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Vocabulary vs. Comprehensive Substance

Vocabulary vs. Comprehensive Substance

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Originally posted by @indonesia-phil
There are many anomalies in the dear old English language, and I have made so bold as to compose a limerick concerning one of them, so with your permission;

If a womb is the place we begin it
And a tomb we put dead people in it
Then a comb should be coomb
And a bomb should go boom
It' a funny old language though, innit.
Should we start a RHP Poetry competition 😉

Well done

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Originally posted by @indonesia-phil
There are many anomalies in the dear old English language, and I have made so bold as to compose a limerick concerning one of them, so with your permission;

If a womb is the place we begin it
And a tomb we put dead people in it
Then a comb should be coomb
And a bomb should go boom
It' a funny old language though, innit.
Hahahahahaha!!!

Very nice IP!

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Originally posted by @ponderable
Should we start a RHP Poetry competition 😉

Well done
Absolutely! That sounds fun.


Originally posted by @wolfe63
Hahahahahaha!!!

Very nice IP!
Thanks, and since one seems to be on a bit of a roll, one should not underestimate the power and meaning of numbers in the English language;

There once was a fellow called Evans
Worked nine to five in some Seven Elevens
He has been of late
In a right two and eight
And now he's at sixes and sevens.

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Originally posted by @indonesia-phil
There are many anomalies in the dear old English language, and I have made so bold as to compose a limerick concerning one of them, so with your permission;

If a womb is the place we begin it
And a tomb we put dead people in it
Then a comb should be coomb
And a bomb should go boom
It' a funny old language though, innit.
That's rather good.
And original I hope.

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Originally posted by @wolfgang59
That's rather good.
And original I hope.
Your hope is fulfilled, I wouldn't claim anything which wasn't mine, just for the record.

Anyway I doubt if anyone would want to claim it!??

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Originally posted by @indonesia-phil
Your hope is fulfilled, I wouldn't claim anything which wasn't mine, just for the record.

Anyway I doubt if anyone would want to claim it!??
There was a poem I remember someone writing on a school blackboard. The last line was written "she coughed until her hat blough ough".

The words included cough, through, ought, bough, rough and there may have been others, all different-sounding "ough" words.

Can anyone remember the poem?

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Originally posted by @wolfe63
what's the point?
the object of the lesson,
and the sharp end of the spear...
the truth that has no bounds,
and knows neither worry nor fear...


Originally posted by @kewpie
There was a poem I remember someone writing on a school blackboard. The last line was written "she coughed until her hat blough ough".

The words included cough, through, ought, bough, rough and there may have been others, all different-sounding "ough" words.

Can anyone remember the poem?
Found it, written by Bennet Cerf.

The wind was rough
And cold and blough;
She kept her hands inside her mough.

It chilled her through,
Her nose turned blough,
And still the squall the faster flough.

And yet although
There was no snough,
The weather was a cruel fough.

It made her cough,
(Please do not scough);
She coughed until her hat blew ough.

It seems there are a possible 9 pronunciations, covered in this sentence:
Though a rough cough and hiccoughs ploughed through him, he houghed the horse with thorough thoughtfulness

2 edits
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Edit: I'll find a better example than the one I deleted.

1 edit

"I before E, except after C, except in words sounding like A, as in 'neighbor' and 'weigh'."

I learned this in school and it seized my interest immediately.

I think this coffee cup best captures the frustration.

https://www.amazon.com/Grammar-Before-Except-Heiffer-Coffee/dp/B01HTWPE5W

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Originally posted by @indonesia-phil
Thanks, and since one seems to be on a bit of a roll, one should not underestimate the power and meaning of numbers in the English language;

There once was a fellow called Evans
Worked nine to five in some Seven Elevens
He has been of late
In a right two and eight
And now he's at sixes and sevens.
Splendid!