Chulla 4,946 Posted November 17, 2014 Report Share Posted November 17, 2014 I am starting this thread as a receptacle for items concerning our language (keep it clean!). The English language is populated with spelling, grammar, idioms, etc, that hardly make sense, and yet we say and write them without query. Take the example of the name Loughborough, mentioned in a recent posting; it has that awkward combination of letters spelling 'ough'. It has them twice, both phonetically different from the other. I have heard that during the war, when they arrested German Fifth Columnists, who obviously spoke decent English, MI.5 or whoever, would ask them to read a sentence that had a number of examples of words with ough in their spelling, all pronounced differently. Virtually guaranteed, I would have thought, to catch-out the spy. By my reckoning there are eight different ways of pronouncing ough - tell me if you know of another. These are, with examples of words, preceded by their phonetic sound: OU - bough, Slough OH - though, dough OO - through OFF - trough, cough, Gough OR - ought, fought, nought UFF - rough, tough, slough, enough, Hough ER - thorough, borough OCK - lough So, the spy might have been given the sentence 'A man named Gough, from Slough, fought off a thoroughly rough cough through eating too much dough whilst sitting beside a lough'. 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bubblewrap 3,815 Posted November 17, 2014 Report Share Posted November 17, 2014 I had to think about that one even though I live in Lufbra. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
darkazana 1,736 Posted November 17, 2014 Report Share Posted November 17, 2014 I think lough is pushing it a bit, it's Irish isn't it? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
darkazana 1,736 Posted November 17, 2014 Report Share Posted November 17, 2014 My French penfriend came to my wedding from Scotland where she was at uni. She came by train and nearly missed the stop as she was expecting to get off at Lykester . Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bubblewrap 3,815 Posted November 17, 2014 Report Share Posted November 17, 2014 Words such as wind & row and there are many others can be pronounced in different way depending what words are placed before or after them. There are not always hard and fast rules & I think that is why English is a difficult language to learn. Then there are words such as tong & tongue: there & their: Two,too & to: which are pronounced the same but are two entirely different things. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Chulla 4,946 Posted November 17, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2014 Lough is Irish for lake, and is in the Oxford Pocket Dictionary. I believe it is also Scottish for loch. I say this because the two Loughead brothers went to America and foundered an aircraft company. Because the Americans could not come to terms with the name being pronounced Lockheed, the brothers renamed themselves to the phonetic pronunciation. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DJBrenton 738 Posted November 17, 2014 Report Share Posted November 17, 2014 I remember an example of English phonetics from school was the made-up word 'ghoti', pronounced 'fish'. That's gh as in 'cou gh', o as in 'w o men' and ti as in 'sta ti on' Quote Link to post Share on other sites
FLY2 10,108 Posted November 17, 2014 Report Share Posted November 17, 2014 After returning from a Forest away game , a mate of mine had had a lot to drink . It was dark and the windows were wet and steamy. He wiped a bit of window and said that he was getting off at Attenborough. There was a long time before the next stop where I alighted at Beeston. Next match, he told me he'd only seen ough and wrongly got off at Loughborough, where he had to spend the night. LOL Quote Link to post Share on other sites
denshaw 2,872 Posted November 17, 2014 Report Share Posted November 17, 2014 I before E except after C, sometimes. For example leisure. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BulwellBrian 107 Posted November 17, 2014 Report Share Posted November 17, 2014 Many years ago I was in Nottingham when a car pulled up and the passenger asked how bto get to "Looboroo" in an obviously US accent. Ever since then Loughborough has become Looboroo for me. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bubblewrap 3,815 Posted November 17, 2014 Report Share Posted November 17, 2014 Except with a word like received Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bubblewrap 3,815 Posted November 17, 2014 Report Share Posted November 17, 2014 And what about Happisburgh in Norfolk pronounced Hayzbura. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DaveN 1,118 Posted November 17, 2014 Report Share Posted November 17, 2014 I found the article below earlier this year and decided to save it. Sorry about the length of it. You think English is easy?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) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.20) 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 eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible. The heir with red hair from Ayr read about a hare in the air There must be a way to weigh wheyThe bus tour tore up the torHe only paid a cent for the cent he sentThe bird with the ‘flu flew up the flue 4 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ayupmeducks 1,730 Posted November 17, 2014 Report Share Posted November 17, 2014 Weather, wether, (a male goat without his nuts,) and whether. Wheel and weal.. But remember, there are many words that have had their spelling changed over the centuries, it's not just Americans who change the spellings!! Take coal, the old spelling was used as late as the 1920's, cole. So how did it get changed from cole to coal??? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
katyjay 5,091 Posted November 17, 2014 Report Share Posted November 17, 2014 I am so glad I learned English as a kid! I don't envy anyone learning it as an adult, not much makes any sense. 4 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DaveN 1,118 Posted November 17, 2014 Report Share Posted November 17, 2014 I also think that these days too many people rely on the spellchecker which as we all know is not perfect as the rhyme below (not mine) shows. Eye halve a spelling chequerIt came with my pea seaIt plainly marques four my revueMiss steaks eye kin knot sea.Eye strike a quay and type a wordAnd weight four it two sayWeather eye am wrong oar writeIt chose me strait a weigh.As soon as a mist ache is maidIt nose bee fore two longAnd eye kin put the error riteIts rare lea ever wrong.Eye have run this poem threw itI am shore your pleased two noIts letter perfect awl the weighMy chequer tolled me sew. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ayupmeducks 1,730 Posted November 17, 2014 Report Share Posted November 17, 2014 I see spelling like that on FB every day....LOL 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
StephenFord 866 Posted November 17, 2014 Report Share Posted November 17, 2014 So have I - and it makes me wild! "Would of..." instead of "would have" (or even "would've") indeed - arrrgh! And who remembers the sign at the top of the steps at the Midland station that said, "All tickets must be shewn"? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ayupmeducks 1,730 Posted November 17, 2014 Report Share Posted November 17, 2014 Shewn is the old spelling of shown, no idea when that one came to be shown, but might it have been shewn during Victoria's reign?? Just did some quick research and it appears "shew/shewn" was still in common use into the early 1940's. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MELTONSTILTON 452 Posted November 17, 2014 Report Share Posted November 17, 2014 My French wife is and international lawyer she speeks and writes 7 languages and says English is an easy language to learn, I had no problem learning English, but French that I found hard I was going to write the conjugation for Go in French but it would take up a full page so I have put a link http://leconjugueur.lefigaro.fr/conjugaison/verbe/aller.html Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DaveN 1,118 Posted November 17, 2014 Report Share Posted November 17, 2014 There used to be a small shop in Sherwood selling stationery but above the window they had the word stationary! Now I know people get confused about the spelling but I'd have thought as a shop they would have had someone to check it out. At the bottom of Sherwood Rise there's a business selling tyres for cars. In one on the windows they have the word punture repairs but on another one they have it as puncture - correct! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
loppylugs 8,429 Posted November 18, 2014 Report Share Posted November 18, 2014 I heard of a guy whose wife was doing a crossword puzzle. She asked him what is a three letter word for a female sheep? To which he replied "Ewe" Apparently that's when the fight started. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BulwellBrian 107 Posted November 18, 2014 Report Share Posted November 18, 2014 Just did some quick research and it appears "shew/shewn" was still in common use into the early 1940's. I was a junior member of the Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club in the 1950's, The membership card said "Must be shewn at the gate on entry". Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bilbraborn 1,594 Posted November 18, 2014 Report Share Posted November 18, 2014 Interestingly, all those ough pronunciations all have words with similar pronunciations spelt differently. Such as Rough and Ruff, And what about the augh. As in caught and draught. And other words like Hart and heart. I love the English language. I have read books about its origins and how so many words mean much the same thing but in different context. It is so sad to hear words misused. I crige when I hear the misuse of the word 'like'. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cliff Ton 10,473 Posted November 18, 2014 Report Share Posted November 18, 2014 Can't beat walking through Vic Centre market and looking at all the stalls selling Apple's and Pear's and Cabbage's. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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