strangeness of the English language

This topic has 10 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated March 10, 2007 at 6:14 pm by Playground Politics.

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March 9, 2007 at 1:00 pm #1040703
General Lighting
Moderator
anyone wondered why if you have a cattery, a piggery and a rookery (which can also refer to “nests” of seals or walrus), a boarding kennels isn’t called a doggery?

Does anyone here who doesn’t speak English as their first language find some words very confusing?
March 9, 2007 at 1:14 pm #1100880
Angel
Moderator
Posted this some time ago in the joke section

http://www.partyvibe.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=23269

Was supposed to be a joke BUT :crazy_diz

The English language is very confusing sometimes ..
March 9, 2007 at 4:05 pm #1100878
Raj
Participant
and the group names for many of one thing are bizarre too :crazy:

a chowder of cats
a murder of crows
a tower of giraffes
a wake of vultures
a sounder of swine

:crazy_diz
March 9, 2007 at 4:16 pm #1100877
General Lighting
Moderator
Raj wrote:

and the group names for many of one thing are bizarre too :crazy:

a chowder of cats

:crazy_diz

did you mean clowder of cats? chowder is a kind of fish soup (although I suspect if it were left unattended, cats would stick their heads into the bowl and steal some :laugh_at:)
March 9, 2007 at 4:24 pm #1100879
Raj
Participant
oops – yes I did mean a clowder of cats :laugh_at:

and did you know its a clutch of mechanics :biggreen:
and a bevy of judges :groucho:
March 9, 2007 at 6:00 pm #1100881
Linz
Participant
I alawys think it must be really hard for people learning english. especially when we’ve got loads of words that sound the same but are spelt differently and mean different things. Such as whole and hole! wierd!:crazy:
March 9, 2007 at 7:12 pm #1100882
AJS
Participant
What’s the difference between ‘either’ with an ee sound at the start and ‘either’ with an I sound at the start?
March 9, 2007 at 7:36 pm #1100885
Stevie_big_words
Participant
Taking this interesting discussion a bit further.. Who thinks it would be a whole load better if, like when the tower of babel was built, we all spoke the same language?? do u think there would still be such a diverse amount of cultures and if so would we be more understanding thanks to better communication??
March 9, 2007 at 11:54 pm #1100883
AJS
Participant
It definately would have helped solve more than a few mis understandings. It would also have helped if we all had the same religeon and skin colour but the world wouldn’t be such an interesting place with out a bit of diversity.
March 10, 2007 at 12:54 am #1100886
Playground Politics
Participant
Linz wrote:

I alawys think it must be really hard for people learning english. especially when we’ve got loads of words that sound the same but are spelt differently and mean different things. Such as whole and hole! wierd!:crazy:

#

I think that something like chinese, where its how u pronounce it and, iceland whitch have several different words for the same thing, must be ultimatly arder to learn than english, especially how everyone seems to speak english! in the world, dont u tink?

peace
March 10, 2007 at 6:14 pm #1100884
AJS
Participant
I spent a few months in Thailand last year. It took me a little while to realise that although most people could speak English, no one could read or write it.
When I wrote my email address down for people they didn’t have a clue what it meant because thier whole alphabet is completely different.
They could say the words and understand the meaning of the words but anything written down was just meaningless squggles to them.
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