Korean Job Discussion Forums

[marlow]

Yes, you've probably seen the joke before.

Why is English crazy?

I don't know.

How do you spell fish?

F-I-S-H.

No, G-H-O-T-I.

Why?

You take the 'gh' from 'rough', the 'o' from 'women', and the 'ti' from 'nation'.
That leaves you with 'ghoti', I mean 'fish'.


Anyway, I did this joke with my classes, after remembering my clever grade eight teacher, and they thought it was interesting. A few of them were taking notes.

I was just wondering if anyone else had any little weird English things or fun stories that they use in the classroom. The type of things that the kids find mildly interesting, and that can kill the final five minutes of a class if your lesson finishes early.

[coolsage]

Yes, George Bernard Shaw came up with that one, and it's hard to top. But you can have some fun with the variations of 'ough'. Enjoy.

[pet lover]

It's false. Name one word that begins with 'gh' and has a /f/ sound. 'Gh' never takes a /f/ sound at the beginning of a word. We may have weird spelling, but we also have rules for it.

[marlow]

[Howard Roark]

I think most people have heard this before. Anyway isn't it interesting that:

*your nose runs, but your feet smell.

*you park in a driveway, but you drive on a parkway

And I found this list on this website:http://www.hubbo.com/archives/000077.html

The Strange English Language

The bandage was wound around the wound.
The farm was used to produce produce.
The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
We must polish the Polish furniture.
He could lead if he would get the lead out.
The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
I did not object to the object.
The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
They were too close to the door to close it.
The buck does funny things when the does are present.
A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
After a number of injections my jaw got number.
Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

[manlyboy]

A Confusing Poem

We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes;
but the plural of ox became oxen not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice;
yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men,
why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
If I spoke of my foot and show you my feet,
and I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?

If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?
Then one may be that, and three would be those,
yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
and the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
but though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
but imagine the feminine, she, shis and shim.

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Silent Letters

Many people are perhaps not aware of the astonishing fact that nearly every letter of the English alphabet is silent in some word. (Silent letters are also sometimes called mute letters.) The following list was compiled from Alexander John Ellis' book "Plea for Phonetic Spelling; or the Necessity of Orthographical Reform" (London: Fred Pitman, 1848).

a is silent in head, bread, deaf, meant
b is silent in debt, lamb, bomb, tomb
c is silent in muscle, blackguard, yacht, indict
d is silent in Wednesday, handkerchief, handbag
e is silent in pirate, more, have, give
f is silent in stiff, cuff, scoff
g is silent in gnaw, gnome, phlegm, straight
h is silent in honour, heir, ghost, night
i is silent in business, fashion, cushion
k is silent in know, knee, knock, blackguard
l is silent in talk, folk, salmon, colonel
m is silent in mnemonic
n is silent in hymn
o is silent in leopard, jeopardy
p is silent in psalm, pneumatic, cupboard, receipt
q(u) is silent in lacquer
r is silent in myrrh, catarrh
s is silent in isle, aisle, viscount, mess
t is silent in often, thistle, fasten, mortgage
u is silent in build, guild, plague
w is silent in whole, write, sword
y is silent in prayer, mayor
z is silent in rendezvous

[teachmeenglish]