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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
someone on my distribution list sent me the following:
21 Reasons Why The English Language Is Hard To Learn:
1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture.
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10) I did not object to the object.
11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13) They were too close to the door to close it.
14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18) After a number of injections my jaw got number.
19) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
20) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
21) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 5
stranger
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stranger
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 5 |
I seem to remember one such sentence from my (distant) school days, I hope I can remember it correctly.
Whether the weather be hot, or whether the weather be cold, the wethers in the paddock will be sold tomorrow!
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Welcome, Camby.
Are you Australian? (She asked, referring to the centennials thread in Q&A about words.) Wether you are or are not, I hope you come baa-ack with many more posts.
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 5
stranger
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stranger
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 5 |
Yes Jackie, I am (that paddock was a dead giveaway.) However I am presently living and working in Southeast Asia so I often find myself explaining the foibles of my mother tongue to learners who sometimes find it confusing!
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065 |
Too long to copy here maybe, but try clicking on http://reality.sgi.com/relph/humor/chaos.html for The Chaos or English is Tough Stuff. Bingley
Bingley
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2 |
I seem to remember this one as:
"Whether the weather be cold or whether the weather be hot, we'll weather the weather, whatever the weather, whether we like it or not."
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 46
newbie
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newbie
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 46 |
I seem to remember trying to explain English pronounciation to my Polish friend. She said English was a hopeless language. She was asking me about the name Peter. If it's the same letter "e" then why is it pronounced differently? How would you explain it to her?
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 200
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 200 |
"it's pronounced differently"
sounds adequate to me.
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065 |
In reply to:
If it's the same letter "e" then why is it pronounced differently? How would you explain it to her?
We've got twenty-odd spoken vowels and five written ones. We're doing our best, honest. Anyway given the way Polish looks, she's in no position to complain. 
Bingley
Bingley
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409 |
Anyway given the way Polish looks, she's in no position to complain.
True, but just imagine the scores you could get playing Polish Scrabble with an English set - once you'd raided a hundred other sets for the extra zeds!
"Nationalism is an infantile disease, the measles of humanity" - Albert Einstein
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