The Complexity of the English
Language... Read on!
Food for thought...
We'll begin with a box, and the
plural is boxes. But the plural of ox
should be oxen, not oxes. The one fowl is goose, but two are called
geese. Yet the plural of moose, should never be meese. You may
find a
lone mouse or a nest of mice. But the plural of house is houses,
not
hice. If the plural of man is always men, why shouldn't the plural
of
pan be called pen? If I spoke of my foot, and show you my feet,
and I
give you a boot, would a pair be called beet? Then one may be
that,
and three would be those, yet hat in the plural would never be
hose.
When we say brother, we say brethren. But though we may say mother,
we
never say methren. Then the masculine pronouns are he, his, and
him,
but imagine the feminine, she, shis, and shim.
So, English I fancy you will agree
is the craziest language that you
ever did see.
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 strange 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 for us to wind the sail.
18) After a number of injections my jaw got number.
19) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
20) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
21) 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; 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, that
you can comb through annals of history but not a single annal?
If you
have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of either 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?
By the way, how can a slim chance
and a fat chance be the same, while a
wise man and a wise guy are opposites? How can overlook and oversee
be
opposites, while quite a lot and quite a few are alike? How can
the
weather be hot as hell one day and cold as hell another?
Have you noticed that we talk about
certain things only when they are
absent? Have you ever seen a horseful carriage or a strapful gown?
Or met a sung hero or experienced requited love? Have you ever
run
into someone who was combobulated, gruntled, ruly or peccable?
And where are all those people who ARE spring chickens or who
would
ACTUALLY hurt a fly? Where did the beauty who was OUT OF THIS
WORLD go?
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, isn't a race at
all).
That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible. However,
when
the lights are out, they are invisible. Why, when I wind up my
watch,
I start it, but when I wind up this essay, I end it? And lastly,
why
do we have to hit the START button first to STOP running 'Windows
98'!!?!