English Is So Confusing
By Veronica Cabrera
April, 28 2012
While I was eating
breakfast with my 8 year old daughter, she looked at her glass of milk and
said; "Mother, did you know that at school they give us FAT MILK?" I thought about
what she just said and replied, "Is that right? She sounded very
dramatic! She continued.. Yes, the label of the bottle says 'FAT FREE!'"Who needs FAT
anyway? They give it for FREE!" I smiled at her confusion and explained that free
in this case, meant no fat, and I gave her some other examples, such as; sugar-free,
lactose-free, etc..
Very disappointed at her discovery, she replied; “well, if they mean that there is no fat in it, they
should call it NON-FAT, otherwise it can confuse 1st,
2nd, or even 3rd graders!"
I think she had a point there, so I decided to search online about
how confusing the English language can be for other individuals and I found this in the following site
Challenge Your Imagination...
"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."
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."
Veronica Cabrera, Realtor
Realty ONE Group
Huntington Beach, Riverside, San Bernardino, CA
veronicasreohomes.com
(714) 809-6521
R.E. Lic. #0143140
