other word that is it's own antonym.
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Originally posted by AttilaTheHornIt'd be funnier if I hadn't heard that before, and it wasn't just a run of the mill copy and paste job.
There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; there is neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren’t invented in England nor French fries in France. If beef comes from a cow and ham comes from a pig, why do they put beef in hamburgers? A French horn is not French and an English horn is neither a horn nor English. Sweetmeats are cand ...[text shortened]... ch a long word?
Finally, why are there more horse’s asses in the world than there are horses?
There 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't give 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 clearingUP
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, and it is time to shut UP.....!