<![CDATA[English Experience - Blog]]>Tue, 27 Dec 2022 20:59:37 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[Pronouncing –ough.]]>Mon, 28 Jul 2014 19:08:29 GMThttp://www.englishexperience.it/blog/pronouncing-oughI came across this poem by William Thomas Goodge (1862-1909) that highlights the difficulty of pronouncing words that end in –ough. The last word on the second line of each verse has a normal word that rhymes with the first line, but has been misspelt. To help with the pronunciation the words are low, off, stuff, do, anyhow and so.

 
Ough - A Phonetic Fantasy

The baker-man was kneading dough
And whistling softly, sweet and lough.

Yet ever and anon he'd cough
As though his head were coming ough!

"My word!" said he," but this is rough:
This flour is simply awful stough!"

He punched and thumped it through and through,
As all good bakers dough!

" I'd sooner drive," said he " a plough
Than be a baker anyhough!"

Thus spake the baker kneading dough;
But don't let on I told you sough! 

]]><![CDATA[“English as she is spoke”]]>Fri, 18 Jul 2014 10:22:15 GMThttp://www.englishexperience.it/blog/english-as-she-is-spokeIn 1883 (eighteen eighty three) Pedro Carolino published a Portuguese - English phrase book, using an earlier Portuguese – French book as a model. Unfortunately his English was poor and he resorted to making literal translations of Portuguese phrases. The book has been a success, but not for the reasons he intended. It is now regarded as a fine example of unintended humour with gems such as:
  • Keep the chestnut of the fire with the cat foot.
  • At some thing the misforte is good.
  • Tell me whom thou frequent, I will tell you which you are.
  • Of the hand to mouth, one lose often the soup.
  • To look for a needle in a hay bundle.
  • The stone as roll not heap up not foam.
  • It is better be single as a bad company.
The original title “O Novo Guia de Conversação, em Portuguez e Inglez, em Duas Partes” is more commonly known as “English as she is spoke”.


]]><![CDATA[The selfie]]>Thu, 10 Jul 2014 20:46:27 GMThttp://www.englishexperience.it/blog/the-selfieThe word that is, not the act. I guess that now that many people take self portraits on their phone to share them that a new, simple word was needed, and so the self portrait became a selfie. What will be interesting is how the meaning of the word will develop, I have already heard people asking “can you take a selfie of me?” Will the meaning of the word change to mean a portrait or will we continue to laugh?

]]><![CDATA[March 19th, 2014]]>Wed, 19 Mar 2014 20:38:42 GMThttp://www.englishexperience.it/blog/march-19th-2014
Immagine
]]><![CDATA[March 09th, 2014]]>Sun, 09 Mar 2014 20:24:57 GMThttp://www.englishexperience.it/blog/march-09th-2014Culture and language are closely related, so is it possible to understand one from knowing the other?

This is a curiosity that dates back over 1000 years to the Norman invasion in 1066. In those times meat was an expensive product, eaten by the Norman lords, but raised by the poorer Saxon farmers. Obviously the Saxons used their words for the animal whereas the Normans used a Norman/ French words for the finished product, the meat. We still use these words today, as can be seen by this list:
Anglo-Saxon Origin Words

Cow (Old English Cū)

Calf (Old English Cealf)

Swine (Old English Swīn)

Sheep (Old English Scēap) / Lamb (Old English Lamb)

Hen (Old English Hen, Henn) / Chicken (Old English Cicen)

Deer (Old English Dēor)

Snail (Old English Snægl)
Old French Origin Words

Beef (Anglo-Norman Beof; Old French Boef)

Veal (Anglo-Norman Vel; Old French Veel, Veal)

Pork (Old French Porc)

Mutton (Old French Moton)


Poultry (Old French Pouletrie)


Venison (Old Norman Venesoun)

Escargot (Old Norman Escargot)
So, yes looking at the origins of words can tell us something of the history and culture of that language.

]]><![CDATA[Collective Nouns]]>Mon, 03 Mar 2014 08:31:20 GMThttp://www.englishexperience.it/blog/collective-nounsI have long been fascinated by English collective nouns. They give a name to groups of or things, like a flock of birds, flock is the collective noun and birds are the individual things in that group. Usually, but not always, the noun is singular. I’ll talk about that in another post.

English has collective nouns for many things, here are some common ones:

Team (of players)

Orchestra (of musicians)

Herd (of cows)

School (of fish)

I find them interesting because there are some very unexpected ones:

Gaggle (of geese, on the ground)

Skein (of geese, in flight)

Pride (of lions)

Ambush (of tigers)

and of course a Bench (of Bishops)

Often it seems obvious why the word came into common use, a pride of lions is just that, but why a school of fish?

]]><![CDATA[Do We Need The Comma?]]>Tue, 25 Feb 2014 13:23:26 GMThttp://www.englishexperience.it/blog/the-commaA recent article I read talks about the comma and how some people think we could live without it. The article uses an example: “Let’s eat, Grandma” which is a simple request to Grandma for food, but without a comma is more sinister. It also says that instant messaging (WhatsApp, Skype etc.) encourage the dropping of commas. 
Well here is my opinion, you probably could rewrite everything to remove the need for the comma, but why do things twice? English can, and should, be written in a simple form but avoiding the comma means a lot of nuance is lost, as this sentence I hope demonstrates. So lets keep it, and use it when it helps us.

]]><![CDATA[Hello world]]>Mon, 24 Feb 2014 00:32:15 GMThttp://www.englishexperience.it/blog/hello-worldI thought it was time to start a blog in English. Every week I’ll post here to try to add something interesting about the English language. Feel free to comment!

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