Things you don't understand about English--Let's Talk!

[cherrystark]

Native English Speaker Here. I think it's weird that English has an alternating stress pattern but doesn't give you any forewarning like Romance languages do.

Ex. Record/Record

And the meaning of the sentence changes depending on which word you emphasize. (Ex. I never said I liked pizza.) We are just able to interpret the correct meaning by context and body language.

I saw a Tumblr post about this and I think about it often.

[Random_Guy]

Repeated use of English words is something I love and hate about the language.
In this case I'm not sure, since in both cases the word "chop" is being used with the same definition, the difference comes from "up" and "down".
With "chop up" being a common turn of phrase and "chop down" being a legitimate descriptor of cutting down a tree.

@cherrystark
Context, tone and body language are important for any interaction, in any language.

[f0nkart]

the word acquaintance, and like, every version of it, why is it like that???

[Random_Guy]

I mean, not everyone you meet is a friend, but you can't call someone you know a stranger, acquaintance is a solid inbetween.

[f0nkart]

oh i know that, it's the spelling and the way it said that trips me, it feels so overcomplicated for what it is

[Random_Guy]

Oh, yeah, it's way overcomplicated.

[Crusoe]

One of the things that annoys me is how there's American and English words that are pronounced differently even though they are exactly the same and if you do Cambridge English in my country they WILL judge you for jumbling up the two accents.
The famous ones being potato and tomato

[magnavarra]

Hopefully Russian has separate words for black and green olives!
black are 'Masliny' and greens are "Olivki"

[vothnthorvaldson]

Ah yes!
Regarding bugger:
When I came to Canada my English was rather UK English (kind of mixed because of the Internet, though).

I called a problem making teacher a 'bloody old bugger'. Other student was completely confused. I had to explain none of these three words was to be taken literally

[surenlicious]

This may sound weird, and I made a thread about it earlier, but as a non-native speaker I really don't understand the dislike for present-tense writing. If anything, I'm COMPLETELY unbothered by it. I actually love seeing it, I found it very refreshing even. XD

But if I must be specific, in my language (Dutch) we have a word for enjoying seeing others undergo pain or misery (it's called 'leedvermaak') but y'all don't really have a word for it. XD

[cookieroach]

One of my favourite things is that English spelling is so weird, that “fish” could in theory be written as “ghoti” instead. Think about that one ...

[Wocalich]

How...how does that even work...

[IndigoShirtProd]

I get how the "gh" could make an "f" sound but other than that. . . ?

[vothnthorvaldson]

Context. Like 'gh' can make a 'f' sound at the end of a word.
So practically, no, fish cannot be spelled ghoti, but all these letters can worth all the sounds needed to make 'fish'.

[cookieroach]

@wocalichofficial @IndigoShirtProd
Gh is f in tough
O is I in women
Ti is sh in motion

@vothnthorvaldson of course, it’s just a fun example

[skicoak]

Since I see a little too much piling on of my beloved 'Merica...

Any language with a masculine/feminine version of most words needs to stop pointing and laughing....ya basic!

English is wonderful !

[Black_Conscious]

Omg that is so true
look at the colors of the olives you never see a light tone of color
my fothor has always mention the olive thing

hmmm

saying Fair Skin????
idk, why call it "fair" ,
I don't know the history of how they got to fair skin so yeah

---

omg Island
They had said it as i-land
but there is an S but it is Silent
why the s....
(My first time saying this word was is-land)

[vothnthorvaldson]

Now to answer the question... what I find most confusing is how to pronounce the 'i', especially the fact it is very varying depending on accents and really make people struggle to understand you when you pronounce wrong; and the fact two words with same or similar etymology sometimes get differents 'i' sounds.
At the same time it is super interesting as it often gives indications on the time the word entered the English language, in case of foreign words, also indications on how common the word is etc, etc.
Both frustrating and fascinating.

[Kura]

Some silent letters. Like the k in knife. I understand the combination of letters to make a different sound, like ou in colour, or the ph to make more of a f sound. But the k in knife?? Am I pronouncing it wrong? Do you not pronounce it with an n?? Is it another sound I should be making but no one is correcting me???

Also since k is brought up, what is the difference between c and k vocally in the words were they (to me) make the same sound? Why are they sometimes pronounced the same to the point they are interchangeable in slang? Am I also pronouncing those wrong?

[Wocalich]

The k in knife used to be pronounced, if I'm not wrong