Enjoy Your English Language Trip, See You Next Fall – Daily Quote

/ JoHawkTheWriter

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The English language fascinates me. As the popular meme states, no matter how weird English may seem, it can be understood through tough thorough thought, though. Researchers at the University of Reading have applied computer modeling to determine the words “I,” “we,” “who,” “two,” and “three” are ancient words, dating back tens of thousands of years. Mark Pagel, an evolutionary biologist at Reading, says, “When we speak to each other we’re playing this massive game of Chinese whispers.” Eh? What did you say?

Speaking of pronunciation, Jakub Marian, a Czech linguist, reports the meaning of words can change depending on which syllable is stressed. “If the stress is on the second syllable, it usually becomes a verb. For example, an ADDress is the place where someone lives. To addRESS someone is to talk to them.”

To add to the confusion, many words are contronyms — words with opposite meanings. Consider the word clip. Are you cutting or binding an object together? If something is transparent, is it invisible or obvious? Is a sanguine vampire confidently cheerful, or bloodthirsty? If you are bound, are you heading toward your destination, or are you restrained from moving?

The contradictions are equal parts amusement and agony. Effective communication is impeded or expedited based on everyone’s mastery of simple vocabulary. I have found myself at an impasse today, and regardless of how much I try, I can’t move past a fundamental question. Why oh why do the words pony and bologna rhyme?

What are your favorite English quirks?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

17 thoughts on “Enjoy Your English Language Trip, See You Next Fall – Daily Quote”

  2. My favorite is cow meat = beef, bird meat = poultry, deer meat = venison, etc. It came from wealthy French Normans asking for “bouffe” as beef and commoners calling the animal “cow”. Love it.

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  4. Someone once told me that ancient Sanskrit might be more complex than English, though that’s it. As an English teacher, I often tried to explain the exceptions as well as the rules. I worked with many students whose first language wasn’t English and truly felt for them.

    Why do we say good-bye? An amalgamation of either God be with ye or God buy ye (from the medieval notion that God bought our ransom for sin through Jesus). But hello? Because we’d rather say, oh, hell?

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    • You crack me up. I don’t envy people trying to learn English as a second language. We use Sanskrit in yoga and to be honest, all of those words sound the same to me. Glad I don’t have to use it to communicate. 👍🙏

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