Words that make English Such a Difficult Language

[soFlaNative]

There is no ham in hamburger, egg in eggplant nor is there pine or apple in pineapple.

 

[Absalom]

....ä
From The History of English: "English is a West Germanic language that originated from Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Britain in the mid 5th to 7th centuries AD by Germanic invaders and settlers from what is now northwest Germany, west Denmark and the Netherlands."

Yeah, but that's just the start. When they came to Britain, the Germanic dialects overlaid and blended with pre-Roman Celtic language that itself had been influenced by a few hundred years of Latin during the Roman occupation.

Then later of course came 1066 and the new French-speaking Norman upper class that arrived with William the Conquerer. That's why, for example, the live animal tended by the peasants is a cow from German "Kuh", but the prepared meat that the Lord got to eat is beef, from French "boeuf".

In fact, many medieval kings of England, including Richard the Lionheart, didn't even speak English.

 

[joeintexas]

All I know is who ever put the "P" in the word lisp had a sick sense of humor.

 

[Jack Flash]

All I know is who ever put the "P" in the word lisp had a sick sense of humor.

Now you're getting into onomatopoeia.

 

[TX-Dennis]

The co-conspirators in the Lincoln assassination were hanged. They were not hung.

How do you know?

 

[johngalt]

Since I only speak English, I have no idea if other languages are easier or harder to learn. Is our language alone in having all these variances?

I've been told that German is the preferred language for technical documents because it is much more precise.

 

[Warren Sear]

How about when folks use "peaked" instead of "piqued"? That bothers me more than it should.

 

[JSR III]

to, too, two, tutu
there, their, they're
your, you're
by, buy, bye
break, brake
coarse, course
here, hear
peace, piece
whole, hole
stare, stair
no, know
night, knight
flew, flue
wright, right, write

and last but not least

raise, rays, rase, raze, rehs, reis, res

 

[BC38]

I was all set to blame your people for this mess, but it seems your victims as well.

From The History of English: "English is a West Germanic language that originated from Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Britain in the mid 5th to 7th centuries AD by Germanic invaders and settlers from what is now northwest Germany, west Denmark and the Netherlands."

Yeah, but that's just the start. When they came to Britain, the Germanic dialects overlaid and blended with pre-Roman Celtic language that itself had been influenced by a few hundred years of Latin during the Roman occupation.

Then later of course came 1066 and the new French-speaking Norman upper class that arrived with William the Conquerer. That's why, for example, the live animal tended by the peasants is a cow from German "Kuh", but the prepared meat that the Lord got to eat is beef, from French "boeuf".

In fact, many medieval kings of England, including Richard the Lionheart, didn't even speak English.

Yeah, THEN English was brought to the new world. From that point on the American melting pot started incorporating words from nearly every language on the planet into American English.

No wonder our language is so wacky. It started out as a mish-mash of every primitive language in the old world and then got really corrupted by adopting words from nearly every modern language.

I don't know about learning any other tongue, but it's easy to see why non-English speakers have such a hard time learning ours!

 

[Tom S.]

Is the opposite of "Fat Chance", "Slim Chance"?

Not a chance!

 

[two-bit cowboy]

Is the opposite of "Fat Chance", "Slim Chance"?

Not a chance!

Great stuff, that! I'll put it in my editor's hat for future reference.

 

[chaparrito]

Since I only speak English, I have no idea if other languages are easier or harder to learn. Is our language alone in having all these variances?

No it's not. My wife speaks a native American language that essentially has no tenses; past, present, future etc. Tense is expressed in other ways than verb conjugation. I've learned some of it over 30 years, but listening in on conversations I can't figure out if they're about something that happened an hour or a hundred years ago.
I grew up bilingual spanish/English. In spite of double Ls sounding like Ys and Ns with strange squiggles over them and rolled Rs, spanish is a much easier language to learn to pronounce than English. All spanish vowels; have ONLY one sound and are NEVER silent. You see a vowel, you say it. ah, eh, ee, o, ooh.
Leave meaning behind for a moment and think of the sound the A makes in these English words:
cat
cake
call
and that's only one vowel. English rules of pronunciation are so complicated because while linguistically English is considered a Germanic language, it has been altered and changed by heavy inclusions from many other languages.
No language is pure, all are altered and evolve as usage and speakers change. Spanish has many Arabic terms, from the 800 years the Caliphates controlled Spain.
My wife's and other SW indigenous languages have words that are obviously derived from spanish. The word for 'cow' in her tongue is "wakas" (spanish vaca), the Navajos refer to money as "beso" (Peso) etc.
Isn't this fun!!

 

[Gamecock]

Simple example of such a pair:
Sow ... as in "the boar's girl friend"
Sow ... as in "as ye sow, so shall ye reap"

Could be worse. French and German . . . le sow or la sow? Der sow? Das sow?

 

[joeintexas]

Now you're getting into onomatopoeia.

Now that would be a poetic effect if ever I heard one. LOL

 

[steamloco76]

Now you're getting into onomatopoeia.

Please, this is a family friendly forum

 

[Absalom]

.....
I grew up bilingual spanish/English. In spite of double Ls sounding like Ys....

"LIook, Llarry, llots of llittle llamas on the lleft!"

.....and Ns with strange squiggles over them and rolled Rs, spanish is a much easier language to learn to pronounce than English. All spanish vowels; have ONLY one sound and are NEVER silent. .....

In English, it's not just the silent vowel, though. Silent consonants at the beginning of words, like kn, gn, and ps, all of which are pronounced in other languages, even in the cognates of the same words:

knob = nob in English = Knopf = k-nopf in German
psych... = sycho... in English = Psycho..... = p-sy...

And then there are herbs (as in herbs and spices), which are h-erbs in British and erbs in American English. But honor is onor everywhere. And if the h is silent, why wasn't the president called erbert oover?

(Yes, I know the "serious" reason for the h, but it still drives non-native learners nuts)

 

[SailDesign]

<snip>

But honor is onor everywhere.

<more snip>

Nope - in the rest of the World it's "honour" - with a silent "u"

 

[Jack Flash]

How about when folks use "peaked" instead of "piqued"? That bothers me more than it should.

Don't forget "peeked". A peek at the peak may pique your interest in mountain climbing.

 

[Mike G 0351]

You can stand watch while wearing a watch..

 

[JSR III]

Then you add regional differences in the US. I grew up in NJ and then moved to Massachusetts.

I grew up hearing the word coffee pronounced (cawfee)

Then I moved to Massachusetts and had to park my car pronounced (pack my caa)

Throw in different meanings like ordering a chocolate shake in NJ means you get ice cream and milk, in MA it is milk and chocolate syrup

In NJ order a soda and you get Coke or Pepsi, in MA it's called POP or tonic

In MA a regular coffee means that it has cream and sugar whereas elsewhere it means you don't want decaf


Growing up in the US and learning English it all seems normal, I can only imagine how hard it is if you come here from another country