English can get tricky, can't it? Take, for instance, two categories of words: heteronyms and homophones. Heteronyms are words that are spelled the same, but are pronounced differently. Homophones are words that are pronounced the same, but spelled differently.
In the heteronym category, you might have a guide lead you to a lead mine. It's hard to play a bass fiddle while fishing for bass. You will, however, need a permit to permit you to fish. Some lab workers wanted it in their contract that they wouldn't contract any diseases. At Christmas we frequently present presents. We all know that deer would have does for mothers, but so does the baby rabbit. Just because a person is an invalid doesn't mean his ideas are invalid. Heteronymns.
Homophones are, perhaps, better known. "They're going to their home over there." "You two can go to your home, too." "Swiss cheese isn't holy, but it is wholly holey." "We didn't want to err when we let the heir go for some air." And, of course, we all remember NSync's hit, Buy, By, Bye.
It's all very confusing (and amusing). Like my favorite longest sentence using one word: "Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo." Since "buffalo" can mean a city (Buffalo, NY) as an adjective (someone from Buffalo), an animal (a buffalo or bison) as a noun, or the attempt to intimidate (to buffalo) as a verb, this is a grammatically correct sentence. That is, buffalo from Buffalo that buffalo from Buffalo intimidate (buffalo) also intimidate (buffalo) buffalo from Buffalo. Ouch! No one ever said English was easy.
I loved this! (Sounds like stuff Paul Meanders would come up with. :) I had never heard of the Buffalo one! (I must say that all the bison we saw at the Buffalo Zoo were pretty mellow :).
ReplyDeleteHere’s one off the top of my head (I’m sure it’s not original): If you trash your ice cream cone at Saguaro National Park, did you desert your desert dessert?
Speaking of “the top of my head” humor (:O), I saw this one last evening: “Why was Pavlov’s hair so soft? Because he conditioned it.”
And then we wonder why we are all speaking the same words to each other but speaking a different language.
ReplyDeleteLorna, obviously I love the Saguaro National Park one ... just down the road from us.
ReplyDeleteYes, David, we are, too often, people separated by a common language.
This is my third “test” comment--this one containing the HTML codes for producing text that is both bolded AND italicized. Thank you for posting this so I can see if it worked for me or not.
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