Why English can be confussing.

[TechnicAl]

CONFUSSING........looks like it is

 

[frank horton]

lovely jubly these just comes to mind.....
Lacker....S.A.
Glad wrap....USA....

and how the hell does a pot hole get its name....beats me.......hahaha......

good we can laugh about it all.......

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Google "Parliamo Glasgae" - I'm on the tablet and it's a faff to post a link (well, for me it is ) - you think English is tricky....

 

[Stueeee]

I could never quite understand why we park on a driveway?

But in the USA, be sure to drive on the pavement; frowned upon in this country for some reason.

There always some colloquialism that will trip you up in other countries that speak a kind of English. Some years ago, I worked in the US for a while. I was giving a talk to some techies about some network management software and said that it was a good idea to reset certain of the counters on a fortnightly basis. During the Q & A session afterwards, somebody asked me what a fortnight was as they had never heard of it. I said "a fortnight is 14 days" they replied "oh great, why didn't you say it was 14 days" I gently pointed out that I already had.

 

[Morris]

Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson is a fascinating read on the evolution of English (which consists of a lot of other languages!).

 

[pedrobedro]

But a cast is a social level used to determine what level in society you are in.

No that's a caste (with e on the end) cast is the list of people in a play. No, play is what children do with toys.

 

[Eric the chicken]

Re foreigners and English. Three times in the last two years whilst in Europe I've had two Germans and an Austrian tell me I 'speak good English'. I thought maybe they were being funny, but couldn't see the joke. I ended up asking the second chap, who was German what he meant, politely of course. It turns out what they mean is that my English accent and pronunciation is easy for them to understand.

 

[chunkolini]

English pronounciation can be a tad confusing.
Eg,
I had a cough, even though I felt rough I pulled through the slough of despond
Bonkers. I think there are at least two ways of pronouncing ough

 

[Bladevane]

It always amused me when Americans said, "Oh, I love your accent". No. I speak English. You have the accent.

 

[ajlelectronics]

My (one of my) irritation is plurals especially from modern journalists. I have seen "sheeps" "deers" "badger's" and "alpaca's".

Boils it don't you know?

 

[Perry Owens]

When I worked in the US I was always the one sent out to placate angry customers because (a) the customers were so intrigued by my English accent that they soon forgot to be angry (b) they thought that I had flown 3000 miles just to deal with their complaint. I loved the way Americans make up their own words when they can't think of the right one. My design draughtsman once came up to me and said " I just smallered that component like you asked".

 

[pedrobedro]

Bonkers. I think there are at least two ways of pronouncing ough

I cut a piece off of a tree. Well don't just stand there take a bough and use the bough to make a plough. There might be three. I like this game. I'm not fat I'm just the wrong weight for my height. I've heard the word now I can't stop. Rough, cough, through, plough that's four.

 

[colnerov]

My (one of my) irritation is plurals especially from modern journalists. I have seen "sheeps" "deers" "badger's" and "alpaca's".

Boils it don't you know?

Hi, I'm with you on that, another example is referring to increasing the "RPM's" The first word of the acronym is already a plural there's no need to add the 's' at the end.

Colin

 

[ajlelectronics]

Hi, I'm with you on that, another example is referring to increasing the "RPM's" The first word of the acronym is already a plural there's no need to add the 's' at the end.

Colin

I see your RPMs and raise you ATM machines and PIN numbers.

 

[ajlelectronics]

It always amused me when Americans said, "Oh, I love your accent". No. I speak English. You have the accent.

What's more, we can spell simple words like colour and know that the car's engine is mostly found under a bonnet!

 

[rtcosic]

I see your RPMs and raise you ATM machines and PIN numbers.

I'll trump you both with PAT Testing.

 

[maz0]

A colleague pulled up another colleague this week for saying people in the office had been electrocuted last week by faulty sockets. He of course meant they got a shock, but the grammar nazi insisted that the term meant death by electricity, a joining of the worlds electric and execution. I Google’d it for a laugh during the discussion, only to upset the grammar nazi that most definitions of it today include “injury” as well as death. The guy was still wrong but I don’t remember “injury” always being a part of it. Seems like we updated the definition to suit people who use it incorrectly.

 

[ajlelectronics]

A colleague pulled up another colleague this week for saying people in the office had been electrocuted last week by faulty sockets. He of course meant they got a shock, but the grammar nazi insisted that the term meant death by electricity, a joining of the worlds electric and execution. I Google’d it for a laugh during the discussion, only to upset the grammar nazi that most definitions of it today include “injury” as well as death. The guy was still wrong but I don’t remember “injury” always being a part of it. Seems like we updated the definition to suit people who use it incorrectly.

Yes, it annoyed me to find that out. Electrocution is death by electricity, but is seems to have become distorted, because of lazy yanks. Another one that slowly dawned on me thanks to my mate yeronna, is that the definition of rape has now been changed to encompass most s. assaults. Crazy.

 

[ajlelectronics]

"Train station". Grrr. The station is built on the RAILWAY, therefore it is a railway station. Until they start building stations onto trains, it will never be a "train station".

Standard comeback to that is "What about bus station?". Well it isn't a bus station, that's another distortion. It's an Omnibus Terminus.

 

[Seadog]

Not an acronym, but how about Naan bread?