Doomkid Posted May 30, 2021 Just now, roadworx said: hey how bout we talk about how stupid the i before e except after c "rule" is most inconsistent shit ever I swear that "rule" is wrong more often than it's right! 0 Share this post Link to post
Nine Inch Heels Posted May 30, 2021 (edited) 6 minutes ago, Doomkid said: Isn't "hes" (as opposed to his) only silly sounding because we're not used to it? Or is there a different rationale you're using? I think to begin with, the big "selling point" for me personally is readability and audibility. "His" is very easy to distinguish from "he's", however, "hes" and "he's" may be more difficult to tell apart - be it written words or spoken language (if we assume "he's" and "hes" could sound similar when somebody Bencil Sharpiros around)... 1 Share this post Link to post
1Destro3456 Posted May 30, 2021 46 minutes ago, Lol 6 said: Don't worry, spanish is waaay harder Too many fucking rules 1 Share this post Link to post
snapshot Posted May 30, 2021 Goose and Geese Moose and Moose please stop 5 Share this post Link to post
SuperPIter_DoomWorldthe2nd Posted May 30, 2021 1 minute ago, sluggard said: Goose and Geese Moose and Moose please stop What the fuck even is going on here? 0 Share this post Link to post
Omniarch Posted May 30, 2021 What DK just described used to enrage me as a child. I got into a complete frothing fury over every little inconsistency, and detested the concept of case. All this probably had something to do with the fact that I'd I held off on learning how to read until I was eleven-ish, and then tried to learn all at once. Amusingly, after getting past my initial frustration, I quickly skipped through the learning process, going from being semi-literate to an avid Tolkien fan in under a year. Concurrently, I transitioned from a grouchy linguistic anarchist to a full-blown, finger-wagging, tut-tutting grammar nazi. The target of my (apparently) boundless ire switched from the language itself to the misuse thereof. Stylized spelling, common in brand names for example, drove me up the wall. In particular, replacing words like 'to' and 'for' with their respective numbers was a sure-fire way of setting me off on a furious rant. Good thing I was never made aware of 1337 5P34K, else I might have popped a vein xD Over time, though, my mindless child-rage began to fade, gradually replaced by a deep appreciation for the language. Sure, it can be monumentally frustrating if you approach it like an exact science, rather than seeing it for the overwhelmingly complex social phenomenon that it is, but the boundless potential for expression it provides is nothing short of remarkable. Of course, if and when I decide to rid myself of the shameful attribute of 'monolingual', the cycle will likely repeat in full. Whatever the specifics, mindless raging is pretty much a certainty. 1 Share this post Link to post
Tristan Posted May 30, 2021 24 minutes ago, Doomkid said: I swear that "rule" is wrong more often than it's right! 2 Share this post Link to post
Terraformer9x Posted May 30, 2021 Every time someone brings up the subject of how screwed the English language is, I always think of this saying. "English can be weird. It can be understood through tough thorough thought, though." 4 Share this post Link to post
Bridgeburner56 Posted May 30, 2021 English is 3 dogs in a trenchcoat pretending to be a language 2 Share this post Link to post
Omniarch Posted May 30, 2021 3 minutes ago, PSXDoomer said: colour/color/favourite/favorite Evil yanks, butchering our fair tongue. Same goes for the Aussies. Shame on the lot of you. ... Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler ;) 1 Share this post Link to post
unerxai Posted May 30, 2021 The usage of "in" or "on" is confusing to me in certain situations (or should it be "on certain situations"?). Native spanish speaker, and that language also fucks me up sometimes. 0 Share this post Link to post
leodoom85 Posted May 30, 2021 As a non-speaking native english, it's obviously confusing sometimes and yet, it's easy to understand. There are examples like "at" or "in" and "on", which can confuse me most of the times. At least it's NOT as bad as spanish..... 3 Share this post Link to post
BaileyTW Posted May 30, 2021 My mom's currently taking an english class (she can already understand the language well enough to function, but not fluently), and by god english sounds like a nightmare language to learn as a nonnative speaker. Messed up grammatical rules aside, pronunciation is a nightmare, especially when english uses sounds spanish doesn't really use (works the other way around too but to a lesser extent). 0 Share this post Link to post
Dark Pulse Posted May 30, 2021 31 minutes ago, Terraformer9x said: "English can be weird. It can be understood through tough thorough thought, though." Something I'm actually using in a game right now is "I thought a thought, or so I thought I thought..." 0 Share this post Link to post
Gothic Posted May 30, 2021 (edited) I will never EVER add that extra "u", you hear me Europe?!!!!!!! 2 Share this post Link to post
TheMagicMushroomMan Posted May 30, 2021 (edited) In America, nobody speaks English anyway. Example: My grandfather thinks "Massachusetts" is pronounced "mass of toosis". I went to college to become a writer so it drives me nuts. Learning any language just requires memorization and understanding rules that might seem arbitrary. The more you do it, the better you'll understand. 2 Share this post Link to post
Zenki Posted May 30, 2021 (edited) Difficult langage ? Learn french guys, it's a pain in the ass if you're non native speacker. I am, and still a lot of french people make mistakes EVERY F**KING DAYS Exemple : Mon verre vert est rempli de vers It means " my green glass is full of worms " and every word is pronunce the exact same. good luck to get it vocally if you're non native speaker 3 Share this post Link to post
Tony_Pepporoni Posted May 30, 2021 If you are all not joking, a part of me hopes your local government puts you into grade school and back and then gives you a distinct pinwheel hat that you are legally required to wear in session and when you're completely done. 0 Share this post Link to post
Tony_Pepporoni Posted May 30, 2021 1 hour ago, Terraformer9x said: Every time someone brings up the subject of how screwed the English language is, I always think of this saying. "English can be weird. It can be understood through tough thorough thought, though." that quote is why english isn't stupid and is in fact memorable and well thought out 0 Share this post Link to post
roadworx Posted May 30, 2021 3 minutes ago, Tony_Pepporoni said: that quote is why english isn't stupid and is in fact memorable and well thought out uhhhhhh if you say so lmao 0 Share this post Link to post
Capellan Posted May 30, 2021 2 hours ago, Doomkid said: This does make sense to me, but couldn't we just have an exception for "it"? Exceptions are what you were complaining about to begin with, though :) Honestly, while English has all sorts of weirdness, in some ways it is quite simple: it has much fewer verb forms than many other languages, very little gendering of nouns, and relatively few tense changes. 4 Share this post Link to post
Nevander Posted May 30, 2021 2 hours ago, roadworx said: hey how bout we talk about how stupid the i before e except after c "rule" is most inconsistent shit ever 2 hours ago, Doomkid said: I swear that "rule" is wrong more often than it's right! Came here to post the exact same thing. I don't understand why it's taught because it's flat wrong. Sure, there are words where it works but there are also words where it does not. Thus it should not be a rule. 1 Share this post Link to post
continuum.mid Posted May 30, 2021 All natural languages, and most constructed languages, are dumb in their own special way. 2 Share this post Link to post
NoXion Posted May 30, 2021 10 minutes ago, Nevander said: Came here to post the exact same thing. I don't understand why it's taught because it's flat wrong. Sure, there are words where it works but there are also words where it does not. Thus it should not be a rule. Well I'm pretty sure it's not taught in British schools any more. I certainly wasn't taught it... 0 Share this post Link to post
Capellan Posted May 30, 2021 47 minutes ago, Zenki said: Learn french guys, it's a pain in the ass if you're non native speacker Oui! J'apprends le francais et c'est souvent difficile. One of my pet bugbears in French is word order. For instance, "green eyes" is "yeux verts" but "beautiful eyes" is "beaux yeux". 0 Share this post Link to post
1Destro3456 Posted May 30, 2021 12 minutes ago, Capellan said: Oui! J'apprends le francais et c'est souvent difficile. One of my pet bugbears in French is word order. For instance, "green eyes" is "yeux verts" but "beautiful eyes" is "beaux yeux". Nah that also happens normally, I’m a native Spanish speaker and there are times that some words said one way work the same way in English but other times it’s the other way around of Spanish so yeah 1 Share this post Link to post
Goody Posted May 30, 2021 As an English teacher, YES, English is an absolute mess. That said, it's probably one of the most versatile languages for expression, undoubtedly because it's such a mess. 4 Share this post Link to post
Capellan Posted May 30, 2021 22 minutes ago, 1Destro3456 said: Nah that also happens normally, I’m a native Spanish speaker and there are times that some words said one way work the same way in English but other times it’s the other way around of Spanish so yeah I'm aware that other languages also do this (Italian and Portuguese are similar, I expect). In English, though, we almost always put additional descriptors in front of the noun. We have our own (often unspoken) rules about how to use such descriptors are ordered (we'd not say "black big dogs" for instance, always "big black dogs"), but we don't have to worry about "is this a before word or an after word" 2 Share this post Link to post