Subject: Jo´s Language Corner
Posted by: jolana
Date: Jun 10 11
Hi. I don´t mean to start a blog as my life is quite well-ordered and slightly boring. Anyway, I have been learning English for many years and I still come across problems. I´d like to use your knowledge of native-borns and I´d be glad if you could help me in some language problems.
Posted by: jolana
Date: Jun 10 11
Hi. I don´t mean to start a blog as my life is quite well-ordered and slightly boring. Anyway, I have been learning English for many years and I still come across problems. I´d like to use your knowledge of native-borns and I´d be glad if you could help me in some language problems.
173 replies. On page 2 of 9 pages. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
postcards2go 
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RMG, I'm not considered 'New ENGLAND' by U.S. standards, but I've lived all my life in New *York* and New *Jersey* ... not New ENGLAND states, but still have an obvious identity crisis LOL :-p :-D Reply #21. Jun 11 11, 3:27 PM |
satguru
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As long as you don't get toilet water mixed up with toilet water. The words are the same but the products are quite different. I will explain if necessary, I promise! Reply #22. Jun 11 11, 7:42 PM |
bloodandsand
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Thanks, satguru, you've just created a somewhat disturbing image in my mind! Reply #23. Jun 12 11, 7:53 AM |
jolana
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Reply #24. Jun 12 11, 11:47 AM |
| _Morpheus_
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I take the creative approach to grammar. Sprinkle in the commas and change the word if I don't know the correct usage etc. ----- A zookeeper wanted to get some extra animals for his zoo, so he decided to compose a letter, the only problem, was that he didn't know the plural of 'Mongoose'. He started the letter: "To whom it may concern, I need two Mongeese." No, that won't work, he tried again: "To whom it may concern, I need two Mongooses." Is that right? Finally, he got an idea: "To whom it may concern, I need a Mongoose, and while you're at it, send me another one." Reply #25. Jul 09 11, 8:34 AM |
houston1127
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Good one Morpheus! A good thing about the vagaries and uncertainties of English is they allow room for, and even require, creativity. Reply #26. Jul 09 11, 9:29 AM |
| jolana
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Reply #27. Jul 23 11, 2:19 PM |
Dee30
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If you do not wear a shirt or shoes do not come in and expect to be served. Some places want their customers to be dressed properly so they can serve them. In places where vacationers go at times they try to go into places to be served food and not be totally dressed for eating inside restaurants. Reply #28. Jul 23 11, 3:04 PM |
Blackdresss
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And just to make it all even more confusing, add sports to the mix! The gloves and all bets are off where sports are concerned. For example, let's start with the glorious game of baseball! If the batter (the offensive guy at home plate with the bat, offensive in that he is now in scoring position, not that there is anything wrong with his character or scent or anything like that,) about to potentially hit the ball thrown by the pitcher, (a defensive player hoping that no one can hit anything he throws) hits a fly ball (way up into the air, as opposed to a grounder, that at least hits the ground once and bounces,) and that ball is in the outfield (as opposed to the infield,) and a defensive player in the outfield catches that ball, that batter just "flied out." He didn't "fly out." The ball didn't "fly out," and nothing "flew out." The batter "flied out." And he is now out and must go back and sit on the bench. Also, if that batter were to hit an infield fly ball, as opposed to that outfield fly ball, he is automatically out, whether anyone catches it or not. But he still "flied out." I think this is worse than blow-drying your hair any day! Reply #29. Jul 24 11, 4:21 PM |
| Blackdresss
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Morpheus and his mongoose (and hopefully his cobra, since he has a mongoose) just reminded me of another question I've always had. Sort of. We all know that one mouse is a mouse. And two mice are mice. And three mice are mice. And more than three mice are an infestation. (We can move on to wildlife, like deer, antelope, elk, moose and bear/bears and fox/foxes later, if you'd like, but it gets tricky, too, trust me.) But of course, I use a mouse for my computer. If I have more than one mouse for my computer, do I have mice? Because, I don't think I do, and I DO have more than one mouse for my computer! So do I have mouses? Or like the mongoose, do I just have more than one mouse? Reply #30. Jul 24 11, 4:28 PM |
| Blackdresss
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Also! I get tap water from my faucets, both inside and out. But I don't know why that outside water is so much tastier and more refreshing than my inside tap water. It may have something to do with drinking it and running through sprinklers full of it as a kid. You know, last year? :) But honestly, I don't have anything I call "bits" on my person! I think if I had a "bit" of anything on my person, I would pick it off and throw it away! But I do wear pants and jeans and shorts, but my shorts are what all girls wear in the summer to stay cool, and are NOT my underwear! Underwear is a whole other ball of wax completely. (Not literally a ball of wax -- you know what I mean. Don't you?) Jolana, this has to be THE most interesting thread I have found yet! I hope you will keep asking! Romeo is so right -- there are so many forms of English and I think it's all pretty fascinating. So just to keep it straight, all of my answers will be American English. Is there any other kind of baseball besides American baseball, even baseball played in other countries? I honestly don't know the answer to this. So I am assuming no matter where baseball is played, that batter still "flied out." Reply #31. Jul 24 11, 4:41 PM |
MotherGoose
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I admire anyone who can learn English as a second language. It is a very difficult language to learn with so many exceptions to rules and so many implied meanings that are not obvious or clear, such as some of the examples given already. If you are interested, a good book to read about the development of American English is "Made in America" by Bill Bryson. It is humorous and very entertaining, and you will learn a lot about the language, as well as lots of historical trivia. Reply #32. Jul 24 11, 5:00 PM |
MarchHare007
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Hi Jo, This thread rang some bells so I checked my archives and there it was.....Hope it doesn't add to your confusion but it will give you a differnt perspective. :) "Let's face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France . Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it? If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on. English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible. And..... Why doesn't 'Buick' rhyme with 'quick'? " Reply #33. Jul 26 11, 10:46 PM |
| MarchHare007
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And I'll add some 'explanations' as to the usage of the word "Up". *grins* There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that is 'UP.' It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP ? At a meeting, why does a topic come UP ? Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report ? We call UP our friends. And we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car. At other times the little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses. To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special. And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP. We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night. We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP! To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions. If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more. When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP. When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP. When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP. When it doesn't rain for a while, things dry UP. One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP, or now my time is UP, so Time to finish UP! :) Reply #34. Jul 26 11, 10:51 PM |
| Blackdresss
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I love "Why doesn't Buick rhyme with quick?" ! And look where you "ended UP," Stew! Reply #35. Jul 27 11, 10:11 PM |
Rowena8482
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And where some people say finish up, I say finish off :-D Reply #36. Jul 28 11, 5:21 AM |
| _Morpheus_
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Ever take a non-stop flight? Reply #37. Jul 28 11, 7:49 AM |
tezza1551
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And just to add to the "UP" confusion created by Post#34, in Western Australia, all the "UPs" are in the south of the state ("UP" signifying "place of" in the local Indigenous language)... thus leading to "Gnowangerup" (place of mallee fowl), Ongerup = place of the kangaroo etc. Reply #38. Jul 28 11, 9:08 AM |
| jolana
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Reply #39. Jul 28 11, 11:23 AM |
| jolana
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Reply #40. Jul 28 11, 11:24 AM |
173 replies. On page 2 of 9 pages. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
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