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Spelling? Don't forget Grammar and Comprehension

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussion' started by shiney, Feb 23, 2007.

  1. shiney

    shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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    Reasons why the English language is so hard to learn:

    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) 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?

    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.

    Quicksand works 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? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it? Is it an odd, or an end?

    If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by lorry and send cargo by ship?

    How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? Have noses that run and feet that smell?

    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.

    ---------------
    shiney
     
  2. jjordie

    jjordie ex-mod

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    Have you been googling Shiney? :D :D


    This one I remember from way back
    surprising how lack of punctuation
    can make an entirely different meaning
    to something:

    Caesar entered on his head
    His helmet on his feet
    His sandalls in his hand
    His sword in his eye
    A fierce look!
     
  3. Tiarella

    Tiarella Optimistic Gardener

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  4. Jack by the hedge

    Jack by the hedge Gardener

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    Bad pronunciation can add to the confusion, too.
    Round my neck of the woods, the spoken effect of such sentences as these,
    "Wipe the the dog's tail with a towel"
    "His efforts to scale the ladder put a scowl on his face"
    "I fail to understand why the referee didn't notice that foul"
    Would throw any foreigner into a daze!
     
  5. Kandy

    Kandy Will be glad to see the sun again soon.....

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    Now that is one I haven't read before,though knowing me I would have written all that out,but when I went to post it I would have got...This page cannot be displayed and I would have lost the lot.Good one though Shiney :D :D :D
     
  6. shiney

    shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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    Hi jjordie
    I've had that on file for years - don't remember where I got it. don't remember a lot of things now! [​IMG] [​IMG] :D :D

    ----------
    shiney
     
  7. Victoria

    Victoria Lover of Exotic Flora

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    Another good Friday night laugh, shiney ... thanks!
     
  8. PeterS

    PeterS Total Gardener

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    Nice one Shiney.

    I came across this spelling recently, for you who like to grow this :- "ghoughpteighbteau", also known as a potato

    P gh as in hiccough
    O ough as in though
    T pt as in ptomaine
    A eigh as in neigh
    T bt as in debt
    O eau as in bureau
     
  9. Daisies

    Daisies Total Gardener

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    Now that really is incomprehensible!

    Thnaks all for the good laugh - I'm sitting here feeling miserable with a horrid sore throut and wasn't going to log on then - oh, why not! I'm glad I did even though the laughing hurt my throat!! It was a good laugh!

    Cheers all!
     
  10. Celia

    Celia Gardener

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    Sorry Shiney number 9 is not English we dive not dove. The Americans have their own incomprehensible rules. I used to teach a reading scheme that originated in America that had supposedly been Anglicised. We had a manual (no creative thinking allowed) and when we came to long vowel sound 'a' as in cake we had to use vase. There was also a hilarious story about a dog with rabies which we were supposed to read to the children, I never did cos I coudn't read it with a straight face! (this scheme was for 4 -7 year olds and we pulled out after 2 years when the children's writing standards plummeted)(apologies if my apostrophe is incorrect, I have to look that one up)
     
  11. jjordie

    jjordie ex-mod

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    Hope your sore throut is soon better MD :D
     
  12. UsedtobeDendy

    UsedtobeDendy Gardener

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    Actually, Celia, dove is Old English! I was gobsmacked to find that out a few years ago!
    :eek:
     
  13. strongylodon

    strongylodon Old Member

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    My son just paid a fleeting visit from uni this weekend and was telling us about trying to explain some of the querkier aspects of the English language to foreign students such as the same word with different meanings, I showed him your post Shiney and he has copied it and taken it back with him he liked it so much. :D
     
  14. shiney

    shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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    I'm pleased he liked it. [​IMG] [​IMG]

    -------------
    shiney
     
  15. daitheplant

    daitheplant Total Gardener

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    After reading that lot I feel as if I`ve been hit over the head with a length of 3 x 2. David.
     
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