The ENGLISH LANGUAGE thread

[vup]

What's up with phonetics in English? Look no further than everyday prepositions such as "from", "of", "to".

[vup]

The vowels "a" (Brazil), "e" (the), "o" (of), "u" (umbrella), and "y" (phenyl) are basically all making the same sounds.

Can I get a linguist in here please?

[gnu2vball]

Who needs a linguist? I'm sure millions are clamoring for a Volleyball site in Esperanto.

[azvb]

Seriously. Ph sounds like f. Kn sounds like n. See, sea don’t have a c. Their, they’re, there. ght makes no sense: thought vs night. Etc

My 7 year old grandson just finished 1st grade. He’s a deep thinker, enjoys math. He’s struggling with the reading because the rules don’t always apply.

[mln59]

i speak english super goodly.

and lettuce remember that rules of grammar are descriptive, not prescriptive. language came first then the 'rules'.

[gnu2vball]

Jun 6, 2018 11:35:13 GMT -5 azvb said:

Seriously. Ph sounds like f. Kn sounds like n. See, sea don’t have a c. Their, they’re, there. ght makes no sense: thought vs night. Etc

My 7 year old grandson just finished 1st grade. He’s a deep thinker, enjoys math. He’s struggling with the reading because the rules don’t always apply.

All true and legitimate criticisms.  But let's remember, our language has "recent" significant influence from French and German--hardly compatible languages.  Something I like about English is that it is a "living" language, it's always changing and growing.  It contains more words than any other language.  If you want to see silly, Look what the Germans and French do to keep English words out of their languages.  

[Sorry Ass Sal]

Fun fact- "set" is the word with the most definitions.

[Sorry Ass Sal]

Two and to

Feel and fill (and Phil)

And of course, Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

[azvb]

Jun 6, 2018 13:08:30 GMT -5 gnu2vball said:

Jun 6, 2018 11:35:13 GMT -5 azvb said:

Seriously. Ph sounds like f. Kn sounds like n. See, sea don’t have a c. Their, they’re, there. ght makes no sense: thought vs night. Etc

My 7 year old grandson just finished 1st grade. He’s a deep thinker, enjoys math. He’s struggling with the reading because the rules don’t always apply.

All true and legitimate criticisms.  But let's remember, our language has "recent" significant influence from French and German--hardly compatible languages.  Something I like about English is that it is a "living" language, it's always changing and growing.  It contains more words than any other language.  If you want to see silly, Look what the Gremans and French do to keep English words out of their languages.  

What do they do?

BTW, on our recent trip, I was pretty impressed, and thankful, most of the French and Germans we encountered spoke enough English we could communicate fairly well. I, on the other hand, actually said gracias a few times 😐.

[hammer]

I would like to take my use of the English language, both written and spoken, seriously, but to do so would be pure poppycock.

[Wolfgang]

Here's a quick question:

How did the phrase "I'm going to make you my girlfriend" come to mean "I'm going to beat you up" in the context of two guys jawing at each other just before a fight?

It doesn't even make sense unless you think it's normal to beat up your girlfriend or you believe there's some sort of unbalanced power relationship between a boyfriend and girlfriend. Any thoughts?

Here's an example. Just before the 1991 Mike Tyson-Razor Ruddock boxing event, billed "The Rematch," Mike Tyson uses this phrase. (Go to 00:23)

[Deleted]

I want to know when adverbs started describing adjectives.

There's only one thing that makes less sense than the language itself. The rules and definitions of grammar.

[mikegarrison]

Feb 19, 2019 20:52:07 GMT -5 @ruffda said:

I want to know when adverbs started describing adjectives.

Probably since before anyone named "adverbs" and "adjectives".

Adjectives modify nouns. Adverbs modify everything else. And they are names for jobs words do, not really names for words themselves. In English, pretty nearly any word can do the job of a noun, a verb, an adverb, or an adjective.

(Note that in the following conversation between two people, house is pronounced the same way every time.)

"I want to have a house party, but I don't have a house." "I can get you one." "How much would it cost? I don't want to end up house poor." "For free!" "OK then, house me!"

The first house is a noun serving as an adjective, modifying the noun party. The second house is a noun just being a noun. The third house is a noun as an adverb, modifying the adjective poor. The last house is noun being used as a verb.

If you house someone (soft s), you let them live in your house. But if you house someone (hard s) you give them a house.

Some words are used so often as nouns and verbs that they get listed as two separate words ("kiss, n" and "kiss, v") but it's really the same word being used in the English construction that lets you say "noun me" or "noun her" and it means "give me a noun" or "give her a noun".

Like a guy might walk up to the bar and say, "Beer me, please." The bartender knows that means to pour a beer and give it to the guy.

[mikegarrison]

Feb 19, 2019 20:31:07 GMT -5 Wolfgang said:

Here's a quick question:

How did the phrase "I'm going to make you my girlfriend" come to mean "I'm going to beat you up" in the context of two guys jawing at each other just before a fight?

It doesn't even make sense unless you think it's normal to beat up your girlfriend or you believe there's some sort of unbalanced power relationship between a boyfriend and girlfriend. Any thoughts?

Here's an example. Just before the 1991 Mike Tyson-Razor Ruddock boxing event, billed "The Rematch," Mike Tyson uses this phrase. (Go to 00:23)

Well, Mike Tyson was notorious for actually beating up his girlfriends.

[Deleted]

Prison lingo. Similar to "Time to pee on the sheets" and "the Warden's doing his nails."