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General Discussion The reason you came here. Talk about things that don't fit elsewhere. |
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#1
02-25-2007, 06:28 PM
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Funny Quirks in the English Language. It's funny how our language makes no sense ^^
Let's start with the easier ones:
The English Language is Full of Quirks The English language certainly has some strange quirks that cause endless problems (and opportunities) for aspiring writers, students, and anyone who uses or interprets our written language. Why is it that modern readers of English have difficulty understanding English that was written a few hundred years ago when readers of modern Chinese can easily understand what their ancestors wrote 2000 years ago? How did the basic characteristics of English become its ever-changing nature, constant growth, and rather vague generalities? And how did the lowly little comma become the most misused component of the written language? Ever wonder why some words that sound the same are spelled differently while words that are spelled the same have different pronunciations and meanings? Consider the following sentences: “I will pare the pair of pears.” And “Since there is no time like the present, I decided to present the present.” And what kind of logic is used in a language where girl, curl, and pearl all rhyme, but comb, tomb, and bomb do not? It is not just a few odd words that cause problems; the way they are grouped together changes their meanings: Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like an apple. This is one of the main reasons why computer programs like SpellCheck and GrammarCheck are of such limited help when it comes to written English. These idiosyncrasies of the English language can be enchanting or exasperating, depending on one’s perspective. Where else can your house burn up as it burns down, you fill out a form by filling it in, an alarm goes off by going on, and you can ship freight by truck and cargo by ship? And how did priceless come to mean the opposite of worthless when something’s fair price is its worth? The problem is that English is not like math or chemistry; you cannot learn the language by learning the rules that govern its use and then applying them. “Language, unlike matter of the physical universe, does not operate under constant laws” (Perrin & Smith, 1966, p.5). Living languages are evolving systems with more “current conventions” than laws and the current use is the correct use: “…that is, that usage and social acceptance determine correctness” (Webster, 1988, p. xv). And of all languages, English may well be the fastest growing and evolving. For example, dear English readers, which of the following sentences makes the most sense? (1) “Un violent typhon frappe le Japon: quatre morts.” Or (2) “Werodes wisa, wordhord onleac.” The first is modern French from an Internet headline (2.canoe, 2003) and the second is Old English from Beowulf, 900 AD (Gorrell & Laird, 1976, p. 275). Puzzled? A translation helps a bit: (1) A violent typhoon whips Japan: four dead, and (2) The leader of the band unlocked the word hoard. Many English readers can sort out an educated guess from the French. Un is near universal for one, violent is a word English has “borrowed” (are we going to give it back?) from the French, typhon is close enough to typhoon, frappe is a setting on a blender�“so it has to do with mix or whip, Japon is a foreign spelling of Japan, quatre contains the Latin root of four, and mort the root of death, as in mortal and mortician. The Old English, however, offers no clues to its meaning and even the translation is unclear. What is a “word hoard?” Gorrell & Laird (1976) define it as a “vocabulary” so that “unlocked the word hoard” could mean “began to speak.” Although the Old English of Beowulf is decipherable only by experts, Chaucer’s Middle English Canterbury Tales also requires a glossary and a grammar guide. The first two lines from The Canterbury Tales: “Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote The droghte of March hath perced to the roote,” Translation: “When April with its sweet smelling showers Has pierced the drought of March to the root” (Benson, 2001). Even the Early Modern English of Shakespeare is difficult. From Othello, only 400 years ago: “Nine, or ten times, I thought to t’haus yerk’d him here vnder the Ribbes.” (Wikipedia, 2003). No translation is offered, but Iago is speaking to Othello about murder and it appears he thought of stabbing someone. Not only is English constantly changing; it is constantly growing. English speakers readily adopt words from other languages. Everyone knows what a fiancé is but many will stumble on the English betrothed. With well over a million words, English is the largest language on Earth (Webster, 1988). Being a huge and evolving language does not necessarily make the English language a monster. Perhaps the quirks of the language simply reflect the vagrancies of human nature. A Brief History of Writing We all begin speaking before we begin to write and humanity has been speaking far longer than it has been writing. The earliest known examples of actual writing are Sumerian logographs from about 4000 BC. These were simple pictures of objects and symbols representing quantities and time periods. (For tax records!) About 2000 BC, the Phoenicians developed a system of symbols to represent the spoken language, the first alphabet. This alphabet consisted entirely of capitalized consonants and there was no punctuation or even spaces between the words. This sentence would have looked like this: THSSNTNCWLDHVLKDLKTHS Try and sound that out. The Greeks added vowels to the alphabet about 1000 BC, making the words much more clear. Although they still had no punctuation or word spacing, this is basically the system we use today and is considered to be one of humanity’s greatest achievements. The Greeks also brought punctuation along about 200 BC, and upper and lower case letters around 700 AD. What may be the greatest improvement toward ease of use came about 900 AD with the spaces between individual words. Before this innovation, readers had to sound the words out by speaking them aloud, now most could read silently (All dates and facts from Live Ink, 2001). This innovation probably came about not just because of the difficulty in reading, but because of the greater difficulty of teaching students to recognize the individual words in the string of letters. Word spacing and punctuation certainly have made enormous progress in the understanding of the written language but confusion has also proliferated as more complex ideas could now be written and many people underestimate the power of the lowly comma in altering the meaning of written sentences. Keep in mind this simple example of what commas can do: “Kitty claimed Puppy made the puddle” and “Kitty, claimed Puppy, made the puddle.” The meaning of the sentences is reversed by a couple of commas. This has led to the widespread advice of “When in doubt, leave them out” because many college students tend to use too many commas rather than too few, perhaps because they think it makes their writing look more academic or shows their deep, complex thinking. (More) http://www.uhh.hawaii.edu/academics/...ting.php?id=82 Isn't this weird? Do you know any funny quirks not mentioned? Ot you could just comment on something ^^. COMMENT! A site that many people could use http://cs.wwc.edu/~rickty/superfluous/language/english/ EDIT: "That" is widely misused also. How many times have you heard sentences such as, "He told him he was allowed to go?" Grammitically incorrect. Tell me where the "that" goes. (Rhetorical thought) |
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#2
02-25-2007, 07:39 PM
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what a long post......
I hate English. I guess that's what happens when you take parts from different languages and smash them together. The constant slang doesn't help either. It only makes test taking that much harder, but after that, I don't care. |
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#3
02-15-2008, 10:57 PM
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why is dishwashing soap made with real lemons while lemonade and lemon candy is [[ are? ]] made with artificial flavoring?
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#4
02-16-2008, 01:26 AM
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I actually just read all of that, and some of them have pretty good points in them, English is my second language, and while reading it, it was a confusing journey, some words sound the same, but spelled the different.
Why is there a B in Dumbass? When you just pronounce it as Dum'ass? I've had that problem, about two years ago, I went off to call this dude a dumbass, but along with it, I said DUMBass, not Dum'ass. |
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