Why is English so hard?
Why is English hard?
Contranyms – words that have two opposite meanings
Transparent: can mean invisible or obvious ("I bumped into the back wall which was completely transparent,") or ("It is transparent to me that you are a liar and a rogue").
Rules are inconsistent
"I before e, except after c"
Though not in 'neighbour' or 'weigh'
Homophones
Homophones are words which sound the same but are spelt differently.
mussels – a small shellfish with a soft body inside a hard black or green shell, often cooked and eaten as food;
Homographs
Homographs are words which spelt the same but mean something
Present (present a present in the present)
Bat – bat ball, bat mammal
Cool – fashionable, hip; moderately cold
Invalid – not valid; invalid
Close – the door; stand back, dude
produce (a farmer produces produce)
dove bird and past tense dive
Homonyms
palm (the palm of your hand; a palm tree)
letter (a symbol in an alphabet; a written message to someone)
ruler (for measuring lengths; a king or queen)
Idioms
Idioms are phrases which have a common understanding, but which in itself doesn't impart its meaning.
Shoot the breeze: to talk about unimportant things
Piece of cake: something that is easy or straightforward
Donkey's years: a long time
Chew the fat: to gossip or make small talk
Go pear-shaped: indicates that something has gone wrong
Illogical words
Let's face it, some words just don't make any sense:
Eggplant: there aren't any eggs in an eggplant
Hamburger: hamburgers don't have any ham
Guinea pig: guinea pigs aren't from the country of Guinea, nor are they pigs!
Sweetmeats: are sweets, but sweetbreads aren't sweet and are meat!
Incommunicado: means you are NOT communicating!
Misnomers
Closely allied to illogical words are misnomers, misnamed people, places or things:
Arabic numerals: originated in India.
Tin cans and tin foil: are constructed from aluminium, not tin.
Danish pastries: were invented in Austria.
Dry cleaning: uses a fluid called naphtha.
Koala bears: are marsupials, not bears.
Panama hats: originate from Ecuador, not Panama.
The Peanut: is a legume, [i.e., fruit/vegetable] not a nut.
Irrational collective nouns
Collective nouns, apparently, are made up by strange people with a warped sense of humour. Like idioms, either you know a collective or you don't; it is impossible to work out the collective noun for anything.
A glaring of cats
An entrance of actresses
An unhappiness of husbands
A Sodom of shepherds
One goose, two geese. One moose, two…? Moose.
A flock of geese (when the geese are flying)
A gaggle of geese (when the geese are on the ground)
Bonus: words to show off with
Exegete: one who explains or interprets difficult parts of written works.
Sine qua non: an indispensable thing.
Sesquipedalian: (of words) long; having many syllables.
Paraprosdokian: an unexpected shift in meaning at the end of a sentence or paragraph (also called the surprise ending). It is often used for comic effect. [For example: "Please, make yourself at home. Clean my kitchen.")
Defenestrate: to throw someone or something out of a window.