Why is English so hard to learn?
1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture.
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to
present the present.
8) I did not object to the object.
9) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
10) They were too close to the door to close it.
11) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
12) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
13) I shed my clothes in the shed.
Let's face it — the English language is a crazy language,
There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor
pine in pineapple.
English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France.
Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are
meat.
You cannot buy boots in Boots, you cannot buy threshers in Threshers
and the Superdrug chain is a disappointment. We take English for
granted.
But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work
slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from
Guinea nor is it a pig.
And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't
groce and hammers don't ham?
If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth?
One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices?
If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an
asylum for the verbally insane.
In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?
We ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet
that smell?
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man
and a wise guy are opposites?
You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your
house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by
filling it out and in which an alarm goes off by going on.
English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the
creativity of the human race (which, of course, isn't a race at all).
That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the
lights are out, they are invisible.
And finally, how about when you want to shut down your computer you
have to hit "START"??!!!! See, it's been complicated even more by the
Americans!!!
21.08.04 12:11: Перенесено модератором из 'Проблемы перевода' — Odi$$ey
Здравствуйте, G.I. O_Neil, Вы писали:
GIO>Why is English so hard to learn?
Add this to your collection:
When you're over the big drink you really get to feel how tiny we humans are.
Здравствуйте, Victor Levin, Вы писали:
VL>When you're over the big drink you really get to feel how tiny we humans are.
VL>
может быть
Когда много выпьешь, сразу осознаешь насколько люди ничтожны
Здравствуйте, G.I. O_Neil, Вы писали:
GIO>Why is English so hard to learn?
Я вот такую часто слышал от нашего бывшего генерального
When I went to Arkansas I saw a saw that could outsaw
any other saw that you ever saw,
so if you see a saw that you think could outsaw the saw
that I saw I want to see the saw that you saw!!!
Арканзас по американски читается как [a:kenso:]
... << RSDN@Home 1.1.4 @@subversion >>
Здравствуйте, Аноним, Вы писали:
А>Здравствуйте, Victor Levin, Вы писали:
VL>>When you're over the big drink you really get to feel how tiny we humans are.
VL>>
А>может быть
А>Когда много выпьешь, сразу осознаешь насколько люди ничтожны
Да наоборот же! Когда много выпьешь, то ничего не осознаешь и море тогда по колено (мне один приятель об этом рассказывал), а вот когда летишь над океаном (when you are over the big drink), то дейсвительно осознаешь, какие крошечные существа люди на самом деле есть.
Здравствуйте, G.I. O_Neil, Вы писали:
GIO>English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the
GIO>creativity of the human race (which, of course, isn't a race at all).
Ох уж мне эти расовые предрассудки (race condition)
Перекуём баги на фичи!
