Skip to content
  • Categories
  • Recent
  • Tags
  • Popular
  • World
  • Users
  • Groups
Skins
  • Light
  • Cerulean
  • Cosmo
  • Flatly
  • Journal
  • Litera
  • Lumen
  • Lux
  • Materia
  • Minty
  • Morph
  • Pulse
  • Sandstone
  • Simplex
  • Sketchy
  • Spacelab
  • United
  • Yeti
  • Zephyr
  • Dark
  • Cyborg
  • Darkly
  • Quartz
  • Slate
  • Solar
  • Superhero
  • Vapor
  • Default (No Skin)
  • No Skin
Collapse
Code Project
CODE PROJECT For Those Who Code
  • Home
  • Articles
  • FAQ
Community
  1. Home
  2. The Lounge
  3. The absurdities of English

The absurdities of English

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved The Lounge
questiondatabasehelptutorial
34 Posts 16 Posters 0 Views 1 Watching
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as topic
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
  • V Vikram A Punathambekar

    Posted by Rohit a long time back, found it in the archives. I find myself in splits everytime I read it, so I thought it was worthy of a repost. Anyone who has ever tried to learn English as a second language or Teach it to second language learners should understand the ironic humor in this: Reasons why the English language is 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) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum. 9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes. 10) I did not object to the object. 11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid. 12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row. 13) They were too close to the door to close it. 14) The buck does funny things when the does are present. 15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line. 16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow. 17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail. 18) After a number of injections my jaw got number. 19) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear. 20) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests. 21) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend? Let's face it - English 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. 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? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend. If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it? If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian (like me)eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum f

    J Offline
    J Offline
    jeff_martin
    wrote on last edited by
    #7

    Why are apartments so close together?

    N 1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • J jeff_martin

      Why are apartments so close together?

      N Offline
      N Offline
      nssone
      wrote on last edited by
      #8

      Because they keep people apart from eachother?

      1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • V Vikram A Punathambekar

        Posted by Rohit a long time back, found it in the archives. I find myself in splits everytime I read it, so I thought it was worthy of a repost. Anyone who has ever tried to learn English as a second language or Teach it to second language learners should understand the ironic humor in this: Reasons why the English language is 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) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum. 9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes. 10) I did not object to the object. 11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid. 12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row. 13) They were too close to the door to close it. 14) The buck does funny things when the does are present. 15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line. 16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow. 17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail. 18) After a number of injections my jaw got number. 19) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear. 20) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests. 21) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend? Let's face it - English 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. 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? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend. If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it? If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian (like me)eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum f

        G Offline
        G Offline
        Giles
        wrote on last edited by
        #9

        Its a wonderful language that you can fully express all your feelings. Its not to be analysed. What other language can you swear every other word when your angrgy and still make a coherent sentence that people can understand. :-D If you want I can give you an example of this in the soapbox. :cool:

        "Je pense, donc je mange." - Rene Descartes 1689 - Just before his mother put his tea on the table. Shameless Plug - Distributed Database Transactions in .NET using COM+

        K V 2 Replies Last reply
        0
        • N nssone

          I hate it when people sit there and complain about English. Don't like it? Go speak Spanish or something. Try that, learning all those different pronunciations and learning the different forms of nouns and verbs. English was a language that took its vocabulary from many different sources then made it into its own. What is an aquarium? A tank of water. Latin aquarium, source of water. Aqua is water in Latin. AQUArium. There's an example of borrowed vocabulary. A hamburger was a food that came from Hamburg. Then it evolved into a cheeseburger - a hamburger with cheese. An eggplant was a plant that similar physical characteristics of an egg: hard shell outside - liquidous inside. Buick was how you pronounced the last name of the guy who started the company. It's not an English word, necessarily. I doubt the last name is from England or anywhere near enough. And the whole thing with homonyms and synonyms, it's so lame. In most European languanges you have to figure out what's being said and what words are being used is by context anyways. English is a European language. Stop over-analyzing the most powerful modern language used and go back to coding, where everything is nice and structured. Or 'struct'.

          Z Offline
          Z Offline
          Zachery
          wrote on last edited by
          #10

          Touchee'. "If you don't like the team, get out of the stadium." - Stan Marsh

          ..........Zack.......... Developer Extraordinaire && Full Time Geek

          Think different, think beige "Don't go out of your way to step on people's toes, but don't stop walking all-together." GCS\P\SS d- s-:- a-- C++$ U--- P--- L- E- W++ N o K-? w+++ O++ !M-- V PS+ PE Y+ PGP t+ 5+ X+ R++ tv++ b++ DI++ D+++ G+>G++++ e* h- r++ y+

          1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • G Giles

            Its a wonderful language that you can fully express all your feelings. Its not to be analysed. What other language can you swear every other word when your angrgy and still make a coherent sentence that people can understand. :-D If you want I can give you an example of this in the soapbox. :cool:

            "Je pense, donc je mange." - Rene Descartes 1689 - Just before his mother put his tea on the table. Shameless Plug - Distributed Database Transactions in .NET using COM+

            K Offline
            K Offline
            KaRl
            wrote on last edited by
            #11

            Giles wrote: "Je pense, donc je mange." - Rene Descartes 1689 - Just before his mother put his tea on the table Tea? :wtf:

            Silence Means Death Stand On Your Feet Inner Fear Your Worst Enemy Refuse! Resist!

            1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • T Tom Archer

              I guess to those of us who are (mostly) "native" speakers, it's so inbred that we don't give it a second thought. Since I speak Spanish as a second language I personally find a lot of their words and phrases hilarious, but of course, a native Spanish doesn't. Cheers, Tom Archer, Inside C# Mainstream is just a word for the way things always have been -- just a middle-of-the-road, tow-the-line thing; a front for the Man serving up the same warmed-over slop he did yesterday and expecting you to say, "Thank you sir, may I have another?"

              C Offline
              C Offline
              Cambalindo
              wrote on last edited by
              #12

              Well I speak Spanish as native languge, and I find english a rather easy language to learn..It is objective, direct, that´s why it is the language of the world. The verbs don`t change with persons only add an `s`in third person and thats all. In spanish verbs change in every person. also there is a great difference with verb "ser" and "estar" in spanish and in English there is just one that take both meaning "to be". Cheers! Daniel Cespedes "Santa Cruz de la Sierra Paraiso Terrenal!" daniel.cespedes@ieee.org

              T 1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • V Vikram A Punathambekar

                Posted by Rohit a long time back, found it in the archives. I find myself in splits everytime I read it, so I thought it was worthy of a repost. Anyone who has ever tried to learn English as a second language or Teach it to second language learners should understand the ironic humor in this: Reasons why the English language is 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) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum. 9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes. 10) I did not object to the object. 11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid. 12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row. 13) They were too close to the door to close it. 14) The buck does funny things when the does are present. 15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line. 16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow. 17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail. 18) After a number of injections my jaw got number. 19) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear. 20) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests. 21) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend? Let's face it - English 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. 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? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend. If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it? If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian (like me)eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum f

                J Offline
                J Offline
                Jason Hooper
                wrote on last edited by
                #13

                You'd probably enjoy reading Richard Lederer. I did my elementary school public speeches on Crazy English. Interesting stuff. - Jason (SonorkID 100.611) The Code Project - Orange makes the art grow fonder

                1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • V Vikram A Punathambekar

                  Posted by Rohit a long time back, found it in the archives. I find myself in splits everytime I read it, so I thought it was worthy of a repost. Anyone who has ever tried to learn English as a second language or Teach it to second language learners should understand the ironic humor in this: Reasons why the English language is 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) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum. 9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes. 10) I did not object to the object. 11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid. 12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row. 13) They were too close to the door to close it. 14) The buck does funny things when the does are present. 15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line. 16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow. 17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail. 18) After a number of injections my jaw got number. 19) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear. 20) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests. 21) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend? Let's face it - English 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. 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? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend. If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it? If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian (like me)eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum f

                  L Offline
                  L Offline
                  Lost User
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #14

                  If the plural of goose is geese, why isn't the plural of moose meese ? :rolleyes: Elaine (glad curiousity didn't kill the fluffy tigress) The tigress is here :-D

                  1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • N nssone

                    I hate it when people sit there and complain about English. Don't like it? Go speak Spanish or something. Try that, learning all those different pronunciations and learning the different forms of nouns and verbs. English was a language that took its vocabulary from many different sources then made it into its own. What is an aquarium? A tank of water. Latin aquarium, source of water. Aqua is water in Latin. AQUArium. There's an example of borrowed vocabulary. A hamburger was a food that came from Hamburg. Then it evolved into a cheeseburger - a hamburger with cheese. An eggplant was a plant that similar physical characteristics of an egg: hard shell outside - liquidous inside. Buick was how you pronounced the last name of the guy who started the company. It's not an English word, necessarily. I doubt the last name is from England or anywhere near enough. And the whole thing with homonyms and synonyms, it's so lame. In most European languanges you have to figure out what's being said and what words are being used is by context anyways. English is a European language. Stop over-analyzing the most powerful modern language used and go back to coding, where everything is nice and structured. Or 'struct'.

                    G Offline
                    G Offline
                    Gumaro
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #15

                    I haven't seen any complain about English they are just pointing out some odd situations about the language, unless I misunderstood what I've read, besides I think that all languages have some contradictions and all are as complete as English to express what they want. Relax ... life is too short to hate what is not necessary.:-O Cheers! Omar

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • N nssone

                      I hate it when people sit there and complain about English. Don't like it? Go speak Spanish or something. Try that, learning all those different pronunciations and learning the different forms of nouns and verbs. English was a language that took its vocabulary from many different sources then made it into its own. What is an aquarium? A tank of water. Latin aquarium, source of water. Aqua is water in Latin. AQUArium. There's an example of borrowed vocabulary. A hamburger was a food that came from Hamburg. Then it evolved into a cheeseburger - a hamburger with cheese. An eggplant was a plant that similar physical characteristics of an egg: hard shell outside - liquidous inside. Buick was how you pronounced the last name of the guy who started the company. It's not an English word, necessarily. I doubt the last name is from England or anywhere near enough. And the whole thing with homonyms and synonyms, it's so lame. In most European languanges you have to figure out what's being said and what words are being used is by context anyways. English is a European language. Stop over-analyzing the most powerful modern language used and go back to coding, where everything is nice and structured. Or 'struct'.

                      M Offline
                      M Offline
                      Mark Focas
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #16

                      nssone wrote: An eggplant was a plant that similar physical characteristics of an egg: hard shell outside - liquidous inside.
                      I think I missed the point about the eggplant Being in a minority of one, doesn't make you insane
                      (George Orwell , I think)

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • V Vikram A Punathambekar

                        Posted by Rohit a long time back, found it in the archives. I find myself in splits everytime I read it, so I thought it was worthy of a repost. Anyone who has ever tried to learn English as a second language or Teach it to second language learners should understand the ironic humor in this: Reasons why the English language is 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) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum. 9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes. 10) I did not object to the object. 11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid. 12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row. 13) They were too close to the door to close it. 14) The buck does funny things when the does are present. 15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line. 16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow. 17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail. 18) After a number of injections my jaw got number. 19) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear. 20) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests. 21) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend? Let's face it - English 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. 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? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend. If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it? If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian (like me)eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum f

                        L Offline
                        L Offline
                        Liam OHagan
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #17

                        I like the fact that you cut a tree down, and then you cut it up :D

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • C Cambalindo

                          Well I speak Spanish as native languge, and I find english a rather easy language to learn..It is objective, direct, that´s why it is the language of the world. The verbs don`t change with persons only add an `s`in third person and thats all. In spanish verbs change in every person. also there is a great difference with verb "ser" and "estar" in spanish and in English there is just one that take both meaning "to be". Cheers! Daniel Cespedes "Santa Cruz de la Sierra Paraiso Terrenal!" daniel.cespedes@ieee.org

                          T Offline
                          T Offline
                          Tom Archer
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #18

                          Cambalindo wrote: The verbs don`t change with persons only add an `s`in third person and thats all. Exactly. We obviously have the same forms and rules in terms of conjugation. It's just that the word stays the same for all the forms :) Cambalindo wrote: great difference with verb "ser" and "estar" in spanish and in English there is just one that take both meaning "to be". Exactly. That's one of the biggies when you first learn the language. Then there's the feminie vs masuline article that we don't have to worry about. What I love though are things like "El comio la luz!" - literally translated to "He ate the light" - meanin-g "He ran the red light". There's tons of things like that. That's why when I meet someone that's learning a new language, I always tell them that trying to translate verbatim is a mistake. You have to clear your mind and just accept the other language as it is. When you know you're finally getting it is when you start dreaming in the other language. Cheers, Tom Archer, Inside C# Mainstream is just a word for the way things always have been -- just a middle-of-the-road, tow-the-line thing; a front for the Man serving up the same warmed-over slop he did yesterday and expecting you to say, "Thank you sir, may I have another?"

                          J 1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • N nssone

                            I hate it when people sit there and complain about English. Don't like it? Go speak Spanish or something. Try that, learning all those different pronunciations and learning the different forms of nouns and verbs. English was a language that took its vocabulary from many different sources then made it into its own. What is an aquarium? A tank of water. Latin aquarium, source of water. Aqua is water in Latin. AQUArium. There's an example of borrowed vocabulary. A hamburger was a food that came from Hamburg. Then it evolved into a cheeseburger - a hamburger with cheese. An eggplant was a plant that similar physical characteristics of an egg: hard shell outside - liquidous inside. Buick was how you pronounced the last name of the guy who started the company. It's not an English word, necessarily. I doubt the last name is from England or anywhere near enough. And the whole thing with homonyms and synonyms, it's so lame. In most European languanges you have to figure out what's being said and what words are being used is by context anyways. English is a European language. Stop over-analyzing the most powerful modern language used and go back to coding, where everything is nice and structured. Or 'struct'.

                            P Offline
                            P Offline
                            peterchen
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #19

                            a) Relax. It's a joke. b) nssone wrote: the most powerful modern language huh? More people speak chinese* than english. And for beauty and expressivenes,, I often prefer my german, and the glimpse of russian I know, thank you. ;P to be fair, there is no "chinese" language as such but two main languages spoken by chinese people. And I'm not sure if the claim holds up for the individual dialects

                            "Der Geist des Kriegers ist erwacht / Ich hab die Macht" StS
                            sighist | Agile Programming | doxygen

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • T Tom Archer

                              Cambalindo wrote: The verbs don`t change with persons only add an `s`in third person and thats all. Exactly. We obviously have the same forms and rules in terms of conjugation. It's just that the word stays the same for all the forms :) Cambalindo wrote: great difference with verb "ser" and "estar" in spanish and in English there is just one that take both meaning "to be". Exactly. That's one of the biggies when you first learn the language. Then there's the feminie vs masuline article that we don't have to worry about. What I love though are things like "El comio la luz!" - literally translated to "He ate the light" - meanin-g "He ran the red light". There's tons of things like that. That's why when I meet someone that's learning a new language, I always tell them that trying to translate verbatim is a mistake. You have to clear your mind and just accept the other language as it is. When you know you're finally getting it is when you start dreaming in the other language. Cheers, Tom Archer, Inside C# Mainstream is just a word for the way things always have been -- just a middle-of-the-road, tow-the-line thing; a front for the Man serving up the same warmed-over slop he did yesterday and expecting you to say, "Thank you sir, may I have another?"

                              J Offline
                              J Offline
                              Joan M
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #20

                              The fact that english uses less words to say the same things make the speech dependant on the context, and a simple phrase can be misunderstood without a context, in catalan, and also in spanish this doesn't happen, and even if I have to write down more or even if I need to learn some extra things, it's a pleasure to be able to play with words when I'm writting and also when I'm speaking. I love english because it allows me to communicate with people in almost all the world, but I love catalan and spanish, because they are pretty and richer (or more complicated if you want).

                              https://www.robotecnik.com freelance robots, PLC and CNC programmer.

                              T 1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • T Tom Archer

                                I guess to those of us who are (mostly) "native" speakers, it's so inbred that we don't give it a second thought. Since I speak Spanish as a second language I personally find a lot of their words and phrases hilarious, but of course, a native Spanish doesn't. Cheers, Tom Archer, Inside C# Mainstream is just a word for the way things always have been -- just a middle-of-the-road, tow-the-line thing; a front for the Man serving up the same warmed-over slop he did yesterday and expecting you to say, "Thank you sir, may I have another?"

                                P Offline
                                P Offline
                                peterchen
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #21

                                Tom Archer wrote: I personally find a lot of their words and phrases hilarious like "esposa" meaning wife, and "esposas" handcuffs? (at least that's what my dict tells me :rolleyes: )

                                "Der Geist des Kriegers ist erwacht / Ich hab die Macht" StS
                                sighist | Agile Programming | doxygen

                                T 1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • P peterchen

                                  Tom Archer wrote: I personally find a lot of their words and phrases hilarious like "esposa" meaning wife, and "esposas" handcuffs? (at least that's what my dict tells me :rolleyes: )

                                  "Der Geist des Kriegers ist erwacht / Ich hab die Macht" StS
                                  sighist | Agile Programming | doxygen

                                  T Offline
                                  T Offline
                                  Tom Archer
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #22

                                  In PR we say "muñecas" for handcuffs. But then again, someone once said that learning Spanish in PR is like learning English in the southern US :~ Cheers, Tom Archer, Inside C# Mainstream is just a word for the way things always have been -- just a middle-of-the-road, tow-the-line thing; a front for the Man serving up the same warmed-over slop he did yesterday and expecting you to say, "Thank you sir, may I have another?"

                                  J 1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • J Joan M

                                    The fact that english uses less words to say the same things make the speech dependant on the context, and a simple phrase can be misunderstood without a context, in catalan, and also in spanish this doesn't happen, and even if I have to write down more or even if I need to learn some extra things, it's a pleasure to be able to play with words when I'm writting and also when I'm speaking. I love english because it allows me to communicate with people in almost all the world, but I love catalan and spanish, because they are pretty and richer (or more complicated if you want).

                                    T Offline
                                    T Offline
                                    Tom Archer
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #23

                                    I disagree strongly that English uses less words. Spanish uses far less words. Examples: * I don't need the article in spanish because the conjugation implies the article. For example "Did you like it?" becomes "Te gusto?" * Combined with the fact that "to be" (ser) and "to have" (haber) are shorter and "I would have gone ..." beccomes "Hubiese ido ..." There are many more examples, but no doubt Spanish is much easier to speak because you don't have all those annoying little words - words that are completely ignored, by the way, in ASL Cheers, Tom Archer, Inside C# Mainstream is just a word for the way things always have been -- just a middle-of-the-road, tow-the-line thing; a front for the Man serving up the same warmed-over slop he did yesterday and expecting you to say, "Thank you sir, may I have another?"

                                    J 1 Reply Last reply
                                    0
                                    • T Tom Archer

                                      I disagree strongly that English uses less words. Spanish uses far less words. Examples: * I don't need the article in spanish because the conjugation implies the article. For example "Did you like it?" becomes "Te gusto?" * Combined with the fact that "to be" (ser) and "to have" (haber) are shorter and "I would have gone ..." beccomes "Hubiese ido ..." There are many more examples, but no doubt Spanish is much easier to speak because you don't have all those annoying little words - words that are completely ignored, by the way, in ASL Cheers, Tom Archer, Inside C# Mainstream is just a word for the way things always have been -- just a middle-of-the-road, tow-the-line thing; a front for the Man serving up the same warmed-over slop he did yesterday and expecting you to say, "Thank you sir, may I have another?"

                                      J Offline
                                      J Offline
                                      Joan M
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #24

                                      Tom Archer wrote: I disagree strongly that English uses less words. Spanish uses far less words. - and this would be (in Spanish): Tom Archer escribió: No estoy para nada de acuerdo en que la lengua inglesa use menos palabras. La lengua española utiliza muchas menos palabras. - Another easy one: In English you can use "you", in Spanish we have "tu","usted","vos"... and other ones that are far away from my normal Spanish use... What you are giving as examples can help you to believe that English uses more words to say something, but if you take a close look at the files that allow some programs to be translated, you'll see that clearly the file that occupy less space is the one that contains English words/phrases and not the one that contains Spanish or Catalan words. I believe that is very clear that IN GENERAL English text it's shorter than Spanish text, we can always find exceptions to that rule, but they are not more than that: exceptions. THE SAME IN SPANISH: Lo que usted está ofreciendo como ejemplos, pueden ayudarle a creer en que la lengua inglesa utiliza mas palabras para decir algo, pero si usted observa detenidamente los archivos que permiten que muchos programas se traduzcan, verá que con diferencia siempre ocupa mucho menos espacio el archivo que contiene las palabras/frases en inglés que no el que contiene las palabras en español o catalán. Creo que es evidente que EN GENERAL es mucho mas corto el texto en inglés que no el texto en español, siempre se pueden encontrar excepciones a la regla, pero no son más que eso: excepciones. IN ORDER TO FINISH... If you get an English dictionary it will have less words that a Spanish dictionary, because English tends to use the same word for more than one meaning (more than Spanish do) there are lots of words that exist in Spanish and that doesn't exist in English for the same reason... (English is more direct but less precise). You can also take a look at the sample just before in this same post... the English sample is shorter (yes, not much shorter), and being sure that I'm a novice in English, I'm sure also that I could have used other words in order to make it shorter and even clearer. You've said that Spanish is easier to speak... well I can tell you that I live in Spain and I don't know how to do it very well (yes I speak it much better than English, but I can speak Spanish every day if I want). Spanish is a complicated language, not for its p

                                      https://www.robotecnik.com freelance robots, PLC and CNC programmer.

                                      1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • T Tom Archer

                                        In PR we say "muñecas" for handcuffs. But then again, someone once said that learning Spanish in PR is like learning English in the southern US :~ Cheers, Tom Archer, Inside C# Mainstream is just a word for the way things always have been -- just a middle-of-the-road, tow-the-line thing; a front for the Man serving up the same warmed-over slop he did yesterday and expecting you to say, "Thank you sir, may I have another?"

                                        J Offline
                                        J Offline
                                        Joan M
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #25

                                        NOTE: "muñecas" are not handcuffs, one "muñeca" it's a wrist! and handcuffs are placed around wrists... PR? where are you from? Are you studying spanish? how many time have you been studying it? It's curious, I think it's very normal to learn to speak english (because here is what we learn when we go to school as a foreign language), but it's strange to hear that somebody learns to speak spanish... well it's a pretty language. Even if I prefer Catalan... but Spanish is pretty...

                                        https://www.robotecnik.com freelance robots, PLC and CNC programmer.

                                        T 2 Replies Last reply
                                        0
                                        • J Joan M

                                          NOTE: "muñecas" are not handcuffs, one "muñeca" it's a wrist! and handcuffs are placed around wrists... PR? where are you from? Are you studying spanish? how many time have you been studying it? It's curious, I think it's very normal to learn to speak english (because here is what we learn when we go to school as a foreign language), but it's strange to hear that somebody learns to speak spanish... well it's a pretty language. Even if I prefer Catalan... but Spanish is pretty...

                                          T Offline
                                          T Offline
                                          Tom Archer
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #26

                                          Joan Murt wrote: PR? PR = Puerto Rico Joan Murt wrote: muñecas" are not handcuffs, one "muñeca" it's a wrist! and handcuffs are placed around wrists... As I noted, the people on the island of PR are known for not speaking "correct" Spanish. I'm aware that munecas is not the correct term, but it's the term used in PR. "When in Rome...". It's the same with a ton of words there. Pantallas means earrings, but in PR it means a computer screen and on and on and on. As far as where I'm from, I was born in Turkey and raised throughout Europe. I also lived for 7 years in PR and even married a PR girl that didn't speak English - hence why I speak fluent spanish. Cheers, Tom Archer, Inside C# Mainstream is just a word for the way things always have been -- just a middle-of-the-road, tow-the-line thing; a front for the Man serving up the same warmed-over slop he did yesterday and expecting you to say, "Thank you sir, may I have another?"

                                          J 1 Reply Last reply
                                          0
                                          Reply
                                          • Reply as topic
                                          Log in to reply
                                          • Oldest to Newest
                                          • Newest to Oldest
                                          • Most Votes

                                          • Login
                                          • Don't have an account? Register
                                          • Login or register to search.
                                          • First post
                                            Last post
                                          0
                                          • Categories
                                          • Recent
                                          • Tags
                                          • Popular
                                          • World
                                          • Users
                                          • Groups