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Jun-30-2005 20:23

I'm trying to learn Italian. But since I'm from Potato Land, where we speak with as many grunts as we do nouns. So this semester while everyone has been learning Italian, I have been learning English. (Did anyone else not know that the Perfected Present is really in the past?)
So with all these non-native English speakers around I thought ya'll (3rd person plural-Italian Loro :) might enjoy some of these.

Jul-2-2005 15:05

It is my understanding that the person who assassinated President Lincoln fell as he tried to escape accross the stage and broke his leg, thus originating the phrase "break a leg" which is said to anyone going on stage.

Jul-2-2005 15:25

Oooo, yes, loved Lewis Carroll's play with with words and Norton Juster's in "The Phantom Tollbooth" as well, especially the Which who wasn't a witch but a which :D

Jul-3-2005 05:50

Oh the Phantom Tollbooth is my favourite kids book! I read it way back, then wanted to get it again a few years later. All I could remember was that it had a picture of a dog with a clock for a body (for those that haven't read it, guess what he was!). I sent 2 librarians and a bookseller round the bend trying to unearth it!

Jul-3-2005 14:14

I found this kids book and I love it!! Its called:

Hooway fo Woodney Wat!

it's sweet any one else know it?

Jul-4-2005 20:48

actually the hardest language in the world to learn is navaho language. second hardest would be japenese followed by chinise.

Jul-4-2005 21:53

I really think that's more of an opinion than any true fact.

It's true that navajo is very hard to learn and was used as code during WWII but to say japenese is the 2nd or even to rank them?

I suppose your putting Japenese up there because of the tonal qualities and the huge number of characters, but these difficulties can arise in many languages including (but not limited to) arabic, Korean, many tribal languages in Africa (clicking is something I can not do for the life of me) and most importantly Mongolian. Have you ever seen Mongolian Script? It's truly amazing.

Besides more people speak mandarin than any other language so for most of the world it probably wasnt' very hard to learn...

Jul-5-2005 05:28

It most likely depends what your mother tongue is to qualify what is the hardest. Factoring in not only pronounciation, but also the difficulty of grammer.

Another reason I find that the English language is the easiest to learn. Is that no matter in which country you are, there is music with english texts, adds, TV, people to pratice with, availability of courses in a lot of places in the world. In a lot of countries you are exposed to English from a very early age, which makes it easier to learn.

Jul-5-2005 06:45

Heres a music one:

Did you know the English Horn is neither English or a Horn?

Jul-8-2005 20:06

English Humor:

We'll begin with box; the plural is boxes,

But the plural of ox is oxen, not oxes.

One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,

But the plural of mouse in not ever meese.

You may find a lone mouse, or a whole nest of mice,

But the plural of house is still never hice.

If the plural of man is always men

Why shouldn't the plural of pan be pen?

If I speak of a foot and you show me two feet,

And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?

If one is a tooth, and a whole set are teeth

Why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?

If a singular this is a plural these

Should the plural of kiss ever be keese?

We speak of a brother and also call brethren,

And though we say mother we never say methren.

Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,

But imagine the feminine she, shis and shim.


- Alice Hess Beveridge

Jul-8-2005 20:14

English Language:
A veritable storehouse of humor

English has virtually ousted most other languages of the world and is currently reigning supreme as the major language of commerce, medicine, electronics, space technology, aviation, sea navigation and what not. Nearly, all the information stored in the world’s computers is in English.

English grammar is quite complicated. Learning English can be a frustrating experience for some and fun for others.

Recently, the word paradigm has been bandied about extensively in business circles, thanks to Stephen Covey, author of the book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Paradigm means perception, assumption or a frame of reference. When I read this book a few years ago, I didn’t know how to pronounce paradigm. I understood later that it should be pronounced as paradime. Where does the letter ‘g’ come in, simply beats my imagination. Wouldn’t be better if it were spelled as it sounds?

Luckily, in Bahasa Indonesia, paradigm is translated as paradigma and pronounced as such. Which, then, is a user-friendly language, Indonesian or English?

In English, the meaning of some words may totally vary, depending upon the context in which they are used. The other day I read a caption in The Jakarta Post: 11 mental patients at large in Manila. We know large means big. But the message conveyed here is that “11 mental patients escaped from the hospital”. How can we expect the learners of English to decipher such meanings?

English is a funny language. For instance, if you have horrible dreams while sleeping during daytime, it’s still called a nightmare. The word doctoring is used to change the figures to hide the truth in a financial statement. Isn’t it a demeaning word for the medical profession? Midwife does not mean one more woman in a man’s life. A midwife helps pregnant women to give birth. A ring is a circular thing; if so, how do you explain a boxing ring, which is a square