the horrors of an ESL/EFL student.

[baltimoron]

now I have spent five good years in america, and i would like to think taht i have a pretty good grip on the english language, but there are some things that make me want to scream!!!!
some examples- i will try to think of more.

you and squash a fly and you can zip a fly

there is no no butter in buttermilk, no egg in eggplant, no grape in grapefruit, and no peas in peanut.

English muffins weren't invented in England, french fries in France, or Danish pastries in Denmark

a woman can man a post, but a man can't women a post.

"go to the bathroom" means to piss. so you go to the bathroom to go to the bathroom- dogs go to the bathroom outside on the lawn. there is no bathroom on the lawn- so how the f-word can this be?!

two octopuses are octopi, but why arent two attennas antennae?

there is nothing to rhyme with orange!! NOTHING AT ALL!!! WTF PEOPLE?!

more to come when I think of them,.

 

[FreeFloat]

you and squash a fly and you can zip a fly

And squash don't fly, either.

And noses run, fridges run, stockings run and Olympic marathoners run. But they're all different too.

 

[miketsp]

I hope somebody already explained the difference between "work hard" and "hardly work".

 

[Seabear70]

And hey...

Why are Appartments so close together?

Why do we park on a driveway but drive on a parkway?

 

[Nay]

And phonetic is spelled phonetically either.

 

[baltimoron]

well, what really pisses me off is that there are forty different meanings to the word set. what the hell?!?!?!?

that and the word world do you know how hard that is to say!?!?!?!? how the hell does one pronounce "rld"?!

 

[AevnsGrandpa]

I doubt I could say anything right in Arabic or Hebrew.

Hey I was born here and still get confused as to when to use To, Too or Two and There, Their and They're.

The language is such that we take it every year as a subject in school for 12 years and some go on to college to major it in.

Jeff

 

[Sideband]

Why is the word 'abbreviation' so dang long?

Joe

 

[Kriterian]

Hey I was born here and still get confused as to when to use To, Too or Two and There, Their and They're.

Jeff

I'm sure you know that two = the number 2. If not remember that other things that start with TW are also numbers, such as twenty, twelve, or twice.

Most people mainly use too wrong. The only uses the word has is to replace "also" or "in excess".

Examples: I like scuba diving too.
That scuba tank is too heavy.

"There" is the place. Ex) We are going there tomorrow.
"Their" is used to show possession. Ex) Their wetsuits are on fire!
"They're" is just an abbreviation for they are. Ex) They're going diving tomorrow.

My biggest pet peeve though is your and you're. Your is possessive. Ex) Your drysuit has a hole in the crotch.
You're is the abbreviation for you are. Ex) You're showing more than your thermals through that hole.

 

[skywalk234]

Dont forget that you park on driveways and drive on parkways.