Fun Fridays – June 15, 2012
Weird English Language Quirks
What is another word for “thesaurus”?
Have you ever run into someone who was combobulated, gruntled, ruly or peccable?
If a book about failure doesn’t sell, is it a success?
Did you know that “verb” is a noun?
If there are typos in a dictionary, how would you know?
A novelist once wrote, “He sat with his head in his hands and his eyes on the floor.” [Think about that for a second.]
Why isn’t phonetic spelled the way it sounds?
Have you experienced requited love?
Why is the word abbreviation so long?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
If two mouses are mice and two louses are lice, why aren’t two houses hice?
Is there another word for a synonym?
Have you ever said, “The present is a good time to present the present?”
Shouldn’t there be a shorter word for “monosyllabic”?
Why can’t you make another word using all the letters in “anagram”?
Why do fat chance and slim chance mean the same thing?
Why do overlook and oversee mean opposite things?
Why do people use the word “irregardless”?
We say something is out of whack. What is a whack?
What drives me batty is when people say “I took the frozen steak out of the freezer to dethaw it.”
What about a “near miss?” Wouldn’t that be a hit? Or why do we often say “hot water heater?” Hot water doesn’t really need to be heated does it?
Or “fall down”. Where else are we going to fall? UP?
Jenny M,
Of course we must say “fall down”. That way, it doesn’t sound funny when we “jump up.”
Oh Timothy, clearly you’ve never danced. Unless you want to prove it. Post some photos on your blog…which I follow BTW.
Go for it!
Muahahaha.
I especially like the humanitarian one.
The word that gets me is indefatigable. Isn’t that a deouble negative? Kind of like irregardless.
This was fun to read. It really gets you thinking about the English language.
“If a book about failure doesn’t sell, is it a success?” This one cracked me up.
I can’t imagine what it must be like to come from another country and learn the English language….ugh!
Thanks for this. It was fun!
Isn’t English a wonderful language?
Fun post.
There was a “ghost word” in the dictionary… “dord.” It was added when a mistake was made when reading over entries to be added. The entry said “D or d” for density, but was read “Dord” and added to the third edition of the New International dictionary. After it had been printed for several years it was eventually removed. ^.^
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dord
Right. And a house can burn up, burn down, and burn out.