Our crazy English language. In America we’ve borrowed words from everybody and twisted and turned them to make them our own. I’ve heard people say that English can be a hard language to learn because a lot of time it doesn’t make sense.
Take the word love. In some languages there are different words for different kinds of love. Our preacher likes to explain the Greek words for love you can find in the Bible. There’s agape – God’s unconditional love, philia – friendship or brotherly love and eros – that romantic love that finds its way into so many novels. So when you’re reading the Greek in the Bible, you know which kind of love is meant. When you read the English version you have to figure that out from the context.
In English, we say we love the Lord. We love our families. We fall in love with our sweethearts. But we also say we love pizza. We love chocolate. We love it when our favorite sports team plays a great game. We love sunshine. We especially love that spring is officially here today. I love that flowers are starting to bloom. That’s why I have the flower picture to celebrate spring. You get the idea.
And then there are the words we overuse. My husband has a problem with hearing how everything is “awesome” these days. He says that word should be saved for a really awe inspiring something like seeing a dozen shooting stars at once.
So in case you are wondering about the awesome language we all love, here are some examples of the kinds of headaches you might have if you didn’t grow up knowing the English language is crazy. I spotted these on Pinterest the other day and had to copy them down. Hope you love these examples of homophones. 🙂
- The bandage was wound around the wound.
- The farm was used to produce produce.
- The dump was so full it had to refuse more refuse.
- We must polish the Polish furniture.
- He could lead if he would get the lead out.
- The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
- Since there is no time like the present, he decided to present the present.
- A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
- When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
- I did not object to the object.
- The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
- There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
- They were too close to the door to close it.
Do you know other examples that might drive a language learner crazy?
Comments 10
I like this sentence.Not the meaning of it,but the language if it.
“All the faith he had had had had no effect on the outcome of his life”
Author
That would never get past a copy editor, Lisa. LOL.
I think I read this book, but if not I definitely will read it!!
Author
Not sure which book you mean, Darlene. The picture is of an old dictionary’s front page that was published in 1926, I think. But I’m always happy when somebody wants to read one of my books.
I can’t think of any off the top of my head, but my husband and I are always talking about the complexity of the English language. I enjoyed reading the list of homophone and plan to save them!
Have a blessed day!
Karen
Author
Glad you enjoyed the homophones, Karen. I had to go out on the net to find the word that means words that sound are spelled alike but have different meanings. Sometimes I get a little confused on which word means what in the homonyms, synonyms and other nyms. 🙂 And then this was phone. But with a little memory of my long ago Latin I can see the root words in that one.
I really enjoyed our crazy language in today’s blog.
Author
Thanks, Maylin. I’m glad you enjoyed the crazy language post and appreciate you letting me know that. Makes blogging more phone when you know people are getting a kick out of your posts.
These are great! I just saw a clip from I Love Lucy where Ricky is reading a storybook. It highlighted all the different pronunciations of “ough”.
English is indeed a tough language to learn through and through!
Many blessings today, Ann. It appears April showers are getting a jumpstart this spring. I noticed in my memories on facebook this morning that we had several inches of snow on this day last year. So I’m appreciating the showers today. 🙂
Author
I’m guessing that Lucy clip was funny, Lavon. I don’t know whether you intended to or not, but then you used a couple of ough words in the next sentence. Tough and through. And you could have stuck an although in there. LOL.
It’s a little cool today, but it’s definitely feeling springy. So glad and so glad to have a few days without rain to let the ground dry out. I actually took a few walks in my regular walking shoes instead of boots!!