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Why English is confusing 1

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tsdragon

Programmer
Dec 18, 2000
5,133
US
I just ran across this little tidbit in some documentation. The programmer mentions somewhere that his native language is Ukranian.
...ColHeaderEndDragEvent occurs when the user has ended to drag a column header.
I suppose if English is not your native language it makes perfect sense: "the user has started to (or begun to)", so why not "the user had ended to"?

Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard. [dragon]
 
If I were learning English as a second language, I think one of the things I would find most difficult/annoying are words that are pronounced differently depending on the context (can't recall the term for these words right now). Such as tear (Don't tear the paper....That sad song brought a tear to my eye.), or read (Read the paper....I already read it).

Also, the fact that the word "run" has at least 52 different definitions would probably make me want to learn Esperanto instead.


I used to rock and roll every night and party every day. Then it was every other day. Now I'm lucky if I can find 30 minutes a week in which to get funky. - Homer Simpson
 
Many two-syllable words are also stressed one way when used as a noun, another when used as a verb. Examples:

concrete
convert
cement
record
suspect
present
conduct

and so on.

English is actually two languages, Latinate and Germanic. That's why there are two ways to say most things. "Car" vs. "Automobile", "home" vs. "Domicile".

The Latinate forms sound "fancier" because the conquerors spoke thataway.



Thomas D. Greer

Providing PostScript & PDF
Training, Development & Consulting
 
tgreer

'sE-ment?

By any chance, are you from Missouri?

 
Ah, area code 316 puts you in Kansas. I was close.

I asked only because I shared an apartment with a couple marines from Missouri who pronounced the noun form of cement that way.

JP
 
An old favourite of mine as to why English is confusing:

If an animal that goes 'moo' is called a cow, and a branch of a tree is called a bough, why isn't the animal called a cough? In that case why isn't a tree branch pronounced 'boff'?

Gez



Sorry, did I say something wrong? Pardon me for breathing which I never do anyway so I don't know why I bother to say it Oh God I'm so depressed - Marvin, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
 
If the plural of mouse is mice, why isn't the plural of house hice?

If the plural of goose is geese, why isn't the plural of moose meese? Or caboose cabeese?


Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard. [dragon]
 
English's weaknesses are also its great strengths. The ability to take words form other languages and assimilate them means that it is full of irregularities. It also means that we don't get appauling contructions like the french 'le weekend' or 'le parking'. Yes, I know that will stir up some hornet's nests but it's how I see it.

Meanwhile, if we're going to simplify the spelling let's go for true phonetic. We'll just let a Jordy, a Scouser or a Glaswegian decide the phoneitcs. Or, to give an example from the US, should 'route' be pronounced to rhyme with 'root' or with 'out'?

So if the the price we have to pay for a language that is flexible and world wide is that it has its eccentricities then I revel in them.

Columb Healy
 
The noun form of "cement" is pronounced with the stress on the first syllable, the vowel long. The verb form is stressed on the second syllable, with the first syllable's vowel sound pronounced as a schwa.

That isn't a regional pronunciation; it's consistent with every other word in that list!

It's been said that the "central plains" accent is the most "accentless", meaning, most closely adhering to proper or "dictionary" pronunciation.

I have to question that every time I hear someone say they need to "warsh" their car.



Thomas D. Greer

Providing PostScript & PDF
Training, Development & Consulting
 
Thomas
I'm sorry but I have to disagree. I speak Thames Valley english, as near to what was once called BBC english as you get, and I would pronounce the verb and the noun exactly the same way. I'm not saying that the 'see ment' pronunciation is wrong, I'm just saying it's far from universal. As with so much in English, You say tomato, I say tomato... well you get the point!

Columb Healy
 
I agree with Columb. I grew up in rural southern California, and I, too, pronounce the noun and verb forms of "cement" the same way (without the long e).


Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard. [dragon]
 
SEE-ment, to me, is associated with the TV show The Beverly Hillbillies, where out back they had a "see-ment" pond (swimming pool).

Me transmitte sursum, Caledoni!

 
I wasn't suggesting 'sE-ment was wrong either, sorry if my post came off that way.

But the noun pronunciation certainly differs from region to region.
 
I have a question: When speaking of "mouse" as a pointing device in IT, what is the plural of the word? Mice or Mouses?

And why do we drive on a parkway, and park on a driveway?

Peace,
Toni L. [yinyang]
 

And I have a question, too. :-D

How many of you who knows exactly why English is confusing are not native English speakers?
 
what about this confusing one:

"All of a sudden"

While sudden is a word we never refer to part of a sudden, so why not just use "suddenly"?
 
Stella740pl - As soon as I figure out what "native English" is, I'll try to answer your question.

ToniL said:
And why do we drive on a parkway, and park on a driveway?
Well, you do drive on the driveway. How else do you get your car from the road to the house? You can also park on a parkway, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Seriously, the answer lies in the etymology of park. In Old French, parc (park) was an enclosure. Within the military, the park was the enclosure where rolling weapons were stored, such as canons, howitzers, and the like. As early as the 19th century, the verb 'to park' meant to store your rolling weapons away in the park. That is essentially where park, as in parking the vehicle comes from. On a somewhat parallel line, parc, the enclosure, was also used to cordon off hunting areas for the wealthy. It was the hunting park. As trails were cut through these parks, they came to know as the ways through the park, or the parkways. This is how parkway, as a road, came into being.

Good Luck
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what about this confusing statement?

"All of a sudden .........."

While sudden is a word, we never refer to “part” of a sudden.
Wouldn’t it be less confusing to simply use "suddenly" instead?
 

CC,

Wordplay is in another forum :). I am sure you did understand me quite well.

Native speakers of English - is it any better? Or, let's rephrase it, for how many of you English is a first language?
 
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