Ken Boddie

3 years ago · 6 min. reading time · ~100 ·

Blogging
>
Ken blog
>
Speak English Why Don’t You!

Speak English Why Don’t You!

ENGLISH IS A FUNNY
LANGUAGE. A FAT
CHANCE AND A SLIM
CHANCE ARE THE
SAME THING.

Jack Herbert
BE QUOTE 3

Why on earth should we speak English?  After all, English is such a confusing and inconsistent language.  It's almost like a plot that has been hatched by the users, choosers, perusers, producers (and invariably abusers) of this frustratingly complex, illogical, irregular, unpredictable and sometimes even incongruous language, against all those who choose to learn English as other than their mother tongue.

NOTICE

THANK YOU
FOR NOTICING THIS

NEW NOTICE

YOUR NOTICING IT
HAS BEEN NOTED

Bl | AND WiLL BE REPORTED TO THE AUTHORITIES


 

For those supporters of the theory that the combination of English grammar, spelling, and most of all pronunciation, is a preconceived, prejudiced and punitive conspiracy against those not advantageously born into it, the poem below may either support their argument, or perhaps provide some sympathetic solace for their plight.


 

Our Strange Lingo
When the English tongue we speak, 
Why is break not rhymed with freak? 
Will you tell me why it's true, 
We say sew but likewise few? 
And the maker of the verse, 
Cannot rhyme his horse with worse? 
Beard is not the same as heard, 
Cord is different from word, 
Cow is cow but low is low, 
Shoe is never rhymed with foe,  
Think of hose, dose, and lose, 
And think of goose and yet with choose,  
Think of comb, tomb and bomb, 
Doll and roll or home and some, 
Since pay is rhymed with say, 
Why not paid with said I pray? 
Think of blood, food and good, 
Mould is not pronounced like could, 
Wherefore done, but gone and lone, 
Is there any reason known?
To sum up all, it seems to me, 
Sound and letters don't agree. 

This was written by Lord Cromer, published in the Spectator of August 9th, 1902 and extracts were quoted in an SSS pamphlet in the 1930 essay, "English as a World Language" by Harold Cox, Former Editor Edinburgh Review.

These problems can be summarised by three groups of horrific in-built impediments to the student of English, set out below:

  • Homonyms - These are words spelt and pronounced the same way but with different meanings; such as gross, either meaning the worst imaginable antonym of nice, or 144 of whatever tickles your fancy; well, either meaning how we all felt prior to the advent of Mexican viral beer, or a hole in the ground where you can draw water to wash down your wet market; and change, as in to stop burning all those gross polluting fossil forms of energy and to adopt renewables, or a reference to those little round metallic discs we used to keep in our pockets, purses or wallets, as a pay-back for proffering various sheets of coloured paper, well before touch became synonymous with tainted and we were forced to go cashless.
  • Homophones - These are words with the same sound but with different spelling and meaning; such as "I'll give two of these to you, too"; cruise, as in the now obsolete custom of travelling across the ocean on a large viral pea soup container, versus crews, as in the staff employed by the cruise ship company to ensure that all cruise participants "share and share alike"; and see ahead, as in the practice adopted by the various worldwide port authorities to look for cruise ships coming and to refuse to let them dock ("not in my back yard") thus ensuring that they remain at sea.
  • Homographs - These are words with the same spelling but different sound and meaning; such as wind, as in the bagfulls of hot air emitted by our various politicians, while "towing the party line" instead of representing the interests of the voter, as compared to the irritation experienced by the people when the politicians wind us up with their wind; and then don't get too close, as in what is now defined as less than 1.5 m distance, as compared to close the door and hide behind the curtains to ensure that any visiting politicians, religious fraternisers, charity collectors and other casual door knockers think that you're out. 
b957a8df.jpg


 

Now we've all heard of using a double negative to arrive at a positive, but what about a double positive to convey a negative ... Yeah right!  And how about all those negative words that have no positive equivalent?

  • If we take away the prefix 'in', then what is the meaning of an [in]'ert' chemical, a [in]'hibited' action, or a topsy-turvy [in]'verted' object, or an [in]'ept' person?
  • Or how about a [dis]'gruntled' person, who presumably has a slipped 'dis'?
  • Or a [un]'gainly' person, who's one of the lost 'un's?

Then how about when we have more than one? Wouldn't life be so much simpler if all we had to do was add an 's' to our nouns to procreate them?


 

We'll begin with box; the plural is boxes
But the plural of ox is oxen, not oxes. 
One fowel is a goose, and two are called geese
Yet the plural of moose is never called meese.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
You may find a lone mouse, or a house full of mice
But the plural of house is houses, not hice
The plural of man is always men
But the plural of pan is never pen.
------------------------------------------------------
If I speak of a foot, and you show me two feet
And I give you a book, would a pair be a beek?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth
Why shouldn't two booths together be beeth?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
If the singular's this, and the plural is these
Should the plural of kiss be ever called kese?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
We speak of a brother and also of brethren
But thought we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him
But imagine the feminine ... she, shis and shim!Anonymous

67e50bf6.jpg


 

But before we tackle 'Why' English is so despicably and dastardly difficult and 'Why' we should continue to collectively and complicitly coerce its extensive use, here's some information of passing interest (but little, if any, benefit) taken from the Lingoda Team:

  • "Go!" is the shortest grammatically correct English sentence. 
  • There are many ways to spell the 'ee' sound in English, such as, "He believed Caesar should see people seizing the seas."
  • The original name for 'butterfly' was 'flutterby'.
  • The letter 'e' occupies 11% of the English language.
  • 90% of English text comprises only 1000 words.
  • The most common English adjective is 'good', and most common noun is 'time' (now perhaps you'll appreciate why so many of the lady workers in various red light districts offer their clientele a 'good time').
cc77dc82.png


 

So, as to why English is so inconceivably inconsistent and virulently variable, let's look at its history down through the ages.

In times when much of Britain was under the far flung influence of Rome, the far-from-united inhabitants spoke a form of Celtish, which survives in Scotland and Ireland as Gaelic and in Wales as Welch. After the Italians retreated for warmer Mediterranean climes, there was an invasion of Germanic tribes from the east, across the North Sea.  These Jutes, Angles and Saxons brought with them the roots of what we now call Old English.

c4f345a2.jpg


 

They drove the Celts northwards and westwards and settled mostly throughout what is now called England (taken after 'Englaland' the home of the Angles and their language, 'Englisc'). 

Some 600 years later, the Normans came from Northern France, spearheaded by William the Conqueror and his Harold's-eye-seeking bowmen. They brought with them the French language of the day, which was subsequently adopted by the ruling and business classes, before merging again into a melee of Middle English, as spoken by Chaucer in the late 14th century (try reading the Canterbury Tales in its original form and then tell me that today's English is indecipherable).

English was modified yet again, during the Early Modern English period, from the 16th to 19th centuries, as the empire building Brits interacted with (or rather controlled, dominated and subjugated) people from around the world, absorbing selected words from these exotic and distant lands into their own language, albeit mostly in a somewhat distorted fashion. Then came the Late Modern English home stretch, during which the Industrial Revolution occurred and a whole host of new words were invented in parallel with technology.

After such a checkered history and evolution, is it surprising then to discover that modern day English is anything but consistent in its grammar, spelling and pronunciation?

Then finally, why should we need to continue to use such a dastardly difficult language?  Well, before you throw in the towel, here are some rubbery facts to sway you in favour of having at least a working knowledge of one of the various forms of English used globally.  

  • It appears that an estimated one third of the world's population now uses English, which romps home either in second place to Mandarin Chinese, or in third place after Spanish, depending upon which bookmaker you've placed your bet with and whether or not the steward's objections have been upheld.
     
  • English is particularly influential in cinema, television, pop music, trade and the internet.
  • Longstanding international agreements have resulted in English being the official language for all maritime and aeronautical communications.
  • Over 80% of the information stored on computers worldwide is in English.
  • English is the official language of 67 countries.
25a31c94.jpg


 

In conclusion, for those of you out there who are still students of the English language (ie this post hasn't entirely driven you to distraction and hence to Mandarin, Spanish or ultimately Latin), be it as spoken in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, India, and the Caribbean, not to mention UK and the USA, you have my deepest sympathies.  Please take some solace in the undisputed fact that you are not alone in your frustration, annoyance and exasperation, and that there have been, and will continue to be, many others sharing the same boat as you.

So sit tight, buckle up, and suck it up!  Neither Rome nor the English language was built, nor indeed learned, in a day.

...................<<..................>>...................  

cb827e7e.jpg

When not researching the weird or the wonderful, the comical or the cultured, the sinful or the serious, I chase my creative side, the results of which can be seen as selected photographs of my travels on my website at:

The author of the above, Ken Boddie, besides being a sometime poet and occasional writer, is an enthusiastic photographer, rarely leisure-travelling without his Canon, and loves to interact with other like-minded people with diverse interests.

Ken's three day work week (part time commitment) as a consulting engineer allows him to follow his photography interests, and to plan trips to an ever increasing list of countries and places of scenic beauty and cultural diversity.

Comments

Ken Boddie

2 years ago #82

@Ken Boddie I have read this: 

 

Languages currently available include Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), French, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Modern Greek and Hindi. The additional funding will add Korean, Vietnamese, Turkish and German to the program. All of these languages are included in the Australian Curriculum for schools.

 

Is this true ? Which is the most second language chosen in Australia? And what about Canada @Renée  🐝 Cormier

Ken Boddie

2 years ago #80

With your linguistic skills, @Renée  🐝 Cormier and your exposure to permafrost in Canada, have you ever thought of a paid holiday in the heat of the desert?  Why not join the French Foreign Legion? 😁

Ken Boddie

2 years ago #79

Zacharias 🐝 Voulgaris

2 years ago #78

Zacharias 🐝 Voulgaris

2 years ago #77

Lada 🏡 Prkic

2 years ago #75

Ken, thank you for praising my written English. 🤗 As I said many times, blogging largely improved my written English, but my spoken English needs more practice. 

I agree with you. Because English is the global language, it did a grave disservice to native English speakers who generally remained monolingual and without a desire to learn other languages. We have a few native English friends who say it for themselves. Why learning a second language when the whole world speaks English. 🙄

Ken Boddie

2 years ago #74

Today, more than ever, it is essential to learn English. It is increasingly used in almost all areas of human knowledge and development. It can practically be said to be the language of today's world. In the era of globalization, it is the great international language, a "lingua franca" that has had repercussions in all non-Anglo-Saxon countries, including Spain, and that affects more or less directly the various fields and professions. Its possession can no longer be treated as a luxury, but as an obvious necessity. Moreover, it is even said that those who do not master this language would be at a clear disadvantage: it would be as if they were mute or half illiterate. And there are plenty of reasons to say so. 

 

First of all, it is the tool that allows communication with people from other countries in the globalized world in which we live. It is indisputable: English has become the global language of communication par excellence.

Ken Boddie

2 years ago #71

Ken Boddie

2 years ago #69

Ken Boddie

2 years ago #67

Ken Boddie

2 years ago #66

I LOVE English.  It is a tapestry.  I love it because it's what I know and know well.  In being read by 2nd-languagers around the world, I have reveled in learning to be clearer linguistically cross-culturally.

 

My readers challenge me more than language itself.

 

If I had my druthers, I would learn every language in the world and bathe in all the linguistic nuances that exist.

I think there is no doubt in anyone's mind that English is a predominant language, especially at the business level. 

Most of the content on the Internet is in English.

According to this source: https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/internet-language, English is clearly the most used language on the Internet.

 

However, the use of Spanish on the Internet has grown by 1,511% in the period 2000-2020, compared to an increase of 743% for English. This growth is mainly due to the incorporation of Hispanic American users to the Internet. 

 

Source: https://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/anuario/anuario_20/informes_ic/p06.htm#:~:text=El%20uso%20del%20espa%C3%B1ol%20en,la%20Red%20de%20usuarios%20hispanoamericanos.

Ken Boddie

2 years ago #61

A shoeshine shop’s where Susie sits. Where she shines she sits, and where she sits she shines. 

Ken Boddie

3 years ago #60

#62
English is perhaps fun, John Rylance, only for those who are native speakers or who have mastered it as a second language. Spare some compassion for those who are still navigating and cheer them up by telling them it can be best understood through tough thorough thought, though.

John Rylance

3 years ago #59

Its time bring out the old chestnuts time. Whats the longest word in the English language. Smiles WHY? Because there's a mile between the s and the two ss

John Rylance

3 years ago #58

Question. Why is English so much fun? Answer. Because this sentence makes complete sense. All the faith he had had had had no effect on the outcome of his life. I dont know yet if its had an effect on mine yet. But my brain hurt after reading it.

Ken Boddie

3 years ago #57

Time to go the rounds again, to cheer up those who are English language challenged. BTW, did you know that ... The sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick? 😂🤣😂

Ken Boddie

3 years ago #56

#59
Can’t think of anything less intriguing than a personal closed doors discussion with someone young enough to be my granddaughter. This platform and comments stream is for serious writers and SM participants only, and not for backyard covert soliciting. I trust, Javier \ud83d\udc1d CR, that your staff will seriously review the membership of this person or bot.

Ken Boddie

3 years ago #55

#57
Hope you find time, Javier \ud83d\udc1d CR, to platicar y charlar more often. Mucho tiempo entre bebidas , my friend.
Spanglish is in style !

Ken Boddie

3 years ago #53

#55
Hey, Pascal Derrien, Speak Franglais, why don’t you! 🤣😂🤣

Pascal Derrien

3 years ago #52

Tres bien comme article :-)

Fay Vietmeier

3 years ago #51

#53
#53 Milos Djukic Blessings back "Milosophical” one ;~)

Milos Djukic

3 years ago #50

#51
:) Fay Vietmeier

Fay Vietmeier

3 years ago #49

#49
John Rylance Funny ;~) Melancholy- A melon with whole holy holes in it.

Fay Vietmeier

3 years ago #48

#48
Milos Djukic Oh “magnificently Milosophical” You are not an “intruder” And not likely a Tudor But surely a great tutor Perhaps once a suitor? A most unlikely disputer But a computer sharp-shooter

Fay Vietmeier

3 years ago #47

#46
Ken Boddie You always bring a SMILE ... such query does weary Your “Bard-worthy” label, Will surely enable, My pride to get carried away, But being short of cash, Please don’t think me brash, If I ask, what’s a Bard worth today? Oh dear “Bard" I ponder hard your poetic question The mind can be a thought machine But rhyming WORDS IS no easy thing A BARD is worth his weight in GOLD His way with words does VALUE hold His telling of STORIES should be sold His wit and WISDOM are very bold ;~)

Ken Boddie

3 years ago #46

#48
Indeed, Milos Djukic, It appears that you’re fanatically phonetical and predictably professorial, besides being magnificently Milosophical. 🤗

Milos Djukic

3 years ago #45

Ken Boddie) have responded. So who is the intruder? [m_ˈaɪ_l_əʊ_z], of course 🤣😂🤣

Milos Djukic

3 years ago #44

#45
Milos [m_ˈaɪ_l_əʊ_z] response: You can "cee" me everywhere, nowhere, and I am also a very busy prof. :) Your brilliant post is guilty, Ken Boddie. I could not resist 🤣😂🤣

Ken Boddie

3 years ago #43

#42
Well Fay ... Your “Bard-worthy” label, Will surely enable, My pride to get carried away, But being short of cash, Please don’t think me brash, If I ask, what’s a Bard worth today? 😂🤣😂

Ken Boddie

3 years ago #42

#43
UR 2 fan C 4 me, Milos Djukic. 😂 Good to see you on beBee again.

Milos Djukic

3 years ago #41

🤣😂🤣

Milos Djukic

3 years ago #40

Thanks Ken Boddie, I like this one a lot. You remind me about my little adventure into the English language from my old LI post... The letter C in a word or a single flap of a C – butterfly wings should sound like: K (Community or Cooperation), Sh (oCean or like the sound of a large roaring Tornado of thoughts ), S (soCiety) or even Silent (sCent), depending on spoken words within our beautiful minds. Milos: Who are you Mrs C? K, Sh, S, or - ? Mrs C /ˈsiː/ response: You can "cee" me everywhere, nowhere, and I am also a programming language :)

Fay Vietmeier

3 years ago #39

#41
Ken Boddie A most Bard-worthy post Ken. Sorry for the delay arriving here ... but GLAD I did because the post is very truly DELIGHT-FILL I LOVED the anonymous poem And Lord Cromer's poetic "essay" "To sum up all, it seems to me, Sound and letters don't agree." For those who writes poetry This quandary is easy to see Made me laugh: What is the longest sentence in the English language? "I do" And The most common English adjective is 'good', and most common noun is 'time' (now perhaps you'll appreciate why so many of the lady workers in various red light districts offer their clientele a 'good time'). Really liked: The original name for 'butterfly' was 'flutterby' Perhaps the the name change was influenced by Julia Child? (famous for her love of butter) FAT chance = SLIM chance (English is dubiously double-minded)

Ken Boddie

3 years ago #38

#40
Of course, John White, MBA, back in those days we all used pen and ink whether teaching or learning. Aren’t you glad those days of the Spanish ink-position are over? 🤣😂🤣

John White, MBA

3 years ago #37

I loved every word of this one, Ken. I was nodding my head in agreement the whole time while reading. Having taught Spanish to elementary kids as my first job out of college, I used to show them examples like the ones in your article of just how complicated English can be when they would complain about how much "harder" Spanish is to learn than English.

Ken Boddie

3 years ago #36

#37
I’m not clever, Franci\ud83d\udc1dEugenia Hoffman, beBee Brand Ambassador, but I do tend to use a lot of big words ... because I talk to a lot of giants. 🤣😂🤣

Ken Boddie

3 years ago #35

#36
You sound like my doctor, Joyce \ud83d\udc1d Bowen Brand Ambassador @ beBee I went to see him about my bad back and he told me it’s old age. When I asked for a second opinion he told me I’m ugly. 😢
#34
Yea--I don't understand that one either. You're just so damned ugly.

Lada 🏡 Prkic

3 years ago #33

#34
LOL 🤣😂🤣

Ken Boddie

3 years ago #32

#33
I must admit, Lada, I avoid abbreviations and acronyms like the plague. I was exposed to way too many of these in the Army Reserve. I also remember being confused as to why social media ‘friends’ used to wish me “Lots of Love”. 🤣😂🤣

Lada 🏡 Prkic

3 years ago #31

#32
Ken, I am surprised that these simple three letters made you think. :) Acronyms are also interesting words that got me confused when I started to use social media (messaging on LI). Many of my contacts on LI assumed that I understand what, inter alia, TBH or IDK means. Luckily, we can always rely on Dr Google. :)

Ken Boddie

3 years ago #30

#31
Well, well, Lada ... At first I couldn’t tell, Just what the hell was ELL, These simple letters three, I somehow failed to see, And then, as plain could be, It finally dawned on me, Although no money earner, It’s English Language Learner. 👩🏼‍🎓🧑🏻‍🎓👨🏻‍🎓

Lada 🏡 Prkic

3 years ago #29

#23
John, there are words in every language that even native speakers would say, "Sorry I haven't a clue." :-) It is an English spelling that causes difficulty, not just to those like me but also to those whose mother tongue is English. I admire those ELLs who have mastered the knowledge of meaning and spelling and pronunciation of the English words.

Ken Boddie

3 years ago #28

#28
Not to mention achy breaky heart, Franci\ud83d\udc1dEugenia Hoffman, beBee Brand Ambassador, which you may wish to listen to when you have toothache ... or not. Of course, since you are the Queen Bee of beBee poetry, you may wish to get a new crown while you’re getting your toothache seen to. 🦷👸🏻

Ken Boddie

3 years ago #27

#28
And then heeby-jeebies slots right in, Franci\ud83d\udc1dEugenia Hoffman, beBee Brand Ambassador, in case you run out of wobbly sheep dogs. 🤣😂🤣

Ken Boddie

3 years ago #26

#25
Reminds me,John, of those old radio progs like ‘My Word’ with Frank Muir and Dennis Norton, and their dastardly distortions of sayings and song titles. Asked to explain the song title "Come Into the Garden, Maud," Muir told a story about joining a yacht club, where he fell for a lovely maiden named Carmen. But later, when he learned that Carmen and a yachtsman named Toothy Gordon had "sailed together into the harbor of matrimony and were moored together for life," Muir could only sit and mutter over and over, "Carmen . . . Toothy Gordon . . . Moored."

John Rylance

3 years ago #25

Sorry it should have said "Sorry I haven't a clue" Still it gives me a chance to add Melancholy- A melon with whole holy holes in it.

John Rylance

3 years ago #24

I learnt the "skill" listening to a radio program called " I haven't a clue", when they had a round of alternative meanings of words. An example might be Cantaloupe- trotting in circles on a horse.

Ken Boddie

3 years ago #23

#23
Well, John Rylance, since you are an obvious word fusion expert, you’ll be well aware that, when you cross a cantaloupe with a sheepdog, you’ll get a melancholy baby. 🤣😂🤣

John Rylance

3 years ago #22

#19
#18 #17 Whether you speak words phonetically or apply some random rule for pronunciation, or come to that spelling, doesn't help you with its meaning. Collywobbles is derived from colic and wobble. Colic is usually something babies suffer, and wobble can be described as trying to decide which action to take. Therefore collywobbles could be trying to decided how to deal with your babies colic.

Ken Boddie

3 years ago #21

#21
🤫

Lada 🏡 Prkic

3 years ago #20

#20
Silly me! I didn’t realise it was done deliberately. 😁

Ken Boddie

3 years ago #19

#19
Where’s your sense of adventure, Lada? 🤣 Why have one simple rule when you can have several more complex ones, and all conflicting? The English language, like the camel, was allegedly designed by committee and, doubtless, the minutes from each committee meeting were either not written or totally disregarded. Perhaps Trump‘s forefathers were involved at some stage? 😂

Lada 🏡 Prkic

3 years ago #18

As for the topic Ken, any language that is not phonetic makes no sense to me. Croatian is a strictly phonetic language following the simple principle: "to write as you speak, and to speak as you write." We pronounce every word exactly as it is written. Each letter represents a single sound. There are no combinations of letters that together create one sound or silent letters. Is there any simpler or more clever rule than that. :)

Ken Boddie

3 years ago #17

#17
Ha, ha, and the collywobbles would only be experienced by shaky sheepdogs, Franci\ud83d\udc1dEugenia Hoffman, beBee Brand Ambassador. 🤣😂🤣

Lada 🏡 Prkic

3 years ago #16

#15
Ken, when I said that speaking English is more of a necessity than a choice, I meant that in my part of the world (and not only here) you are considered illiterate if you don't speak English. I have also learnt Italian, but I use English way more often. My English is far less than perfect, but as you said, neither Rome nor the English language was built, nor indeed learned, in a day. Great thought! If you have a passion for learning, things can only get better. Persistence pays premiums, indeed. For me, the best way to improve English is through writing and commenting - activities I have largely neglected lately. Thank you for writing posts that I like to read and comment.

Ken Boddie

3 years ago #15

#14
Let me tell you a secret, Lada. I was brought up in the north-east of Scotland speaking Broad Scots, an English dialect also referred as Doric or Lowland Scots. Though very similar to English, it has many different words of Scandinavian or Germanic origin and can sound quite foreign to traditional English speakers. It follows that my English and literature exam results in my latter high school years were less than perfect. I didn’t really learn to enjoy writing in English until my university days, and even report writing in my early engineering career was somewhat of a trial for me. Persistence pays premiums, however, and now I love to play with words, as you doubtless have noticed. Your posts indicate to me that you have also developed a passion for writing in English.

Lada 🏡 Prkic

3 years ago #14

Ken, as a lifelong learner of the English language, I can say that speaking English is more of a necessity than a choice. Your post requires several readings to absorb all weird facts about your native language. :) I must say I am homophobic, not in the literal sense, but because of these horrific groups of "homo" words. 😁 Thank you for expressing sympathies to all students of the English language. :))

Ken Boddie

3 years ago #13

#12
Haven’t got enough brass, Joyce \ud83d\udc1d Bowen Brand Ambassador @ beBee, to orchestrate a tune-up.
Ken Boddie meaning? It appears your instrument is out of tune and needs tweaking.

Ken Boddie

3 years ago #11

#10
Agreed, Joyce \ud83d\udc1d Bowen Brand Ambassador @ beBee, but too many are treating it like percussion. 😢
"I fear, @John Rylance, that with the rise of social media and the use of thumbs and shortcuts on tablets and phones, the sun is indeed starting to set on the English language." Never, Ken Boddie. The English language is a beautiful instrument when played correctly.
#3
Damn--and I thought it was French...

Ken Boddie

3 years ago #8

#6
It’s enough to drive a man to drink, Mohd ... but only non al-kuhl naranga juice or qahwah. 🤗

Ken Boddie

3 years ago #7

#5
indeed, Renee Iseli - Smits, I may no longer pen a proper letter, but I key a passable explanatory email and document a detailed investigatory report. I agree that snail mail has mostly gone the way of the dinosaur, but the postal service parcel delivery has had a COVID revival as we purchase goodies on line at an exponentially increasing rate and send presents to grandchildren we can’t visit.

Mohammed Abdul Jawad

3 years ago #6

Thought-provoking post Dear Ken Boddie. Enjoyed it, and well your post prompted me to pen down the following blank-verse poem O, what a say about the origins of English language It has borrowed, copied and stole many alien words And, in a way, chiseled those words to sound perfect Imagine Arabic ‘laimoon’ turning into lemon ‘Al-Jabr’ to algebra, and ‘al-kuhl’ to alcohol ‘qahwah’ traversing to places becomes coffee Orange all the way originated from ‘naranga’ ‘Suffa’ became sofa, and ‘safar’ became safari And then, ‘sukkar’ turned up dulcet sugar Ah, how then ‘Lud’s town’ changed to London What was ‘labras’ in the past now called lips So deep and wide English has stretched And those who weet its merit and weirdness They alone relish its composure and complexity.

Renee Iseli - Smits

3 years ago #5

Ken Boddie Those likes, short messages and e-mails do not only affect the English Language, Ken. Who writes a proper letter, nowadays ?

Ken Boddie

3 years ago #4

#2
I fear, John Rylance, that with the rise of social media and the use of thumbs and shortcuts on tablets and phones, the sun is indeed starting to set on the English language. 🤔

Ken Boddie

3 years ago #3

#1
I didn’t realise you spoke fluent Old English, Joyce \ud83d\udc1d Bowen Brand Ambassador @ beBee. 🤗

John Rylance

3 years ago #2

I rely njoyd reedin this peece. It used to be said the Sun never set on the British Commonwealth, it seems it is now it never sets on the English Language.
hein?

Articles from Ken Boddie

View blog
2 years ago · 5 min. reading time

Let's talk about how we manage reproduction, by which I mean the following processes: · Desiring to ...

2 years ago · 2 min. reading time

In order to distract you from your focus on Ukraine and COVID-19, spare a thought for many of us in ...

1 year ago · 6 min. reading time

At last I was off to dinosaur country, that part of outback Queensland renowned in recent decades fo ...

Related professionals

You may be interested in these jobs

  • DXC Medical Recruitment

    General Practitioner

    Found in: Indeed AU C2 - 5 days ago


    DXC Medical Recruitment Truganina, Australia Full time

    Up to 70% mixed billing + guarantee · New purpose built · 22km west of Melbourne · Are you a VR general practitioner looking to join a new team in Melbourne's west? · Our client is looking for GPs to join their multidisciplinary team in providing care in Melbourne's western growt ...

  • Amazon Flex

    Amazon Flex Casual Van Delivery Driver

    Found in: Appcast US A2 ECP - 4 days ago


    Amazon Flex Pinkenba, Australia

    Van Delivery Partner - Drive Your Own Van · What is Amazon Flex? · It's simple Use your own van and smartphone to deliver packages for Amazon as a way of earning extra money to move you closer to your goals. · Van blocks are approximately 8 hours long and include a 30 minute bre ...

  • South Gippsland Shire Council

    Outdoor Team Members

    Found in: Talent AU C2 - 2 days ago


    South Gippsland Shire Council Leongatha, Australia

    ABOUT US · South Gippsland Shire Council offers a friendly and professional workplace with values based leadership. · We put our customer at the centre of all we do and strive to deliver exceptional projects and services to our community. · Our region provides a perfect blend ...