sheepdog 10 Report post Posted December 23, 2009 Just watched one of my favorite shows, NCIS. I get a real kick out of Mossad Officer Ziva David and her misuse and misconstrewing of commn American sayings. When you think about it, I can see where English could be a difficult language to learn. Considering the following phrases which can be highly confusing. 1. Is it good if a vacuum really sucks? 2. Why is the third hand on the watch called the second hand?3. If a word is misspelled in the dictionary, how would we ever know? 4. If Webster wrote the first dictionary, where did he find the words? 5. Why do we say something is out of whack? What is a whack? 6. Why does "slow down" and "slow up" mean the same thing? 7. Why does "fat chance" and "slim chance" mean the same thing? 8. Why do "tug" boats push their barges? 9. Why do we sing "Take me out to the ball game" when we are already there?10. Why are they called " stands" when they are made for sitting? 11. Why is it called "after dark" when it really is "after light"? 12.. Doesn't "expecting the unexpected" make the unexpected expected? 13.. Why are a "wise man" and a "wise guy" opposites? 14. Why do "overlook" and "oversee" mean opposite things? 15. Why is "phonics" not spelled the way it sounds? 16. If work is so terrific, why do they have to pay you to do it? 17.. If all the world is a stage, where is the audience sitting? 18. If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular? 19. If you are cross-eyed and have dyslexia, can you read all right? 20. Why is bra singular and panties plural?21.. Why do you press harder on the buttons of a remote control when you know the batteries are dead? 22. Why do we put suits in garment bags and garments in a suitcase? 23. How come abbreviated is such a long word? 24. Why do we wash bath towels? Aren't we clean when we use them? 25.. Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle? 26. Why do they call it a TV set when you only have one? 27.Christmas - What other time of the year do you sit in front of a dead tree and eat candy out of your socks? 28. Why do we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rvalkass 5 Report post Posted December 23, 2009 Well, yes, that's exactly what you want a vacuum to do.It measures seconds. No real confusion there.The spelling of words is not something clearly defined (for example Americans seem to hate the letter 'u' in words like colour and get the 'e' and 'r' the wrong way around in words like centre). The spelling is determined by culture and current usage - the dictionary is just a suggested set of standard spellings.The first dictionary was actually Chinese, called the Erya and was written in around 300 BCE. The words were gathered from common speech and written texts.One definition of the word "whack" is meaning "agreement or order". "Out of whack" therefore means "out of agreement/order" which makes sense in the context most people use it.I've never heard anyone say "slow up"..."Fat chance" is used sarcastically.They don't just push - most can tow boats as well, hence "tug".That's just you Americans - I'm no help here A stand was originally used for standing (no seats were provided). It could also be that "stand" is used in the sense of parking or remaining still (such as a "truck stand").The "dark" refers to the falling of darkness. More to follow at some point if I remember Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
deonild 0 Report post Posted December 24, 2009 1. Well, some vacuum's shoot out dust if full.2. If the hour hand measured firsts I'd be confused.3. That's all chinese to me.4. When do we get to the last dictionary?5. Therefore "That's whack" is not whack.6. I slow down when I'm talking to my front bumper and slow up when I'm talking to my rear bumper. Is that weird?7. Fat people are getting more chances nowadays. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
contactskn 2 Report post Posted December 24, 2009 Just watched one of my favorite shows, NCIS. I get a real kick out of Mossad Officer Ziva David and her misuse and misconstrewing of commn American sayings. When you think about it, I can see where English could be a difficult language to learn. Considering the following phrases which can be highly confusing.Dear friend these points are really really good ones I should say. Each and every of them are interesting and lets one to really think upon the matter.? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
deadmad7 4 Report post Posted December 24, 2009 rofl 1, 2, 3 , 9 make you think more about english, especially even though it is not my first language , it is the language which i am most fluent at, i can only speak my mother tongue not read or write! so english and other, etc. are the only languages i know. 23 is awesome! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
