Fun Facts and Musings - Fun with the English Language

English sure is a fun language, its also incredbly complicated, much more then it needs to be.
Why is the world having English, of all languages, forced on it as the universal language? (why call it universal when its only referring to the entirity of Earth?)

I'm guessing this is all the places on earth where english is the number 1 spoken language?

I came across this one word 'sesquipedalian' which is basically a term used to refer to someone (or sometimes something) that uses long words.
I find it ironic that this word is itself a long word.
Now I say ironic, and it would be accepted as the correct use of the word ironic but it infact isnt, ironic is probably the number 1 misued word in the English language (dont quote me on that one).



type irony into google images and this is the first thing you get.



Also grammer is a pain, everything I write has grammaractical mistakes all over it.

oh dear...

There are lots of intresting mistakes made constantly everyday with this language of ours, like this one I found somewhere out there in the World Wide Webaverse.

'I have to add this one as a bonus because it is one I especially hate. When you say “I could care less” you are saying “I care a little so I could care less”. Most people when using this horrific sentence mean to say “I couldn’t care less” which means “I care so little I could not care less”.' - somewhere on the internet

Intresting stuff huh?
I also found this rather amusing poem that I reall like, so I'll share it with you.

Lets Face It. English Is A Stupid Language - by some dude, somewhere, sometime.

There is no egg in the eggplant,
No ham in the hamburger
And neither pine nor apple in the pineapple.
English muffins were not invented in England,
French fries were not invented in France.

We sometimes take English for granted, but if we examine its paradoxes we find that:
Quicksand takes you down slowly,
Boxing rings are square,
And a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

If writers write, how come fingers don't fing?
If the plural of tooth is teeth,
Shouldn't the plural of phone booth be phone beeth?
If the teacher taught,
Why hasn't the preacher praught?

If a vegetarian eats vegetables,
What the heck does a humanitarian eat?
Why do people recite at a play,
Yet play at a recital?
Park on driveways and
Drive on parkways?
How can the weather be as hot as hell on one day
And as cold as hell on another?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language where a house can burn up as it burns down,
And in which you fill in a form
By filling it out
And a bell is only heard once it goes!
English was invented by people, not computers,
And it reflects the creativity of the human race
(Which of course isn't a race at all.)

That is why:
When the stars are out they are visible,
But when the lights are out they are invisible.
And why it is that when I wind up my watch
It starts,
But when I wind up this poem
It ends.

- sourced from http://www.c4vct.com/kym/humor/esl.htm.

did you also know that the longest one-syllable word in the English language is "screeched"?
did you care?

I bet you did know that no word in English rhymes with orange, but month, silver and purple also have no rhyming counterpart.

Can you think of a better rhyme then that? yeah didnt think so.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK4OnCzPEWI - Take note guys, THATS how you rhyme!

The origin of the word 'testify' was based on the Roman court, where men were made to swear to statements by swearing on their testicles.

It would probably be much more effective these days since nobody seems to appreciate the Bible and what it stands for anymore.

So there you have it, intresting food for thought for you all.