English points to ponder

[Route 66]

If you ever feel stupid, then just read on. If you've learned to
speak fluent English, you must be a genius! This little treatise on
the lovely language we share is only for the brave. Peruse at your
leisure, English lovers.


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?


Doesn't it seem 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? 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'?

[Route 66]

If you ever feel stupid, then just read on. If you've learned to
speak fluent English, you must be a genius! This little treatise on
the lovely language we share is only for the brave. Peruse at your
leisure, English lovers.


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?


Doesn't it seem 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? 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'?

[SlickTX]

Why is it that the number one has the 'W' sound in it without the letter 'W' and the number two has the letter 'W' in it but not the sound?

[Ray,IN]

That is just some of the reasons English(the American version) is the hardest language to learn on this planet.

[doc]

Always wondered why > If b-o-u-g-h spells bough (as in a small limb on a tree) Why doesn't c-o-u-g-h spell cow?

[RustyJC]

Not to mention two too many variants of to/too/two, too.

Rusty

[6Quigs]

Our English teacher once wrote this sentance on the board, and said it was correct english.

"He said that that that that that boy said was wrong"


Changing a few words, but still getting the same meaning:
He said, that this word which this boy said was wrong.