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Something to think about

Fri, 22 Apr 2005, 05:13 pm
Luke Heath4 posts in thread
If you've learned to speak fluent English, you must be a genius!

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 truck and send cargo by ship?

Have noses that run and feet that smell?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

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.

P.S. - Why doesn't "Buick" rhyme with "quick"?

Two More for the list:

I can can now and what I can't I can can later.

I chopped a tree down, then I chopped it up.

[%sig%]

Thread (4 posts)

Luke HeathFri, 22 Apr 2005, 05:13 pm
If you've learned to speak fluent English, you must be a genius!

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 truck and send cargo by ship?

Have noses that run and feet that smell?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

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.

P.S. - Why doesn't "Buick" rhyme with "quick"?

Two More for the list:

I can can now and what I can't I can can later.

I chopped a tree down, then I chopped it up.

[%sig%]
NaFri, 22 Apr 2005, 05:26 pm

Re: Something to think about

You must have been reading "Eats, shites and leaves"!
Bass GuyFri, 22 Apr 2005, 09:33 pm

Re: Something to think about

Na wrote:
>
> You must have been reading "Eats, shites and leaves"!

Do you mean "Eats roots & leaves"? It's a hysterical book- and one that crgwllms NEEDS to see in print to stop him from writing something similar. Sad to relate I can't remember the author's name, but she was brilliant

Track it down, because it's worth it. Boffins have copies I think.
crgwllmsSat, 23 Apr 2005, 01:44 am

Re: Quoting the Sauce

Bass Guy wrote:
>
> Na wrote:
> >
> > You must have been reading "Eats, shites and leaves"!
>
> Do you mean "Eats roots & leaves"? It's a hysterical book-
> and one that crgwllms NEEDS to see in print to stop him from
> writing something similar. Sad to relate I can't remember
> the author's name, but she was brilliant
>
> Track it down, because it's worth it. Boffins have copies I
> think.



Hi El Bass Guy

It's too late...I'm already well familiar with BOTH books.

The first book, the one you're referring to, is actually called "Eats, Shoots And Leaves (The Zero Tolerance Approach To Punctuation)" by Lynne Truss.

The book Luke is quoting from is a new one called "Eats, Shites & Leaves (Crap English and How To Use It)" by A. Parody..!



Na beat me to it, or I would have admonished Luke for not quoting the source he was plagiarizing...!

Cheers,
Craig
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