Barlow Boy wrote:
Anyway, one thing I asked my teacher once, and he didn't know the answer, was why do we say, One dog or dogs in the plural sense, and Bird or Birds in the plural sense but not say Sheep or Sheep(s) ?.
So, okay, just to confuse your teacher even more. Where does 'Sheepy' fit into all this, so to speak?
SMorientes wrote:Since I'm using it in the abstract sense and the units are irrelevant, tonne is preferable to ton primarily for aesthetic reasons. Ton feels like an Americanism aswell - even though it isn't - because it seems lazy and yet it still doesn't look like it spells the word right. Surely tun would be better?
Spot the Yorkshireman!
Ton sounds like a logical English progression of the word - I imagine "tonne" has French origins, but gradually the English mind does away with the unnecessary letters that add nothing to the pronunciation rules of English phonetics?
My absolute pet hate with the English language (for no particular reason) is the existence of the word "kerb", which I used to believe was an Americanism, but seems to be widely adopted here as well. Why, in the name of all that's holy, someone saw a need for changing half the spelling of the perfectly legitimate word of curb, just to express the exact same thing, I am keen to one day find out.
rigger wrote:What I find is interesting when people use the European/Metric version of the word "tonnes".
I mean, it's two whole extra letters to type/write/text - what's that all about ??
Is it that tonne is a metric measure, ie 1000 kg, and ton is an Imperial measure of 2240 pounds, even though they are almost exactly the same quantity?
Might have to take an interest in the Premier League now....
Bogdan wrote: My absolute pet hate with the English language (for no particular reason) is the existence of the word "kerb", which I used to believe was an Americanism, but seems to be widely adopted here as well. Why, in the name of all that's holy, someone saw a need for changing half the spelling of the perfectly legitimate word of curb, just to express the exact same thing, I am keen to one day find out.
But the two spellings have different meanings.
Kerb is the edge of the pavement next to the road. (In the US it is the edge of the sidewalk next to the pavemnent )
Curb is a verb meaning to moderate/stop doing something, like, for example, 'he was told to curb his drinking' means cut down or even stop drinking altogether.
Might have to take an interest in the Premier League now....
Americans use curb for both. We use kerb for the edge of the pavement and curb for the moderation meaning. So kerb, far from being an Americanism is something they have rejected, probably for similar reasons to you bogdan.
Last edited by SMorientes on 14 Nov 2013, 20:14, edited 1 time in total.
"Whenever people agree with me, I always feel I must be wrong."
Barlow Boy wrote:I'm not sure what this thread is completely about to be honest, but it looks like something to do with spelling and words .
Anyway, one thing I asked my teacher once, and he didn't know the answer, was why do we say, One dog or dogs in the plural sense, and Bird or Birds in the plural sense but not say Sheep or Sheep(s) ?.
There's not much more to it than sheeps sounds awkward. As does gooses, hence geese; mouses so you get mice. Those two examples are awkward because they already end with an 's' sound. Sheep is different in that respect, but it's probably the elongated vowel sound. Deer is the same and so the plural of that is deer not deers.
"Whenever people agree with me, I always feel I must be wrong."
When I was in the RN there was an officer on H M s Fearless, his name was "Featherstonehaugh" he pronounced it "Fanshaw" apparently there are about nine variations on the pronunciation of this name, fanshaw being the most common.
One word that really bugs me is "Homophobic" it's literal translation is "fear of man" yet it is used to describe someone who is against homosexuality.
Spiderman wrote:When I was in the RN there was an officer on H M s Fearless, his name was "Featherstonehaugh" he pronounced it "Fanshaw" apparently there are about nine variations on the pronunciation of this name, fanshaw being the most common.
One word that really bugs me is "Homophobic" it's literal translation is "fear of man" yet it is used to describe someone who is against homosexuality.
I thought homo as a prefix meant same. As opposed to hetero meaning different. Andro- is the Latin prefix for man. So the literal translation would be fear of the same but it's really a contraction oftfear of homosexuals which makes sense.
"Whenever people agree with me, I always feel I must be wrong."
SMorientes wrote:
I thought homo as a prefix meant same. As opposed to hetero meaning different. Andro- is the Latin prefix for man. So the literal translation would be fear of the same but it's really a contraction oftfear of homosexuals which makes sense.
You are confusing Greek with Latin, in Greek homo means same, in Latin it means man.
Even if it was a contraction of "fear of homosexuals" how would it make sense?
I don't like celery but I don't fear it
Spiderman wrote:Even if it was a contraction of "fear of homosexuals" how would it make sense?
I don't like celery but I don't fear it
Fear is just one sense of phobia though (carried from the original Greek word), aversion/repulsion has evolved as a broader meaning, I think (presumably, expanding from the fact that fear produces repulsion, which can, however, exist as a mere dislike, without the fear element).
