Can you read these sentences right the first time?
1) The farm was used to produce produce.
2) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
3) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
4) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum
5) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
6) They were too close to the door to close it.
7) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
8) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
9) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
10) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
Corrine,
There's also, I put my bonnet on just before opening the bonnet.
GR@PH;<'S (https://www.landzdown.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi5.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fy197%2FANG-Graphics%2FHammyspint.gif&hash=89f14ba76b93329b0291743341d25b46c5985dcb) (http://s5.photobucket.com/user/ANG-Graphics/media/Hammyspint.gif.html)
Quote from: Corrine on September 16, 2015, 05:46:04 PM
Can you read these sentences right the first time?
1) The farm was used to produce produce.
2) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
3) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
4) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum
5) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
6) They were too close to the door to close it.
7) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
8) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
9) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
10) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
As a professional editor, my only response is "Yes." ;)
With that aside, acronyms, as one example, have now become such a staple of social media that I truly worry about the
states of English-language competency in the
states. Not a joke. ;)
Any idea how that looks to a foreigner? ;)
:D
If I didn't know better, I would have no idea that you and so many others I've "met" are not native English speakers.
All looks like proper English to me. ;D
Quote from: Corrine on September 18, 2015, 12:16:06 PM
:D
If I didn't know better, I would have no idea that you and so many others I've "met" are not native English speakers.
She and I both love opera, and the last time we
met was to see Otello at The
Met. :)
The Polish cobbler proceeded to polish the imported Polish shoes with a special Polish polish.
Rose rose from her chair to smell the rose. (https://www.landzdown.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sysnative.com%2Fforums%2Fimages%2Fsmilies%2Frose.gif&hash=d57a4e8b5e8ae43339454840fd69ea8a5cd8f484)
English english and American english are often vastly different.
Prevailing winds determine which sail to sail with.
If you wreck the wreck, the dive site will not be so interesting.
It’s not uncommon for a storm to storm in before you have time to reef the sails.
Depending on the tide, we sometimes surf that surf.
Please use this paddle to paddle back to the yacht.
Drink this rum, or I’ll throw you into the drink.
But all your examples are pronounced the same. We are going for words that are spelled the same but pronounced differently in "American".
The bass player caught a bass. (First instance the word sounds like base rather than bass).
The recreation of the broken item was not done for recreation. (The first word is pronounced as re cree a shun; the 2nd as rec re a shun)
Its still fun to see how the "same words" are really not the same words.
Quote1) The farm was used to produce produce.
2) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
3) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
4) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum
5) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
6) They were too close to the door to close it.
7) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
8) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
9) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
10) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
Corrine, would you please eat some bread, you are to much up on the liquorice :D
And no, "would you please eat some bread, you are to much up on the liquorice" does not mean what you think it means ;)
Actually, I have no idea what it means. Perhaps lost in the translation?
When I saw that list, you took all the words out of me mouth. I'm still trying to find out what them sentences really means. So then I was thinking I would take a lil revenge.
What I'm saying is:
Eat some bread (Spis lige brød) It just means you need a time-out to calm the heck down.
You are to much up on the liquorice (Du er for meget op på lakridserne lige nu) It just means that you have just to much energy right now
If I say to that I'm "up on the liquorice" it means that I'm busy and full of enegy
If I say "thanks for the coffee"(Tak for kaffe) It don't always means thanks for the coffee. It also means something like "Oh my Good" or "give me some strenght"
If you find yourself caught with your “hair/beard in the mailbox†(håret/skægget i postkassen), you have a tricky problem (obviously) or you’re about to be found out. Both conundrums could doubtless be avoided if only you’d “stuck a finger in the soil†(stikke en finger i jorden) to get the measure of the situation before you took action. Should you find yourself with uncomfortably trapped hair, you just need to få hul på bylden or “lance the boil†, to get things moving in the right direction.
Thanks for the lesson on Danish Idioms! ;D
When I lived and worked in Australia, I had to learn the Australian idioms. I said the wrong thing using American English on more than one occasion I knew I "put my foot in my mouth" (said something inappropriate) when the room got quiet. Fortunately most just "chalked it up" (made a mental note) to me being a Yank that was clueless (had no idea).
I lived with an Australian family and the woman was an American who migrated to Australia so she helped keep my blunders down a bit.
Quote from: Frands on September 22, 2015, 02:41:52 PM
When I saw that list, you took all the words out of me mouth. I'm still trying to find out what them sentences really means. So then I was thinking I would take a lil revenge.
These sentences are examples of homographs -- words that have the same spelling but a different sound and a different meaning. Explanations without pronunciation in brackets:
1) The farm was used to produce [grow] produce [crops, such as lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc].
2) The dump [site for depositing garbage] was so full that it had to refuse [not accept ]more refuse [trash/garbage].
3) The soldier decided to desert [leave behind] his de
ssert [sweet course at the end of a meal, not a homograph but often misspelled] in the desert [sparse region with little rain/vegetation].
4) A bass [type of fish] was painted on the head of the bass [type of instrument, sound] drum.
5) When shot at, the dove [bird] dove [past tense of dive] into the bushes.
6) They were too close [proximity] to the door to close [shut] it.
7) The buck does [third person singular of do] funny things when the does [female deer] are present.
8) A seamstress and a sewer [one who sews] fell down into a sewer [underground receptacle for waste] line.
9) Upon seeing the tear [rip] in the painting I shed a tear [cry].
10) I had to subject [put through] the subject [person or thing] to a series of tests.
Word that are spelled the same, but which have different meanings and etymologies are normally referred to as:
homographs
Words that are spelled the same but pronounced differently are:
heteronyms
All heteronyms appear to be homographs, but not all homographs are heteronyms. That certainly fits the title of this thread as the confusing English language.
Put another way is this definition
QuoteA heteronym (also known as a heterophone) is a word that is written identically but has a different pronunciation and meaning. In other words, they are homographs that are not homophones.
Gee. And I thought this was just a simple game using words with two meanings.
Please change the title of this thread to "The Confusing English Word Game" (joking ;))
That was close, so close the door quick!
You Know,I don't know,you know
the dam frigate hit the dam,frig, it