Isn't the English language kind of strange?

Question

I mean think about it: You get ON a bus, but you get IN a car. You don't actually get on top of the bus, right? And when you watch something ON tv, its not sitting ON it, it's IN it. Same thing with the radio. I just find it a little strange. Why is this?

someone (haha)--yeah! and its hanged, not hung (or hunged....!!)

Answer 1

lol ... I have those moments of "omg ... our language is weird" too.

Some to ponder ~

There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France. Sweet-meats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat. Boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth?
Or, one goose, 2 geese? So one moose, 2 meese? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend.

If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it ... an odd or an end? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? :o

If all this isn't confusing enough ... we tend to have 2 or more meanings for one word ~

The bandage was wound around the wound.

The farm was used to produce produce.

The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.

We must polish the Polish furniture.

He could lead if he would get the lead out.

The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.

Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.

A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

I did not object to the object.

The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.

They were too close to the door to close it.

The buck does funny things when the does are present.

A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

After a number of injections my jaw got number.

Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.

I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

Whew ... thank gawd I'm not one of the unfortunate ones, that are having to learn our language ... Yup, it's crazy. :(

Answer 2

Though I am not a native speaker and certainly not an authority on English language, I'd take the liberty and label it as one of the most logical, analytical and accurate languages of the world.
Just take a look at the examples you cited:
You get ON (the platform of) a bus (and you do it standing straight). On the other hand, you get IN (a cave form thing named) car (you have to bend over a seat, hold your head dawn and crawl into a cave).
Very transparent and very logical.
On TV? Everything that flows or has waves(water, gas, electricity, time) is either ON or OFF, rarely depending on circumstances IN or OUT.
I like Star Track and I have always enjoyed listening to Captain Picard saying: PUT HIM/HER/IT ON the screen. Thus, let's watch what's ON the TV (screen).
We all tend to forget that language is not just a simple or complicated mechanism to help us communicate to each other but also a kind of a philosophical approach to the reality, an overall way of thinking.
Example:
Let's go back deep in History to find.....
In French this would sound like:
Remontos dans le haut passée....
Which literally translated means: Let's climb up in the Past...???
For English speaking person FUTURE is UP and one has to make an effort to climb up there.
A French speaking person will simply slide dawn into it. LOL.

Answer 3

Because that's just how it's done. There's really no reason. After studying spanish i have compared, and found english to be really frustrating, even though that's my native language! Some reasons for languages being weird and irregular could be that they came from other dielects, and some concepts stayed there, and through time things like that developed.

Funny that I should use spanish as an example for my response, because the spanish word "en" means both "in" and "on". I don't know why I just said that.

Answer 4

The English language is a bit of a mess. This is especially true of prepositions -- our language utilizes prepositions in all sorts of ways that confuse people trying to learn it -- just think of the verbal phrases made with "get"

get up, get down, get in, get on, get off, get over, get through, get by, etc.... a lot of them have more than the obvious physical meaning (for example, you "get over" an illness").

If you want to know why English is such an odd language you have to consider its past -- it was essentially a peasant language that eventually rose to prominence in its own country (the first few Kings after and including William I spoke only French) but had a very limited vocabulary -- it very early on developed the habit of borrowing foreign words and this has continued to be a much more common feature of English than most other languages. I think it is both a weakness and a strength - our language may be a mess, but at least we don't protect it like it's some kind of pure gift from God (like the French do with their Academy).

So yeah, English is crazy and realizing that fact will help you sympathize with people trying to learn the language. But I think its strength is in its flexibility.

Answer 5

All languages have idiomatic uses of prepositions. For example, in Danish when you're being treated at the hospital, you're "lying on the hospital". But everybody knows what you mean.

Answer 6

sounds good to me. just wish people would quit changing it. a friends little boy came in one day and said he had to "book it". I didn't have a clue what he was talking about. Just stuff like that. What was wrong with the word "hurry up"?

Answer 7

yeah it is kinda strange. How about the different there, their, or to or too. My favorite one is Hanged though, that one always messed me up.

Answer 8

I think all languages have certain phrases that don't make sense when you take them literally.

Answer 9

OMG yeah!
totally agree with u.....
and it's sink - sunk, but think is thought and not thunk!!

confusing is not the word!!

Answer 10

No, all languages are like that, don`t feel special.