Most of us learned the English Language at a very young age. We never questioned how odd it really is. We think it's really easy. But how weird is the English language?
1. Do you say data or data? Either or either? Route or route? Caramel or caramel?
You pronounced each one of those differently and you hate yourself for it.
2. Tear and tear, record and record, bow and bow, lie and lie are all the same spelling, but they mean different things.
3. OK, what about the fact that cough, rough, though and through don’t rhyme. But pony and bologna do rhyme. Why is bologna even spelled that way?
4. Why do we pronounce Kansas and Arkansas so differently from each other?
5. How come Queue literally has 4 unnecessary letters?
7. Why are hamburgers called hamburgers when there’s no ham in them? Guinea pigs are not from Guinea, nor are they pigs.
8. And notice that “laid is pronounced like paid but not said and said is pronounced like bread but not bead and bead is pronounced like lead but not lead.”
9. Why is yacht spelt that way? Think about how colonel is pronounced.
10. When should I use “spelt” and when should I use “spelled”??
11. When you tell someone “don’t you dare,” what you’re really saying is: Do not you dare. How weird?
12. I’ll, aisle, and isle are all pronounced the same way.
13. How come the plural of box is boxes, but the plural of ox is not oxes?
14, The plural of man is men, but the plural of pan isn’t pen.
15. There are 3 a’s in Australia, but each one of them is pronounced differently.
As I’m writing this, I’m starting to realize how weird the English language is and how much we take it for granted. I’m realizing how odd and difficult it can be to “just know some things” because that’s the way they are in the English language. Often times though, we discredit people or look down on those who can’t speak it well; we look down on those who don’t know that rough is pronounced ‘ruf.’
Next time you come across someone whose English isn’t the best, remember that the English language even has you confused as heck.
