2006-07-13 09:09:27 · 10 answers · asked by ALAN B 2 in Education & Reference ➔ Trivia
The English language
There is no egg in eggplant or ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins were not invented in England nor french fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies, while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square, and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why is it that writers write, but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce, and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So, one moose, 2 meese? One index, two indices? Is cheese the plural of choose? If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?!
In what language do people recite at a play, and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? Park on driveways and drive on parkways? How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? How can the weather be hot as hell one day and cold as hell another? When a house burns up, it burns down. You fill in a form by filling it out and an alarm clock goes off by going on. When the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.
And why, when I wind up my watch, I start it, but when I wind up this answer, I end it? Now you see why it takes 3-7 times as long to learn English as it does to learn Spanish and why English sucks!!
2006-07-13 09:17:07 · answer #1 · answered by Bill(56 yrs old) 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
In the english language, there are words that sound and spelled alike but have different meanings. Building is an example. It's both a verb and a noun. MMmMmm... just like another example of these kinds of words would be "parking". It can be an adjective (parking spot) or a verb (i am parking next to the curb)
2006-07-13 16:19:04 · answer #2 · answered by swtnsoursauce1o9 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
For the exact reason one will refer to the material under your feet as "flooring". Or the edible substance within a baked dish as "breading". Or the purposeful disruption of a metallic structure as "mettling". Or the long yellow things in the supermarket as "bananaing". Or the thing above your head as "ceiling".
It all make sense when you put it together.
2006-07-13 16:11:17 · answer #3 · answered by ? 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Build originally evolved from the Old English word BYLDAN which is from the germanic BOTL which meant DWELLING. (So I guess it is something to do with the fact that it derived from a word with an "ing" already there.)
2006-07-13 18:14:55 · answer #4 · answered by swanlen 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Building and building has little pronunciation difference which explain itself why.
2006-07-13 16:20:33 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
for the same reason we call a parkway a parkway when we drive there and a driveway a driveway and we park there
2006-07-13 16:13:05 · answer #6 · answered by jewman 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because we can't call it an erection without 8th graders laughing.
2006-07-13 18:45:42 · answer #7 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
lol..ur funny
2006-07-13 16:19:25 · answer #8 · answered by amenamaruf14 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it's a gerund
2006-07-14 08:35:29 · answer #9 · answered by charlatan 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
lol.....Bill makes a point there...
2006-07-13 18:13:59 · answer #10 · answered by Katie 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋