If English wasn’t my first language there’s no way I could have learned it. [via buzzfeed]
24 responses to 18 Examples of The English Language Being Weird
That last one made me SUPER uncomfortable! I’m not exaggerating, I couldn’t finish reading the last part of it. It made my eyes feel the way your mouth does at the dentist when the Novocaine hits.
Jasper Fforde, who is an amazing author everyone should know about, wrote the following entirely correct conversation in the book Well of Lost Plots:
“At the last count David Copperfield alone had had had had sixty three times, all but ten unapproved. Pilgrim’s Progress may also be a problem due to its had had/that that ratio.’
‘So what’s the problem in Progress?’
‘That that had that that ten times but had had had had only thrice. Increased had had usage had had to be overlooked, but not if the number exceeds that that that usage.’
‘Hmm,’ said the Bellman, ‘I thought had had had had TGC’s approval for use in Dickens? What’s the problem?’
‘Take the first had had and that that in the book by way of example,’ said Lady Cavendish. ‘You would have thought that that first had had had had good occasion to be seen as had, had you not? Had had had approval but had had had not; equally it is true to say that that that that had had approval but that that other that that had not.’
‘So the problem with that other that that was that…?’
‘That that other-other that that had had approval.’
‘Okay’ said the Bellman, whose head was in danger of falling apart like a chocolate orange, ‘let me get this straight: David Copperfield, unlike Pilgrim’s Progress, had had had, had had had had. Had had had had TGC’s approval?’”
This is great. I love that English is so confusing, yet so easy. My mind hurts at the last one, but it’s too funny! Yet sad that so many people use the wrong words….
Australia has 3 a’s and only 2 of them are pronounced differently. A(Uh)stra(ay)lia(uh).
Also pro tip for Yanks coming to Australia if you pronounce it Uhssie and not ozzie you will get throat punched at some point for your trip.
That last one made me SUPER uncomfortable! I’m not exaggerating, I couldn’t finish reading the last part of it. It made my eyes feel the way your mouth does at the dentist when the Novocaine hits.
Same. Good description btw lol.
Yes….my head almost exploded! I did read it all, but almost cried. I do love your description!
My head literally exploded.
No’t’didn’t’ve
numb?
Aw thanks!
And that kind of tingly, pulsing feeling before you’re completely numb.
I adore the English language 😀
The person being glad English is their first language is an idiot. It’s the easiest language I know.
^ something no student of language would say
What’s your native language? Is it something complicated?
Jasper Fforde, who is an amazing author everyone should know about, wrote the following entirely correct conversation in the book Well of Lost Plots:
“At the last count David Copperfield alone had had had had sixty three times, all but ten unapproved. Pilgrim’s Progress may also be a problem due to its had had/that that ratio.’
‘So what’s the problem in Progress?’
‘That that had that that ten times but had had had had only thrice. Increased had had usage had had to be overlooked, but not if the number exceeds that that that usage.’
‘Hmm,’ said the Bellman, ‘I thought had had had had TGC’s approval for use in Dickens? What’s the problem?’
‘Take the first had had and that that in the book by way of example,’ said Lady Cavendish. ‘You would have thought that that first had had had had good occasion to be seen as had, had you not? Had had had approval but had had had not; equally it is true to say that that that that had had approval but that that other that that had not.’
‘So the problem with that other that that was that…?’
‘That that other-other that that had had approval.’
‘Okay’ said the Bellman, whose head was in danger of falling apart like a chocolate orange, ‘let me get this straight: David Copperfield, unlike Pilgrim’s Progress, had had had, had had had had. Had had had had TGC’s approval?’”
He is brilliant– just waiting for new books from him !
Took the time to parse all of this, then got completely lost at the last sentence.
“Accept” and “except” are pronounced almost identically, yet mean completely different things.
The last one only works if you’re American.
This is great. I love that English is so confusing, yet so easy. My mind hurts at the last one, but it’s too funny! Yet sad that so many people use the wrong words….
Mark Salling has been indicted on child porn charges.
A lot of these are good, but Queue is in a bunch of them and it’s French…
I get that it’s accepted in English on it’s own, but English isn’t the guilty party on that one (and a few others but w/e)
Australia has 3 a’s and only 2 of them are pronounced differently. A(Uh)stra(ay)lia(uh).
Also pro tip for Yanks coming to Australia if you pronounce it Uhssie and not ozzie you will get throat punched at some point for your trip.
Seconded. Also, the city of “Melbourne” is pronounced “Mel-burn”, not “Mel-born”, even though it’s spelled at the end like Jason Bourne.
A(ah)stra(at)lia(uh). 3 diff ways
Awe-STRAY’ll-yuh. Do people really say Uhssie… Like US-ee??
the putting stress on each word of a sentence separately would work anywhere