“There’s nothing constant in this world but inconsistency” –
Jonathan Swift
Indeed, inconsistency is what makes up the world. We may find
consistency in nearly all aspect of this life, even in language. We have learnt
English since elementary school, some of us even earlier, but we learnt it for
granted. Thus, we seldom realize that some consistencies occur in this
language. Dr. Albrecht Classen, a linguist from The University of Arizona,
points out several fun and entertaining inconsistencies in English that will
put us in awe and make us shout “how can I missed that” or “seriously.”
In his “English Language: Crazy Inconsistencies,” Dr. Classen
shows us that an English word may come with different meaning, such as the word
“dessert” in this sentence:
The soldier decided to
desert his dessert in the desert
There are two exactly identical words and one nearly
identical word in the sentence; but those three words have totally different
meaning. The first desert means to leave or to abandon while the second desert
means the barren or desolate area
especially the dry and often sandy ones. And the other dessert (with double s) means the
dish served as the last course of a meal.
In the other examples, we are shown with some interesting
facts that there is no egg in eggplant, neither pines nor apples in pineapples, English muffin is not
originated from English, French fries in not French. Also, we will find
paradoxes in the fact that quicksand is slow, a boxing ring is square, and a
guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor a pig.
Do you ever have a nose that runs and feet that smell? Do you
ever wonder if a vegetarian eats only vegetable then what does a humanitarian
eat? How can a fat chance and a slim chance are the same? Why can a wise
man and a wise guy be opposites? A wise man is a wise and trusted guide and
advisor while a wise guy is an upstart who makes conceited, sardonic, insolent
comments. Why is put pronounced as /pʊt/ while cut is pronounced as /kʌt/? Why
does alarm go off when it rings?
Those are some of the million unique features of English. After
all, language is the product of human’s intelligences, not a computer’s, thus
inconsistencies may occur here and there. From here on, be aware of those
unique features in every language you learn, and then you will find the fun in
learning the language.
Compiled from various
sources
