The English language is said by those who are not native speakers to be one of the hardest languages to learn. I don’t find that hard to believe for a couple of reasons.
I know what a hard time I have with foreign languages. I took a year of Spanish in high school but I couldn’t order an egg in a Spanish restaurant. If I ever had a window of opportunity to learn foreign languages, it closed very early in life.
The English language is very complex. Just think of all the words that are pronounced exactly the same way, spelled differently, and have different meanings (homophones such as to, too, two). Think about words that are spelled the same and sound the same but have different meanings (homonyms, e.g. “lie” can mean to recline or to fail to tell the truth).
The English language is also colored with antonyms (opposites) and synonyms (words that mean the same as other words). And there are idioms—these phrases can make “idiots” of speakers if they are not careful. “Raining cats and dogs” doesn’t mean that animals are literally falling from the sky during a rainstorm. I remember a cartoon that I saw in my younger days that told a pictorial story using idioms. One scene depicted a male character who had experienced trouble but was “carrying on.” The image in the cartoon showed a skinny man carrying two huge stones on his back that almost weighed him to the ground—the stones were shaped in the letters “O” and “N”. The cartoon did get the point across that it is difficult to “carry on” after a troublesome situation.
I just conducted a Google search and found this cartoon, which I haven't seen in probably over twenty years. It is titled "Symphony in Slang". It is a little over six minutes long and is well worth the laughs you will get from watching it.
Interestingly, “carry on” in another context can mean “having a fit”, making a spectacle of oneself.
Some of the most amusing (and perhaps most difficult to non-native English-speaking folks) is the vast and random similarities among words, where just adding or deleting one letter or reversing the letters in a word have interesting results.
I recently attended a wedding. What the minister intended to say is that the husband shall be “united” (joined) to the wife. He reversed two letters and actually said that the husband shall be “untied” (unsecured) to his wife.
Think about the “United” States. They did become somewhat “untied” during the Civil War.
Someone once “intended” (meant) to identify someone as their best “friend”. What was actually written went something like this: “I have ‘indented’ (as in offsetting a paragraph) to tell you for some time that you are my best ‘fiend’ (demon).” What a difference one letter can make!
Just leaving the letter “R” out of the word “friend” gives the exact opposite meaning. The loss of what virtues could parallel the loss of the letter “R” in changing a “friend” to a “fiend”? Perhaps the presence or absence of Rationality, Reaching out in time of need, Realism, Reasonableness, Reciprocity, Relaxation, Reliability, Reservation, Resourcefulness, Respectability, and Responsiveness are some of the essential “R” qualities that denote true friendship.
And sometimes there are just word “funnies”. I have made a list of some of the funnier things I have heard actually mis-spoken or seen mis-written during the past few years. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
That was a very “instrumental” speech. (inspirational)
That man was buried in a steel “DeVault.” (vault)
They drove him to the cemetery in a “hurst.” (hearse)
The preacher said Jesus healed the “leopard’s” spots. (lepers’)
She was “disgusted” as a witch for Halloween. (disguised)
You are the first boy I “never” really loved. (ever)
We studied about the Prime “Median” today in Social Studies. (Meridian)
Quick! Call the “ambiance” to take him to the hospital. (ambulance)
I learned that by “role” memory. (rote)
You have to overlook my wife. She’s suffering from “mental pause”. (menopause)
That was an “animated” ATM. (automated)
Sunday, our church used its “Casino” keyboard for the first time. (Casio)
Be sure to go to the “poles” to vote in 2020. (polls)
The preacher sure looked good when he got in that “Napoleon” to preach. (pulpit)
I took my sick dog to the “veteran’s hospital”. (veterinarian)
The doctor cut the baby’s “biblical” cord. (umbilical)
Happy New Year 2020! My wish for you is that it is your greatest ever. I leave you with this thought from the email world:
Which letter is silent in the word "Scent," the S or the C?