Sunday, February 22, 2009

English...whose idea was this, anyway?

A friend sent this to me, and I thought it showed perfectly how strange the English language can be. I've always heard it's one of the hardest languages to learn as a second language, and I can imagine how frustrating it is!

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?

8 comments:

Yasmin said...

As I'm training to teach English i realise just how frustrating it is, I love the example you have put here.

Ken Riches said...

The twists and turns, and nuances are amazing :o)

ADB said...

There are dozens more like this, used to have a list of them...

Big Mark 243 said...

uh, if you are out in the desert, and I have been (Ft Iwrin, Ca), you would NOT desert your desert, as the cat in #7 did!

Fun list!

Leigh/BlueDragonfly said...

This was actually kind of hard to read at normal pace!

Good list.

:) Leigh

Son-in-Law said...

This is a great list. Quite often I have to answer Eler Beth as to why words can be spelled the same but have different meanings and pronunciations.

Lori said...

For some reason I was signed on in Eler Beth's gmail account. Weird!

How I See It said...

Try teaching English as a second language using this post - lol!