Skip to main content

10 moments where the English language tries to mess with you

By May 30, 2018Language

“The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.”

~James D. Nicoll~

 




This classic

Seven different meanings depending on which word is stressed

“I didn’t said she stole my money” has 7 different meanings depending on the stressed word.

I didn’t say she stole my money – someone else said it.

didn’t say she stole my money – I didn’t say it.

I didn’t say she stole my money – I only implied it.

I didn’t say she stole my money – I said someone did, not necessarily her.

I didn’t say she stole my money – I considered it borrowed, even though she didn’t ask.

I didn’t say she stole my money – only that she stole money.

I didn’t say she stole my money – she stole stuff which cost me money to replace.

You may have seen this before…

Unnecessarily complicated

How about ‘comb’ pronounced ‘cowm’- shouldn’t bomb be pronounced ‘bowm’?

Apparently it all goes to pot in southern USA…

Errrr… Oh

I shit you not…

Grammar FTW!

Cool game!




Leave your vote

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.