Quirks of English
Discussion
I've just tried explaining the following sentence to two Polish colleagues and they looked horrified by it (dropped punctuation from the necessary bit for comic effect):
"Peter, while Paul had had had had had had had had had had had had the better impression on the teacher."
So I started thinking of other little quirks. Sentences which take a word and use that word as a noun, verb, adverb and adjective:
"The common man has been kept in his place by his betters, not being allowed to better himself and be the better man, even if better suited to the job."
English must be a fairly terrible language to learn, mustn't it?
"Peter, while Paul had had had had had had had had had had had had the better impression on the teacher."
So I started thinking of other little quirks. Sentences which take a word and use that word as a noun, verb, adverb and adjective:
"The common man has been kept in his place by his betters, not being allowed to better himself and be the better man, even if better suited to the job."
English must be a fairly terrible language to learn, mustn't it?
Another favourite:
I take it you already know
Of tough and bough and cough and dough?
Others may stumble, but not you
On hiccough, thorough, laugh and through?
Well done! And now you wish perhaps
To learn of less familiar traps?
Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard and sounds like bird;
And dead: it’s said like bed, not bead —
For goodness sake don’t call it ‘deed’.
Watch out for meat and great and threat.
They rhyme with suite and straight and debt.
A moth is not a moth in mother,
nor both in bother, broth in brother,
And here is not a match for there
Nor dear and fear for bear and pear,
And then there’s dose and rose and lose —
Just look them up — and goose and choose.
And cord and work and card and ward,
And font and front and word and sword,
And do and go and thwart and cart —
Come come, I’ve hardly made a start!
A dreadful language? Man alive,
I’d mastered it when I was five!
Another variant of ending:
A dreadful language? Why, man alive!
I’d learned to talk it when I was five.
And yet to write it, the more I tried,
I hadn’t learned it at fifty-five.
I take it you already know
Of tough and bough and cough and dough?
Others may stumble, but not you
On hiccough, thorough, laugh and through?
Well done! And now you wish perhaps
To learn of less familiar traps?
Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard and sounds like bird;
And dead: it’s said like bed, not bead —
For goodness sake don’t call it ‘deed’.
Watch out for meat and great and threat.
They rhyme with suite and straight and debt.
A moth is not a moth in mother,
nor both in bother, broth in brother,
And here is not a match for there
Nor dear and fear for bear and pear,
And then there’s dose and rose and lose —
Just look them up — and goose and choose.
And cord and work and card and ward,
And font and front and word and sword,
And do and go and thwart and cart —
Come come, I’ve hardly made a start!
A dreadful language? Man alive,
I’d mastered it when I was five!
Another variant of ending:
A dreadful language? Why, man alive!
I’d learned to talk it when I was five.
And yet to write it, the more I tried,
I hadn’t learned it at fifty-five.
Greg66 said:
I can't say I am remotely surprised at their reaction.
You've put one two many "hads" in it. There should be 11, not 12. It makes no f
king sense whatsoever now.
Were you trying to confuse them on purpose?
I got excited while typing. IT HAPPENS.You've put one two many "hads" in it. There should be 11, not 12. It makes no f
king sense whatsoever now. Were you trying to confuse them on purpose?
It's also more natural to say it rather than write it
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