How
strange can a language be?
There is no
egg in an eggplant. It doesn't look or taste like an egg .
There is no
ham in a hamburger .
There is no
pine nor apple in a pineapple .
Sweetmeats
are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat .
English
muffins were not invented in England and French fries were not invented in
France, so where did such names come from ?
Some names
seem to describe the opposite of what the things really are:
Quicksand
pulls you down slowly.
Boxing rings
are square.
A Guinea pig
is not from Guinea and it is not a member of the pig family .
Some
examples of why you cannot blindly follow English grammar rules:
If writers
write and painters paint and riders ride, then why don't fingers fing or hammers
ham?
If the
plural of tooth is teeth and the plural of goose is geese, then shouldn't the
plural of phone booth be phone beeth and the plural of moose be meese?
Maybe they should be, but they aren't.
If the
teacher taught, why didn't the preacher praught?
If a
vegetarian eats vegetables, what do you think a humanitarian eats?
How can a
house that is burning up finally end in being burned down?
At a bank or
loan office, how can you fill in the necessary information as you fill out the
forms?
Why is it
that when the stars are out they are visible, but when the lights are out they
are invisible?
Why do
people recite at a play, yet play at a recital?
Why do
people park on driveways but drive on parkways?
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?
How can a
slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are
opposites?
Answer: I
simply don't know. |