I genuinely read that as ba-se-lin-e
do u mean bejslajn or baseliin?
the 2nd one, but “base” has two syllables.
Great podcast.
English-language spelling reform now.
But let’s only do it in some English speaking countries and not others! I am joking, but this is one of the reasons why American English has diverged from British English.
Relevant xkcd:
My brain got fired while reading this. 🗿
In the ever so pretensious words of Walt Whitman…
“English is the greatest language ever!! It’s as great as life itself! Also death!”
Maybe start with the fact that not all words in use in English are English words.
Or that people in different parts of the world say/spell words differently and we inconsistently applied it:
Kernel and Colonel were the same rank but we took the pronunciation of the first and the spelling of the latter.
Well, one is a compound noun and the other is a trademark that became a common word.
read deed redemption, the farm flipper spinoff.
reed deed redemption: a game about the ownership of a plant
Adultery is not the opposite of infantry; whimsy is not an adjective; you can live together in an apartment; and the Midwest is in the Eastern US.
the Midwest is in the Eastern US.
That actually makes sense because it’s from the point of view of Europe.
Just as middle east and western Asia are the same region
As an Asian, “Midwest” always feels off. Only now I realized this is the same shit as “Middle East” (which I forgot to give second thoughts as an adult). Now both terms really sucks to me!
It is from the POV of the original colonies.
the Midwest is in the Eastern US.
This explains some of my US geography confusion over the years…
Midwest is not a place, it is a People.
“flammable” and “inflammable” mean the same thing
What a country!
Bye, everybody! *dies*
"Inflammable means flammable, what a country! "
Dr. Nick
Edit added end of quote
‘Jam’ can mean a fruit preserve, to play music, a stuck door, traffic, to cram something into something else, a tense situation, or to block a radio signal. All spelled and pronounced the same.
Just wait until you learn about ‘set.’
Also door jambs
Jim should shim the jamb.
Why can I be overwhelmed or underwhelmed, but not perfectly adequately whelmed?
Nobody’s stopping you using “whelmed”. You can just start using it whenever the opportunity arises.
I use it occasionally, though normally not seriously, along with words where you have an “un” or "dis’, but no positive equivalent, e.g. “gusting” as a positive “disgusting”
English lacks a “gusting” word, but romance languages don’t.
e.g. in Italian “gustoso” is the opposite of “disgustoso”
That’s a brilliant fact, and perfect example if anyone disagrees with me, thank you :)
lol I love “gusting.” Next time I eat someone else’s cooking, I’m throwing that out there.
Whelm and overwhelm are synonyms.
The way I learned it, is that people have a tendency to emphasize, so when became overwhelmed. You see the same thing with ‘good’, ‘great’, and 'epic’meaning the same thing within certain contexts.
If you want to get technical, I believe “whelm” originally came from waves hitting the hull of a ship, overwhelmed was when the waves crashed over the side and onto the deck.
English can certainly be difficult! It can understood through tough thorough thought though throughout the learning process.
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.
A real English sentence.
Yeah I never understood that one myself
I’m a fan of the phrase “before was was was, was was is”"
I’d guess this sentence would be just as flashy in any language really, not just in english
If y’all ain’t get the gist of it y’ain’t thunk it thru enuff.
This was the easiest sentence to parse out for me…
Reading that gave me a tough hiccough.
No. It’s shit
English is the most adaptable language in the world. England got colonised something like seven different times up until the mediaeval age. The language that came out of the end of that process is precision designed to accommodate unfamiliar words and grammar. There’s no better language to put a loanword into. And it’s really easy to invent new grammar for English, which is why English has the most neopronouns.
English has sacrificed its logic and structure to grow fluidity.
He said in English.
Do you speak other languages tho?
Yeah lol
It’s phunny how fotographs phunction in filosofy.
There is nothing more useless than ph.
until youre being eaten alive by acid
This is also funny.
Phuck ophph
🤣😂
past tense read and toxic lead vs reading and leading if somebody doesn’t underntand
Lol I did get it immediately after, but my instant thought was wait, read and lead don’t rhyme?
Careful, though: reading (past tense of ‘to read’) doesn’t rhyme with Reading (place name)
And leading (being in front) doesn’t rhyme with leading (the metal on a roof).
I feel like I walked on a rake after a perfect catwalk reading you. Love it.
I would like to recommend Highly Irregular: Why Tough, Through, and Dough Don’t Rhyme—And Other Oddities of the English Language.
It’s a pretty quick read and it explains exactly how the English language became such a mess. For each thing that doesn’t make sense, it provides a reason that explains it. Short version: the timing of the Great Vowel Shift relative to the invention of the printing press really screwed it over. There’s quite a bit more (Norman invasion in particular), but that was what codified all the badness.
Learning the “why” of so many previously preposterous language and spelling rules was gratifying and enlightening. They’re still preposterous but slightly less maddening now.
There’s also an excellent podcast interview with the author on 99% Invisible. Check it out. It made me buy the book and I definitely recommend it every time a post like this comes up.
Those three are even all from the old vocabulary, they all have German cognates: zäh, durch, Teig
IMO, the more important reason is that English is crusty af. Lots of languages had massive changes since the printing press was invented, but that didn’t stop them from changing their orthography. Germany even had an official spelling reform in the 1990s.
Base and bass (sound the same) and bass (sounds different)
Foundation
Instrument /deep sound
A Fish
How anyone learns English is beyond me
A Fish
That’s actually spelled ‘ghoti’.
i still remember the best joke i told my entire time in college. a professor was talking about turnpikes and asked if anyone knew what a pike was, with a specific answer in mind..
well, i knew what a pike was
worst part was i played DnD, i knew exactly what he was asking. i just saw a low hanging fruit and an opportunity to be a smartass and you really can’t set me up like that.“You said you were a great bass player!”
Me struggling to hold onto a huge wet slippery fish “Grimmie a second, geez!”
At least English doesn’t have a “she” table, a “he” refrigerator, and a “neutral” lamp gender for everything.
First of all tables are male, and secondly at least we spell things close to how they are pronounced in german
In Italian tables are gender fluid. You can have “la tavola” e “il tavolo”.
Surfing? It’s a female: la tavola da surf.
Eating? Male: il tavolo.
Table as a metonymy for eating: la tavola (WTF?!)
Hes policemanning
I was going to say it’s different because police officers are people, but they’re not.
