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Blessed be those who didn't have to go through the trouble of learning the English language. Some might say that learning Japanese or Icelandic might be the most difficult task out there, but even the most complicated aspects of those languages have some kind of logic behind them. English grammar and the language itself, on the other hand, has some truly nonsensical characteristics to it and a plethora of arbitrary rules.

Those with English as their native language never have to consciously work through the kinks of spelling out Wednesday or why writers write, but fingers don't fing and grocers don't groce. Learning English as a secondary language is a real minefield once you figure out the basic grammar rules and step into more specific areas. And these people decided to point some of the most confusing things out there to prove their point. English is a weird language and at times makes no sense whatsoever, especially for a language that is so widespread.

#1

English-Language-Logic-No-Sense

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Orillion
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Who's up for the defenestration of Donald Trump. I say we do it overmorrow.

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To be fair, many linguists would easily find a logical answer to most of the problems presented in these messages, as English language has a lot of nuances (like words being borrowed from Latin and Greek, or the fact that some words had their origins lost or they ceased to be used in spoken language). However, that doesn't mean that they still don't fail to confuse people trying to learn the language, as even the most sound explanation might seem nonsensical when the original problem could be solved by, well... changing the language? Ah, let's leave this for the linguists to figure out and non-native speakers to be confused about, right?

#6

English Nonsense

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SykesDaMan
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It took me a while to remember which one is positive and which one is negative between horriffic and terrfic...

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#10

English Nonsense

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So Dou
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We have the exact same word in french and with the same meaning ... others meaning too ;)

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#14

English-Language-Logic-No-Sense

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Artex Gorilla
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Brits also use 'Quite' in a sarcastic manner if agreeing with someone (who they don't agree with).

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#20

English Nonsense

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Aileen
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4 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I’ve also heard, “I before E except when your feisty foreign neighbor Keith leisurely receives eight counterfeit beige sleighs from caffeinated atheist weightlifters. Weird.”

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#25

English-Language-Logic-No-Sense

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Aldhissla VargTimmen
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There's a broadcasted spelling competition for the Dutch language as well ^^ Dutch is easier though, makes more sense :)

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Giette Hulsbosch
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I wouldn't say that. On some notes it does make more sense, but when you ask non-native speakers who are learning Duth, they just think of it as a language with more exceptions on grammar rules then any other language. Just think about it, many natives don't even know the correct use for the DT-rule

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Martina Vitmanová
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When I was little I didn't get why Lisa Simpson was so proud she could spell... I was like, so you just told us the letters, duh :D I watched it with Czech dubbing. And then I started to take English lessons and suddenly I felt for the smart, SMART girl.

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Jo Choto
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I remember my shock when my grandfather told me that there was no spelling test in school when he grew up. He was Hungarian. That language is totally phonetic. Any word you hear, you just spell it how it sounds and it's correct.

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Andrea Goble
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yes. I was born in Hungary and left at age 8. That was a long time ago, but I can still read the language. It has a longer alphabet than English, but once you memorize it, you can spell and read any word.

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pseudosapien
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You know what we should have? A broadcasted competition on converting imperial measurements to metric ones.

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John Montgomery
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I like it, but I don't think you'd ever have winners in that competition. It seems almost no one can do those without looking it up. Myself included.

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Marnie
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I never understood having kids learn to spell OUT LOUD. It's a different skill than being able to spell it correctly on paper.

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Kartun Land
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Indonesian language is easier too. The spelling and the pronounce is the same

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bill marsano
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Do not ad 'ed' here--'broadcast' is correct in all tenses. Similarly do not add 's'' to form the plural of 'aircraft' or use 'craft' to mean more than one boat. Do add the 's' when discussing arts and crafts or using craft in the third person (pretentious, though).

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jimmy pop
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is false. Mandarin Chinese is the most common first language, but not the most common language overall. English has more second language speakers than Mandarin has first language speakers and English also has more first language speakers than Mandarin has second language speakers. In total English has about 1.35 billion speakers while Mandarin only has 1.12 billion.

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Mark Johanen
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Do all other languages have strictly phonetic spelling? I know a little Hebrew and Hebrew spelling can also be quite difficult. There are several silent letters that you only know to include by learning them by rote, not to mention several pairs of letters that have the same sound.

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Matias Panula
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This would be stupid in finnish cause you you prounaunce every thing the way you spell it. Lentokonesuihkuturbiinimoottoriapumekaanikkoaliupseerioppilas😅

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Dynein
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not as bad as English. There are several ways you could hypothetically spell a German word, agreed, but they are very much finite and the way back (spelling to pronunciation) is much more straightforward.

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Piou
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4 years ago

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If you think that English is hard to spell then don't look at French. And it was just the first example coming to my mind. Without being the most intuitive language to spell, English is an easy one

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Daria B
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

English being intuitive to spell? What kind of joke is this? It really depends on your native tongue.

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#27

English Nonsense

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Kaisu
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When I hear someone say "the other day", I assume it's something within a month. I never think someone would mean something they did like a year ago

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#28

English Nonsense

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Full Name
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I wonder if uncovered wagons were the first form of mass transportation so you literally were "on" it.

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#30

English Nonsense

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George Utley
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Fridge is a slang shortening of one of the original refrigerators - Fridgidaire...

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#31

English-Language-Logic-No-Sense

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Phil Boswell
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Same way that the sentence "I never said she stole all my money" takes on a completely different meaning depending upon which particular word you emphasise…

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#32

English Nonsense

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Kaisu
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Because it has nothing to do with the words man/woman and comes from Latin humanus

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#36

English Nonsense

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Kaisu
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Because "Philippines" is in English while "Filipino/Filipina" is Spanish. No need to stress out. In Spanish the country is Filipinas. All is well, they're just words in two different languages!

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#38

English Nonsense

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#40

English-Language-Logic-No-Sense

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piou avatar
Piou
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You mean man's laughter isn't the same as manslaughter? Hmmm maybe I should reconsider my hobbies

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