Lingusitics Why I hate the english language.

[Neo_Anderson]

Rules like, "I before E except after C." Oh really? You mean like "foreigner?" Or, "soceity?" Or how about like half of the words that end with "E" where that "E" is pronounced, and the other half where the "E" is not pronounced.

Feel free to add to this, and post the gargantuian list of english fallibles! :)

 

[Evo]

You mean like the word "their"?

How about homophones?

wrought - rot

rain, reign, rein

to, too, two

break, brake

for, fore, four

wrote, rote



Synonyms, antonyms...

 

[mikelepore]

Rules like, "I before E except after C." Oh really? You mean like "foreigner?" Or, "soceity?"

But the word "society" obeys the rule "I before E", and there is no such word as "soceity."

***

The entire poem is:

I before E
Except after C,
Or when sounded as A,
As in "neighbor" or "weigh."

***

Several long-E silent-I proper names are exceptions, such as Keith and Sheila.

***

The word "weird" is another weird one.

***

If all that give you a headache, take some Codeine.

 

[lisab]

But the word "society" obeys the rule "I before E", and there is no such word as "soceity."

***

The entire poem is:

I before E
Except after C,
Or when sounded as A,
As in "neighbor" or "weigh."

***

Several long-E silent-I proper names are exceptions, such as Keith and Sheila.

***

The word "weird" is another weird one.

***

If all that give you a headache, take some Codeine.

And if the Codeine makes you sleepy, drink some caffeine.

 

[mikelepore]

If "gh" is pronounced as in "rough",
"o" is pronounced as in "women",
and "ti" is pronounced as in "nation",
then "ghoti" is pronounced "fish."

-- Something I learned in high school

 

[Identity]

The fact that it was compulsory in high school and is currently playing a big factor in which university I will get into.

 

[Newai]

But the word "society" obeys the rule "I before E"

It does?

i before e except after c...? Maybe a thick accent then. *shrugs*

 

[Sorry!]

If "gh" is pronounced as in "rough",
"o" is pronounced as in "women",
and "ti" is pronounced as in "nation",
then "ghoti" is pronounced "fish."

-- Something I learned in high school

how the hell do you pronounce wOman? wiman?

 

[rootX]

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 didn'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

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 observation,
It ends.

 

[Moonbear]

You mean like the word "their"?

How about homophones?

wrought - rot

I just HAVE to hear your accent. Those are not pronounced at all alike where I'm from. The first would be more like rawt.

 

[FredGarvin]

I before E except after C...weird.

 

[xortan]

The reason I hate english is because it is to vague. For example during my grade 12 year in english we had to write 2 finals exams. Now when I went into my first exam I was getting 96% in the course...I managed to get a 53% on the test and 67% on the second one.

English is most of the times really transparent and could very well be more than one answer. Another reason I hate english is now that I am in post-secondary and training to be an Electrical engineer the english they teach is like grade 6 grammar rules. So for your first 13 years of school they make you think all upper level vocab then you get to college and try to get into the industry and you throw it all out the window.

They offer technical communication in high school now which is english you would use in the industry but most programs want an english 12 mark...they need to change the system

 

[Identity]

Yeah but there are people in my school who have gotten 100% on every english test including the final exam! I don't get it!

 

[Sorry!]

I just HAVE to hear your accent. Those are not pronounced at all alike where I'm from. The first would be more like rawt.

Lol that's what I was thinking as I read through some of those words, the sound different to me. Subtle but still different. Some of those sound the same though like to, too, two or for and four (fore sounds different to me)

 

[GeorginaS]

I just HAVE to hear your accent. Those are not pronounced at all alike where I'm from. The first would be more like rawt.

Evidently I have the same accent as Evo, because wrought and rot sound exactly the same when I say them.

And yes, the whole "i before e" rules can turn into quite a debacle. On another board, the thread continued on for a number of pages about that one rule. And that was a current events board.

Evo: Are "route" and "root" pronounced the same way for you?

 

[Matterwave]

I spelled weird "wierd" for the longest time due to that rule...

 

[Elledan]

I still think that English is a heck of a lot easier to learn and use than my native language, Dutch. No weird accents, easy grammar (relatively) and expansive enough to ensure one won't ever get bored of learning new words

Of course, nothing can beat Japanese. Now there's a fun language

 

[sportsstar469]

Rules like, "I before E except after C." Oh really? You mean like "foreigner?" Or, "soceity?" Or how about like half of the words that end with "E" where that "E" is pronounced, and the other half where the "E" is not pronounced.

Feel free to add to this, and post the gargantuian list of english fallibles! :)

ummmmmmmm...society is spelled with an i before e just thought you'd like to know that...

you also spelled gargantuan wrong, and and I am pretty sure the correct term is fallacies but i may be incorrect. i won't comment on English being lower cased since i do that online too .

 

[sportsstar469]

English is most of the times really transparent and could very well be more than one answer. Another reason I hate english is now that I am in post-secondary and training to be an Electrical engineer the english they teach is like grade 6 grammar rules. So for your first 13 years of school they make you think all upper level vocab then you get to college and try to get into the industry and you throw it all out the window.

that can be said for allllll subjects. english majors have to learn atleast trig in high school, yet once they get to college they just need to pass one math course that they will never use again in their lives. you have to be a fluent student to graduate college, even if you wwill never use the tools of other subjects in your lives.

But the word "society" obeys the rule "I before E", and there is no such word as "soceity."

***

The entire poem is:

I before E
Except after C,
Or when sounded as A,
As in "neighbor" or "weigh."

***

i don't see how foreigner obeys this rule.

 

[Newai]

ummmmmmmm...society is spelled with an i before e just thought you'd like to know that...

you also spelled gargantuan wrong, and and I am pretty sure the correct term is fallacies but i may be incorrect. i won't comment on English being lower cased since i do that to online.

so spelling correctly is a must but capitalization and punctuation can be disregarded? and Neo_Anderson seems to be using fallible as a plural noun.

since i do that too online.

 

[sportsstar469]

So spelling correctly is a must, but capitalization and punctuation can be disregarded?

as far as online is concerned, i don't believe capitalization causes a drastic increase or decrease in sentence comprehension among individuals, however spelling can make or break you.

 

[sportsstar469]

so spelling correctly is a must but capitalization and punctuation can be disregarded?

i actually fixed that first =p. way to fix something after i already changed it -_-.

 

[Newai]

i actually fixed that first =p. way to fix something after i already changed it -_-.

Fixed what?

as far as online is concerned, i don't believe capitalization causes a drastic increase or decrease in sentence comprehension among individuals, however spelling can make or break you.

But it's not just comprehension. Applying the standard format is easier to read. It's easier on the eyes and demonstrates effort being put into one's thoughts.

 

[Moonbear]

Neo_Anderson, I think you need a sarcasm alert added to your post.

Though, the i before e rule really only applies to words where the sound is a long e (eeeee, not eh), like thieves, deceive, chief.

In reality, the e and i in words like neighbor, as subtle as it is, are both pronounced.

 

[Moonbear]

as far as online is concerned, i don't believe capitalization causes a drastic increase or decrease in sentence comprehension among individuals, however spelling can make or break you.

I actually view it as the opposite. As long as spelling is reasonably close, I can usually read quickly over some typos or misspellings. When grammar and punctuation are discarded, it takes a lot more time to read and process what something says, and leaves a lot of room for misinterpretation. I also don't think the shift key is all that hard to reach for on a keyboard.

 

[fatra2]

Hi there,

Not being only from the English language, but also French. And now managing my way with German, I can only say that you will find that in pretty much every language. Languages evolute over the years, therefore having some exception that may seem terribly weird but must have an explanation for it.

Don't get me wrong, I am just saying that if you want to speak a language other people speak, you will run into some of these exceptions.

I found the best way to deal with them is to try to make a joke out of it.

Cheers

 

[Tobias Funke]

how the hell do you pronounce wOman? wiman?

He wrote women, not woman.

ummmmmmmm...society is spelled with an i before e just thought you'd like to know that...

This thread wouldn't exist if he didn't know that.

 

[Sorry!]

He wrote women, not woman.

How's that make a difference in how the word is pronounced? women = wimen?

 

[leroyjenkens]

Pizza is pronounced Peetza. I tried explaining that it's pronounced with a T in it to my friend, but for the life of him, he couldn't understand it. Even when he said it, he said it with the T sound. His tongue touched the roof of his mouth when he said it, but he still couldn't hear it. That was so weird.

 

[Kurdt]

How about homophones?

wrought - rot

Wrought and rot homophones? Is that like my name having two syllables?

 

[lisab]

How's that make a difference in how the word is pronounced? women = wimen?

Yes.

Edit: Actually it's more like "wimin"

 

[Sorry!]

Yes.

Edit: Actually it's more like "wimin"

lol who says WOMen like WIMIN that's weird.

 

[lisab]

lol who says WOMen like WIMIN that's weird.

I think you're thinking "woman". Woman = WOM-an, Women = WIM-in

 

[GeorginaS]

He wrote women, not woman.

How's that make a difference in how the word is pronounced? women = wimen?

So, Sorry! do you pronounce "woman" and "women" the same way?

Edit: The lovely and talented LisaB beat me to it.

Sorry! One's plural and one's singular, yes?

 

[Sorry!]

yeah one is WO-Man and the other is WO-men do you pronounce men as min?

'There are some great looking min over there.'

haha what?

 

[lisab]

yeah one is WO-Man and the other is WO-men do you pronounce men as min?

'There are some great looking min over there.'

haha what?

Yes ! In the word "women" the "men" is pronounced "min," but the word "men" is pronounced "men."

It's not logical; it's English. Which, I presume, is why the OP hates it.

 

[Sorry!]

Yes ! In the word "women" the "men" is pronounced "min," but the word "men" is pronounced "men."

It's not logical; it's English. Which, I presume, is why the OP hates it.

Hahaha. That's SO weird, to me it's still 'men' in wo-men.

I wonder do you guys also pronounce 'cavalry and calvary' the same way?

What about mischievous this one to me sounds like 'mis-chiev-ous' I hear people say 'mis-cheev-eee-ous' ha.

It's interesting to see how other people pronounce words though :P

EDIT: I've been sitting here saying the word women and it sounds to me like I'm saying 'w-uh-mmm-en' (as in end) and when I say woman it's more like 'w-uh-mmm-an' (as in and). I looked it up in the dictionary and it says \ˈwi-mən\

 

[leroyjenkens]

Yes ! In the word "women" the "men" is pronounced "min," but the word "men" is pronounced "men."

"Men" and "min" would be pronounced the same way. Unless you pronounce "men" with the "e" sounding like the "e" in "egg".

What about mischievous this one to me sounds like 'mis-chiev-ous' I hear people say 'mis-cheev-eee-ous' ha.

It's interesting to see how other people pronounce words though :P

The English pronounce words funny. Like Aluminum. They say al-oo-min-ee-um. It's not even spelled that way. There would have to be an "I" before the last "U" for that to be a legitimate pronunciation. But I guess they put the I there to compensate.

I've been sitting here saying the word women and it sounds to me like I'm saying 'w-uh-mmm-en' (as in end) and when I say woman it's more like 'w-uh-mmm-an' (as in and).

Women is pronounced like "whimin."
Woman is pronounced like "wuhmun." That "wuh" part isn't exactly right, but it's the closest sound I can find to it. And the last "mun" part isn't exactly right either, but it doesn't quite have the "min" sound, so I gave it the "mun" sound. When you say it, it's more like you're trying to put that M right next to the N as close as possible.

 

[Kurdt]

The English pronounce words funny. Like Aluminum. They say al-oo-min-ee-um. It's not even spelled that way. There would have to be an "I" before the last "U" for that to be a legitimate pronunciation.

There is in a real english dictionary.

 

[leroyjenkens]

There is in a real english dictionary.

I edited my post. I didn't think that they would most likely have a different spelling too.

 

[arildno]

trough, tough, through, borough.. (o-)ugh!

 

[sportsstar469]

He wrote women, not woman.
This thread wouldn't exist if he didn't know that.

i think you mean this thread wouldn't exist if he DID know rhat,. if he DIDNt know that the thread would and DID exist, as seen in the op, where he incorrectly states that ''soceity'' does not meet the i before e rule!

 

[Sorry!]

i think you mean this thread wouldn't exist if he DID know rhat,. if he DIDNt know that the thread would and DID exist, as seen in the op, where he incorrectly states that ''soceity'' does not meet the i before e rule!

Ok people keep saying this in this thread. How does society follow 'i before except after c'?

I am quite sure its so-c-i-e-ty. So according to the rule it should be spelt so-c-e-i-ty. Because i should not come before e since it is after c.

 

[Neo_Anderson]

I actually view it as the opposite. As long as spelling is reasonably close, I can usually read quickly over some typos or misspellings. When grammar and punctuation are discarded, it takes a lot more time to read and process what something says, and leaves a lot of room for misinterpretation. I also don't think the shift key is all that hard to reach for on a keyboard.

Spelling errors are a lot more visible than "I-before-E" violations. Because of this, we take the author of the spelling error much less seriously than the author of the more nuanced errors.

Another english folly: "we take the author of the spelling error much less seriously..." Do we take the author of the spelling error much seriously? Or less seriously?

 

[Neo_Anderson]

Ok people keep saying this in this thread. How does society follow 'i before except after c'?

I am quite sure its so-c-i-e-ty. So according to the rule it should be spelt so-c-e-i-ty. Because I should not come before e since it is after

Another english folly: In Britian, it's "genious," but here it's "genius."

 

[Evo]

I just HAVE to hear your accent. Those are not pronounced at all alike where I'm from. The first would be more like rawt.

I got them off a list of homophones. You people must have weird accents.

http://members.peak.org/~jeremy/dictionaryclassic/chapters/homophones.php

 

[mgb_phys]

I edited my post. I didn't think that they would most likely have a different spelling too.

The official IUPAC spelling is now Aluminium, unfortunately they also insist on spelling Sulpher as Sulfur.

 

[Tobias Funke]

i think you mean this thread wouldn't exist if he DID know rhat,. if he DIDNt know that the thread would and DID exist, as seen in the op, where he incorrectly states that ''soceity'' does not meet the i before e rule!

He meant to spell the words incorrectly to show what they should be if they followed the "rules". Although he spelled foreigner correctly, which makes it a little confusing.

At least that's how I interpret it. Maybe he did mean to spell them both right. I don't know.

 

[leroyjenkens]

The official IUPAC spelling is now Aluminium, unfortunately they also insist on spelling Sulpher as Sulfur.

Here's something from wikipedia:
"The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) adopted aluminium as the standard international name for the element in 1990, but three years later recognized aluminum as an acceptable variant. Hence their periodic table includes both.[53] IUPAC officially prefers the use of aluminium in its internal publications, although several IUPAC publications use the spelling aluminum"

So they prefer the British spelling, but accept and sometimes use the American spelling.
I say whichever one came first should be the official spelling.

 

[Sorry!]

He meant to spell the words incorrectly to show what they should be if they followed the "rules". Although he spelled foreigner correctly, which makes it a little confusing.

At least that's how I interpret it. Maybe he did mean to spell them both right. I don't know.

That's what I took it as too, that he purposely spelt society incorrectly to show the use of the rediculous 'rule'. Society does not follow the rule sports, you are wrong, not the OP.

Either that or he just made a typo with spelling society... regardless it doesn't change the fact that the word does not follow i before e rule.