Language Matters
Why English is so hard to learn
Marlene Davis
YOU think English is easy? Check out the following.
1. The bandage
was wound around
the wound.
11. The insurance was invalid for the invalid in his hospital bed.
12. There was a row among the oarsmen about who would row. 13. They were too close to the door to close it.
14. The buck does funny things when the does (females) are present.
15. A seamstress and a sewer fell
2. The farm was cultivated to produce down into a sewer line.
produce.
3. The dump was so full that the workers had to refuse more refuse.
4. We must polish the Polish furniture shown at the store.
5. He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6. The soldier decided to desert his tasty dessert in the desert.
7. Since there is no time like the pres- ent, he thought it was time to present the present to his girlfriend.
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 which he showed me.
16. To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17. The wind was too strong to wind the sail around the mast.
18. Upon seeing the tear in her painting she shed a tear.
19.I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
20. How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
Heteronyms
These are brilliant. Homonyms or homographs are words of like spelling, but with more than one meaning and sound.
When pronounced differently, they are known as heteronyms.
Marlene cooked with this one.
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Did you know?
These days, defenestration—from the Latin fenestra, meaning "window"—is often used to describe the forceful removal of someone from public office or from some other advantageous position. History's most famous defenestration, however, was one in which the tossing out the window was quite literal. On May 23, 1618, two imperial regents were found guilty of violating certain guarantees of religious freedom and were thrown out the window of Prague Castle. The men survived the 50-foot tumble into the moat, but the incident marked the beginning of the Bohemian resistance to Hapsburg rule that eventually led to the Thirty Years' War and came to be known as the Defenestration of Prague. It was, in fact, the third such historical defenestration in Prague, but it was the first to be referred to as such by English speakers.
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‘Varsity’ is a shortening of ‘university.’
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'Psyop' is short for 'psychological operation.'
We promise this isn't one.
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‘Audit’ shares its roots with ‘audible’ and ‘auditorium.’
‘Audit’ comes from the Latin ‘audire,’ which means “to hear.”
The earliest use of the word referred to a hearing at which a company's books and records were examined.
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Can we have a moment of your time?
‘Minute’ comes from the Late Latin ‘minuta,’ referring to 1/60 of a unit, such as an hour.
‘Second’ comes from the Medieval Latin ‘secunda,’ short for ‘secunda minuta,’ literally “second minute” (1/60 of a minute).
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Both 'doctor's appointment' and 'doctor appointment' are acceptable for describing a medical visit.
'Doctor's appointment' is more common.
But both are considered correct.
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Acronyms are pronounced as words.
-scuba
-laser
-NASA
Initialisms are pronounced as individual letters.
-NFL
-TSA
-TGIF
'Acronym' is frequently used for both kinds of abbreviations, so it's ok to call an initialism an acronym.
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By the late 1800s, 'pontificate' was also being used derisively for lay individuals who spoke as if they had the authority of a member of the clergy.
One might consider this sense of 'pontificate' to be the spiritual forerunner of 'mansplain.'
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We hate to drone on, so we’ll give you the TL;DR on ‘pontificate.’
'Pontificate’ originally meant “to officiate as a pontiff.”
pontiff = Pope or bishop
⬇️
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The 'kin' of ‘napkin’ means "little."
‘Nap’ comes from ‘nape,' which means “tablecloth.”
So a napkin is a little tablecloth.
10/10, no notes.
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This is why the radical sign √ is used when finding the square ROOT of a number or formula.
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Wake up, kids
We got the dreamers disease.
‘Radical’ comes from a Latin word meaning "root."
Because roots are the deepest part of a plant, ‘radical’ came to describe things understood as fundamental or essential.
‘Radical change’ was a change at the root of a system.
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The most common spelling is ‘April Fools’ Day,’ since there are more than one.
Honestly.
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We’d like to have a word with you.
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‘Salsa’ (dance) comes from ‘salsa’ (sauce).
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The Words of the Week - Mar. 27
Dictionary lookups from social media, geology, and the equinox
These are your words of the week
negligent
snowpack
plate tectonics
vernal
scious
www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/the...
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When movies were shot on physical film, the film was measured in feet.
This is why any recorded thing is now called ‘footage.'
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In 1919, the most dominant racehorse in the world was Man o' War.
His career record was 20-1.
His only loss was to a horse named ‘Upset.'
This is NOT the origin of the word ‘upset.’
Evidence of ‘upset’ meaning “an unexpected defeat” dates as far back as 1877.
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‘Rage’ and ‘outrage’ aren’t etymologically related.
‘Rage’ is from the Latin ‘rabere’ (to be mad).
‘Outrage’ is from Anglo-French ‘utrage’ (insult), from Latin 'ultra' (beyond).
We hope this doesn’t make you mad.
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