Author Topic: The English Language  (Read 1906 times)

Offline HNT5

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The English Language
« on: March 08, 2010, 09:09:43 AM »
Interesting
Nathan


THIS IS GREAT!!!  Read all the way to the end....  This took a lot of work to put together!!!  
 
You think English is easy???
Read to the end . . a new twist

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) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.

19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

20) 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? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but 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? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. 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.

PS. - Why doesn't 'Buick' rhyme with 'quick' ?

You lovers of the English language might enjoy this .

There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that is 'UP.'

It's easy to understand UP , meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP ? At a meeting, why does a topic come UP ? Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report ?

We call UP our friends. And we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver; we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car. At other times the little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses. To be dressed is one thing, but to be dressed UP is special.

And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP . We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night.

We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP ! To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP , look the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions. If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP ,you may wind UP with a hundred or more. When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP .. When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP ...

When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP.

When it doesn't rain for awhile, things dry UP .

One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP , for now my time is UP , so........it is time to shut UP !

Oh . . . one more thing:


What is the first thing you do in the morning & the last thing you do at night? U-P
 

Offline TCups

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Re: The English Language
« Reply #1 on: March 08, 2010, 09:43:39 AM »
And what if Van Morrison and Jim Morrison were to drive on the parkway in Jim Morrison's van to Van Morrison's gym, and then park in the driveway?

Offline shady816

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Re: The English Language
« Reply #2 on: March 08, 2010, 12:07:32 PM »
This all sounds like a Dr suess book.

Offline Big_Bill

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RE: The English Language
« Reply #3 on: March 08, 2010, 12:35:44 PM »




Wow Nathan,



You must be a great fan of George Carlton, he also had a big fascination of the English language !



It seems that you are quite up to the challenge of decipheringthe various variations of the English language.



George would be proud of you !



Bill



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Offline HNT5

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RE: The English Language
« Reply #4 on: March 08, 2010, 12:55:10 PM »
I wish I could take credit, but I merely received that as an email today.

Nathan

Offline lil'feeby

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RE: The English Language
« Reply #5 on: March 08, 2010, 08:12:02 PM »
Now just imagine trying to explain some of that to someone whose first language is Hungarian......yikes

Offline NMCA_Ron

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Re: The English Language
« Reply #6 on: March 08, 2010, 11:54:50 PM »
If pro is the opposite of con, what is the opposite of progress?


Ron
\"What we need are more people who specialize in the impossible.\" - Theodore Roethke

Offline Big_Bill

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Re: The English Language
« Reply #7 on: March 09, 2010, 03:39:06 AM »


That's my favorite Ron !



I believe our founding fathers were warning us of the dangers of CON GRESS when they named it, so that we should keep a sharp eye on what they were passing as laws !



Otherwise they would have called it PRO GRESS :(



Bill

Life Member of The United States of America
Life Member of the National Rifle Association
Member Air Guns Addicted Anonymous
SHOOT SAFE ! - SHOOT WELL ! - SHOOT OFTEN !
Always Use A Spring Compressor ! and Buy the GREAT GRT-III & CBR Triggers, cause they are GRRRREAT !