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The English language is a mystery to all of us, whether you’ve been speaking it since day one or just started learning it. From its bizarre spelling rules to its free-for-all grammar, it’s a daily struggle just trying to form sentences that make sense. No wonder people are turning to emojis to express their thoughts rather than coping with weird grammar rules that lead to some of the funniest English language jokes.

Unless you live in the Tibetan mountains or belong to an Amazonian tribe, you’ve definitely come across weird English words in use. It’s the most widely-studied language globally, linking countries and continents. Because of the rise of American power and influence, English has spread like wildfire across the globe through movies, music, and literature. That doesn't mean it’s a walk in the park.

Take a look at some of the most frustrating moments with this language, which will make you realize why English is so hard to learn. You don't have to look long for funny English language jokes, as they’re all there in our everyday vocabulary. Don’t forget to check out our similar posts about French and German language jokes; they might be even better than these jokes about the English language.

#1

The Many Meanings Of 'Only'

English language joke about word "only"

shadowwraiths Report

#2

Weird English Language Tongue Twister

English language joke about through tough thorough thought, though

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Yvonne Bernal
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They should have said “I slit a sheet, a sheet I slit. Upon the slitted sheet I sit"

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#3

The Order Of Adjectives

English language joke about native English speakers

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Hans
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Never thought about it. Awesomely old straight vivid logic.

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#4

It’s Just English Man, It’s Just English

It’s Just English Man, It’s Just English

Cr1sOnTop Report

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#5

English Language Pronunciation

English language joke about "womb"

just-shower-thoughts Report

#6

The Odd One Out

English language joke about pineapple

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Dany Vigil
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well, Spanish is a very diverse language, from region to region the names of things may change. In South America it is called Ananá. And the pineapple is originally from South America. It is called Piña (Pine Cone) in other regions because it looks like a Pine Cone. I guess in english it is the same (Pine + Apple).

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Carlos G. Pereira
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In Portuguese of Portugal we have both Ananás and Abacaxi , 2 diferent fruits with deferent tastes Ananas is most common in Portugal.

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Hans
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

However, this can become very embarassing. In many of these languages, it is also pronounches in a non-english way, i.e. ah-nah-nas with an a as in "harm". Now imagine a fellow guy from your country speaking english and telling you: "Yes, they had this awesome ananasses..." with an a pronounched as in "hand" (with the US pronounciation). Ouch...

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Taciana Moraes
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In Brazilian portuguese, "abacaxi", most likely a word in one of the many indigenous languages that there exist/existed.

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Miguel Arista
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I keep picturing the Minions running around screaming "ANANAS...ANANAS!"

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Kraneia The Dancing Dryad
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Right? Someone decided because it reminded them of a pine cone, but was sweet like an apple= pineapple. Might not match everyone else's word but at least the logic is there.

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S F
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

i told this to my friend and she understood nothing XD

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

I have heard that in some South American countries it's called anana, just in case somebody had not heard that yet...

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Christine Varela
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In Brasilian Portuguese we say " abacaxi " using the stress on " i "

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Carlos J Mendes
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In Brazilian Portuguese we say ABACAXI (pronounced: ABAKA'SHEE). We also have a fruit called ANANAS and it is similar to PINEAPPLE, but it is not eatable because it is a poisoned fruit.

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Michael Abracham
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What they don't tell you is that one language started using the word "ananas" and then everyone else borrowed it. Except for Spain! Looking on the bright side, in English you'll never have anyone complaining because banana and pineapple, two completely different looking fruits, are different by just one letter.

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Dorothy Cloud
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So English speakers want to be different & not follow the crowd.

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Sun Duncan
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In Northern and Southern Thai dialects "ma-kanat" and "ya-nat" respectively, somewhat similar to Ananas. Prefix "ma(k)" in Thai dialect means fruit

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Patti Calabrese
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In Argentina they say ananas. I had no idea what they were talking about.

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Sevada Dallaqyan
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

we don't say ananas in Armenian, it's արքայախնձոր (arqayakhndzor- royal apple)

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Richard Tanzer
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I didn't know that the "Latins" were familiar with pineapples. What's the Latin word for tomato?

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Dayan Inclán
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Spanish was intentionally left out to make their point more glaring

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Swapnil Acharya
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It is called "Bhuikatahar" in Nepali language. Now take that! We beat the syllable game.

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Ruben Obias
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Last I check among the list, only the Us can produce pineapple. The producer should be given naming rights

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Solbjorg Daubner
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Maybe those English speaking arbiters of language thought ananas sounded too much like bananas!

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Cal Capone
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

파인애플 (pain-aepeul) in Korean. パイナップル (painapperu) in Japanese. take that, rest of the world

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Claudio Graziani
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Brazilian portuguese: ABACAXI (AHBAHCAHSHEE)! Ananás is very,, very old language.

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Tony Cabré
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You forgot Spanish, the 3rd most spoken language in the world. Piña is the word

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Judith Kellett
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In Brasil (Portuguese speaking) they have two words for two different types: ananas and abacaxi, the yummiest one.

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Aurora Marionette
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Louis and Clark named it that without paying attention to the other languages

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Carol Stephen
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

strange provenance. From Middle English. From the word for pine cone because of its appearance. But yes, the plant name in Latin is ananas comosus. English always has to be different, doesn't it? Just to keep us guessing.

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Melinda McBride
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Latin wouldn't have a word for the fruit since was a "dead" language before Europeans ever saw a pineapple.

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Al Yuwono
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In Indonesian, we say 'nanas'. Almost the same as above, ya..

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Yeseul
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As a Bulgarian I am pretty frustrated that there is "Macedonian", but not Bulgarian in this list....

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Binh Nham
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Japanese and Korean have similar pronunciations to us and Vietnamese and Chinese have totally different words than any of these.

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Fiona Messenger
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In Welsh it's afal pin. But they were probably copying the English.

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Patricia Ross
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

No one thinks Latin and Spanish are the same language. Latin is the origin of Spanish, as well as French, Italian and other languages. I don't think English and German are the same language but they are both Germanic in origin.

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Punkie Pie
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Omg. Why are people getting so salty? It's supposed to be amusing, and making fun of the English language for being overly complex. Fml. || •FaceDesk •||

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Christine Scott
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I wonder if our word ''bananas'' is ''bine apple'' somewhere else?? lol!

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Alex Daal
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Croatian: ananas Czech: ananas Spanish: ananás (http://dle.rae.es/?id=2W7yB0E) Ukrainian: ананас (ananás)

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Alex Daal
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In Spanish it is also "ananás": http://dle.rae.es/?id=2W7yB0E ( And "piña")

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MizLyna Ibrahim
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In Malaysia generally or Malay language specifically we called as Nenas..

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Laily F. Noor
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I call this fruit Nanas, too. But in korean, it's called 파인애플 --> pa-in-ae-peul --> pineapple

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wendy -s4lseotime-
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In spanish, at least in México, we don't say ananá, we actually say piña lol

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Alex Daal
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Existen otros países en el mundo, en algunos de ellos también se habla español. Y en español también existe el ananá: http://dle.rae.es/?id=2W7yB0E

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Karen Drucks
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I love the english language...it's amazing what one can say so no one else understands you..........

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Gloria Genova
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Macedonian?! Are you serious?! How come the Macedonian before the Bulgarian?!?!?! The cirilic alphabet ist invented by the Bulgarians Kiril und Metodii. This alphabet use Russians, macedonians and all slavic people...not to mention that Macedonia ist part of Bulgaria which was in the past separated so the language is also bulgarian (with dialect)...so please....

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Nabeen Khadka
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In Nepali we say भुइकटहर , which translates to "ground jackfruit" or even to "floor jackfruit". English is not the only one

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Nabeen Khadka
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In Nepali, we call it भुइकटहर, which translates to "floor jackfruit". English is not alone!

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Juan R.S.
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ananas in Latin? The pinneaple originated in South America so it's hard to believe that old Romans had a word for this fruit. I suppose you mean in Latin American Spanish. We call it "piña" in Spain which -as the English word- comes from Latin (real Latin) "pinea".

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Alex Daal
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

El latín es uno de los idiomas escritos más antiguos y el utilizado para dar nombre científico a las especies. En la América pre colombina seguramente tendría otros nombres. En España se le llama "piña", pero también es correcto en español "ananá": http://dle.rae.es/?id=2W7yB0E

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Flore Filipovic
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Brazilians say Abacaxi ... and this would be an abacaxi as in complication :-)

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Tigran Hayrapetyan
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In Armenian the name is արքայախնձոր [arqayakhndzor], which means "king's apple", but ananas is more usable.

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Pobin Rice
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well if you look at the history of the pineapple...... Columbus discovered it and called it "piña de Indes", meaning "pine of the Indians".... very close to what the English called it after: a "pine cone"..... so who has actually got it wrong??? Hmm??

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Daisy Quintero
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Pinya in Filipino and Catalan and Pineapple in Klingon and Tahitian~

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Arno Pashikyan
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Armenian is also incorrect. We call it աարքայախնձոր (arkayakhndzor), which means king's apple

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Artiom Matevosian
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Armenian translation is actually արքայախնձոր(arkayakhndzor) ;)

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Wendy Arias
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I would love to know what do you mean by latin? Because we Latinos speak Spanish! And for Costarricans is 🍍 Piña, not ananas! 😏

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Jason Hoover
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A pineapple/ananas is not a pine cone or piña. Problem solved.

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#7

Same Word, Opposite Meaning

English language joke about "chuffed"

languagelinguistics Report

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Hans
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well, isn't this the case with many words? Like terrific, or also awful. an aweful beach, to my understanding is one that you do not want to visit, while you definitely want to hand out on an awefully great beach. An if you hear of a terrific beach, you better ask twice. Any native speakers here to explain? Even though I am afraid this might even be different in AE and BE.

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#8

Same Sentence, Different Meanings

English language joke about stressed words

thessalian Report

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#9

The Meaning Of Goodbye

English language joke about ways of saying goodbye

ikimaru Report

#10

Words That Don't Rhyme

English language joke about words rhyme

gracieness Report

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Yvonne Bernal
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Sometimes we spell it "baloney" - And baloney and money don't rhyme either (sigh)

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#11

English Is Weird With Its Silent Letters

English language joke about pronouncing queue

laslanguesromanze Report

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Claudia Machado
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Queue is a queue where Q is the first and the others are waiting in queue for their chance to appear.

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#12

Know Your A’s

English language joke about pronouncing "a" in Australia

dismal-dragon Report

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Evelim C
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Just as the word "eleven". Someone please tell Americans to choose one sound? Brasilians have to many words but at least we know how to pronnounce them. .-.

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#13

Correct Grammar vs Kinky Pirate

English language grammar joke

englishmajorhumor Report

#14

Why Don’t They Sound Like They’re Spelt?

English language joke about pronunciation

libbylumos Report

#17

English Is a Funny Language

English Is a Funny Language

andymientears Report

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Hans
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh, if you still are interested in that, just find a German class nearby. The good thing is, the more weird languages you learn, you more you appreciate if you come across languages that lack the irregularities where you expected them from experience.

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#18

Practice Your Pronunciation

English language joke about pronunciation

crimsun Report

#20

The Mind Cannot Compute

English language joke about spelling

egberts Report

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Gemma Ereza Ferrie
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is why it's so important to get kids reading books. I read each of these sentences fine, without confusion through context. Close reading is key to communication and the English language.

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#21

House-Spouse

English language joke about house-wife and house-husband

pilgrimkitty Report

#22

Tea Tea, Bread Bread, And Many More

English language joke about tea and bread

madlori Report

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Hans
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Same with many, many abbreviations. In many, many other languags. Alas.

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#26

English Triple Contractions

English language joke about english triple contractions

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#30

Is English the Easiest Language to Learn? Doubt

English language joke about you're and your

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Intensive Panda
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

always wondering why even native speakers don't know the difference. Also: if you're unsure about "affect" or "effect" just use "impact" :D

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#31

Traditional vs Simplified

Traditional vs Simplified

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Thor Sten
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well, linguistically speaking: AE is an older form of English that had less influence from neighboring languages.

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#32

Autumn vs Fall

English language joke about autumn vs fall

transcendantalismsm Report

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Yvonne Bernal
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I know it works GREAT with "spring ahead and fall back" - in reference to Daylight savings time reminders as to which way to set the clocks (forward or backward)

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#34

Goose And Geese

English language joke about goose and geese

linguisticsyall Report

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Hans
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think it is amazing to see how closely many languages are intertwined. Therefore, people talking about "supremacy" of languages will often have no clue. On the other hand, other language families are quite fascinating in comparison, particularly if you consider the "efficiency" of saying something. And then, having isolated non-related languages (like Basque) are truly fascinating.

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#36

It Isn’t What It Is

Meme about English language

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Master Markus
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Eggplants were called that because the variety first introduced to the Europeans looked like an egg (you can see them if you look it up, they're white), pineapple was called that because it looks like a pine cone and "apple" was a generic word for "fruit", hamburger is from the "Hamburg steak" which is a kind of ground beef dish. Here are theories about the "guinea pig": http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/12/how-did-the-guinea-pig-get-its-name.html

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#39

Funny English Where Everything Fits Together

Meme about english language

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#41

A Jar

Meme about Jar Jar in the Jar

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Intensive Panda
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

now enter "ajar jarjar in a jar in an ajar jar" in google translator and click on "pronounce" 🤣😂🤣

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#43

When English Is Not Your Native Language

Meme about non native english speakers

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#44

Literally

Meme about literal meaning

theoatmeal Report

#46

Pronounce Like You Spell

English language joke about pronunciation

heliager Report

#48

Stop This Madness

English language joke about "polish"

kilihasparasites Report

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Thomas Hobbs
Community Member
6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You should read "polish" as "polish", but don't read "polish" as "Polish", or "Polish" as "polish"..

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#49

English is Weird

English language joke about "can't"

ernstills Report

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Your Friendly Neighbourhood Panda
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think about this too all the time! I've decided that instead of "Why can't you" being "Why can not you," it means "Why can you not," despite the basic grammar rules being weird. I guess it's just implied?

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#51

English Language is Contradictory

English language joke about "monosyllabic" having five syllables

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#52

Aisle Be There for You

English language joke about "aisle" and "isle"

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Jessica Westbrook
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That also depends on accent. I'll isn't pronunced the same as aisle and isle where I'm from on the States.

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#53

Brain Hurty

English language joke about "had" and "had had"

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rai mei
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

it's weird cause in our language had-had means tinea cruris in medical terms. hahaha

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#55

One for All and All for One

English language joke about "say" and "tell"

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#56

Dedicated Rick Roll

English language joke about Rick Astley music video

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

Rickrollé in French, which is the basic way in French to appropriate an English word

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#57

Make It Make Sense

English language joke about word play

Mike Snyder Report

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Collin Cantrell
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Am I the only one who thought 13 had more to do with the usage of "to" vs "too" than pronouncing close?

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#59

Beauty in Language

English language joke about 100 most beautiful words

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

Meh, most of these aren't even English words. Yep! I'm petty and snobby.

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#60

Weird English Language Nightmare

English language joke about "y'all'd've"

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#61

Preposition Problems

English language joke about about prepositions

frosheep53 Report

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May Jeanette Fast
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I could be wrong but here's why I think it makes sense. January is a month, a month is a time period that contains somethings (weeks and days) so for anything that contains anything, we say it's in it. "Oh the dinner is in the fridge" For Wednesday it's a day, and many times people ask when something is happening or "when is it on?" and so you say it's "on Wednesday". The same goes for time except you say "on at" because the use of "at" when it comes to clock time is due to the use of the clock. At is used to describe where the clock hand is at.

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#62

Many Words With The Same Meanings

English language joke about "I've not" and "I haven't"

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#64

Pretty Odd

English language joke about being pretty

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Maeldwyn
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've been told I'm half pretty and half ugly. I guess that makes me pretty ugly.

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#67

It’s Confusing, Isn’t It?

English language joke about "It's what it's"

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Crystal Poe
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Nooo. I say It is what it is all the time. This one messed with me worse than all the others combined.

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Are Jokes Based on Plays on Words Mostly an English Language Thing?

Although there are many English language fails in this list, it also lends itself to many clever puns. But English isn’t the only language with double entendres or witticisms. Wordplay is quite common in oral cultures, whereas text-based (orthographic) puns are found in languages with or without alphabet-based scripts, such as Mandarin Chinese. In fact, in Sweden, the city of Gothenburg is well-known for its puns.

English is frustrating and often weird, but it lends itself to beautiful wordplay and sentences that just roll off the tongue. Still, we must laugh at its crazy grammar, which can’t be replicated in any other language. Let us know in the comments if you’ve encountered any funny English fails or double meanings. We’d sure love to get a laugh out of it!