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Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 42,614
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 42,614 |
Why do they call them "APARTments" when they're so close together?
A good principle to guide me through life: “This is all I have come to expect, standard lackluster performance. Trust nothing, believe no one and realize it will only get worse…”
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 28,377
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 28,377 |
der, die, das; den, die, das; dem, der, dem"
Der, die, das, die, dem, die das die dem der dem den. I think! LOL
Holy shades of High School german class! Over 40 years! Ja, Ich auch! I was stationed in Germany (West Berlin) for some 2 1/2 years but rarely got to speak the language, almost all Germans spoke English better than I spoke German. I'd get into a cab and ask "bitte, fahren Sie, uh, rechts, uh, um die, uh, Ecke und dann, er, gerade aus..." and the driver would turn around and say very clearly, "you want to go right around the corner and then straight ahead, yes?" They'd rather communicate to me in their good English than listen to me butcher their language. 
Gunnery, gunnery, gunnery.
Hit the target, all else is twaddle!
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Joined: Sep 2015
Posts: 10,208
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Sep 2015
Posts: 10,208 |
why they call them "Mormans" , shouldn't be "More Women" ?
Persian.
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Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 69,329
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 69,329 |
why they call them "Mormans" , shouldn't be "More Women" ?
Persian. You mean woe to men?
“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
― George Orwell
It's not over when you lose. It's over when you quit.
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Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 46,965
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 46,965 |
I hear what you are saying, even if I don't know how you spelled it. What I've always wondered about is when the Brits decided to quit pronouncing the R in anything, and why. There's a lot of words that get butchered by them but maybe since they originated the language it's their right. Probably why their so lieberal, too. 
We may know the time Ben Carson lied, but does anyone know the time Hillary Clinton told the truth?
Immersing oneself in progressive lieberalism is no different than bathing in the sewage of Hell.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 8,737
Campfire Outfitter
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OP
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jan 2001
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jorge,
Why is a Parkway a high speed road, and a driveway a place to park your car?
www.huntingadventures.netAre you living your life, or just paying bills until you die? When you hit the pearly gates I want to be there just to see the massive pile of dead 5hit at your feet. ( John Peyton)
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Joined: Sep 2015
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
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why Clinton and not Klinton ?
Persian
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Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 44,826
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Jun 2004
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Why Clinton and not Inmate Number 367409?
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Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 50,169
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 50,169 |
Their, their...know knead to get a missed in your I's. Morning what sum right want make it moor plane.
The only thing worse than a liberal is a liberal that thinks they're a conservative.
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Joined: Sep 2015
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
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Why Clinton and not Inmate Number 367409? She will be pardoned by Trump or Obama. Persian.
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 6,369
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 6,369 |
Many years ago I read an article that explained the reason for the English language (American version) is becoming the international language is because it can be twisted, misused, and mispronounced yet it is still possible to get the gist of what the talker is saying.
The usual way of saying that a ship is arriving would go something like - The ship is approaching the harbor.
But is can also be said in some of these ways the meaning can still be understood.
1. The ship she's a com'a.
2. There's the boat.
3. Here com'a da boat.
4. The boata be a here soon.
5. The ship she's a close.
6. etc, etc
The sentence structure is so complex in many other languages that it is very difficult to misuse so many words and still get the point across.
223 Rem, my favorite cartridge - you can't argue with truckloads of dead PD's and gophers.
24hourcampfire.com - The site where there is a problem for every solution.
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Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 4,516
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Oct 2003
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Although I'm bi lingual english is my first language it's the one I use day in day out in the USA. I was recalling a situation with a friend yesterday where I was sternly scolded by my wife for telling my then 6 year old son that " English is stupid"
Of course sons typically look up to fathers until about 13 or 14. So I still had his attention and was now implying that he did not need to learn to read because english was stupid. The nearly instant evil eye I received from his (step) mom was concerning. She explained to me that I cannot say that to him or he will simply quit making an effort to learn to read and write with proper grammar, or to spell properly.
But I defended my self (in error) that english is actually stupid. Take the letter C for example. What is the use of this ridiculous letter? It's either a S or a K, why bother with the C?
Or why in the world did people as intelligent as Americans who can land on the Moon come up with the silent P? Why are we adding letters we cannot hear? How about other insanity of silent letters, Isle, wrap, knit, wrinkle, listen, herb, castle, One that is fitting for this is dumb!
It's not just letters that cause this stupid language to be far more complicated then needed, it's the words spelled exactly the same that have a totally different meaning! Horn, mole, duck, Seal, yard, pound, jam, foot, light, and this list could go on for a long time!
For that matter is there any functional reason for the letter PH sounding like F? really....... can we confuse this any further? ......... Oh we certainly can, How about the lowly letter X, its almost as worthless as the C, Not even the geniuses at XEROX can figure this out, They managed to use this letter as both a Z and and X!
I never saw Porky pig sleeping in a cartoon with the Letter X streaming out of his pink snout. Yet it is pronounced as a Z much of the time. If the Lettering system is not bad enough the spelling rules can beat that hands down. " i before e except after C".......... Really? All the time...... NOT. That's weird...... oh wait, I guess that word is quite fitting for this rule eh!
Does the period go inside or outside the quotation marks? When quoting at the end of a sentence? ( Anyone care.) Who is a subject, Whom is an object...... really this matters anymore? what are we living in the 1600's UK?
Alright, thanks for listening. Sorry for the rant. As an American I'm okay with our national language being English and would fight to keep it that way...... Ha ha, easy for me to say now that I understand it!......... sort of.
(Did you find the five ( at least) grammar errors in this post? Ha Ha.... English is a funny language!) IIRC the silent initial p comes from words with a Greek origin/lineage incorporated into English (e.g., pneumatic). Ditto for ph functioning like f. So you would have to ask some long dead Greeks the reason they used extra "unnecessary" letters. Wouldn't be surprised if many English language quirks are due to English borrowing from so many languages.
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
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Slavic languages are pretty tough to learn, the gender thing is rough. They also have words/phrases that are used with familiar people like family, and separate lingo for people you don't know, or elders.
They generally have more letters, so the pronunciation is a little clearer.
They also tend to be more polite. US/English is pretty harsh, and a bit disrespectful. I think this leads to a cultural divide.
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 21,810 |
Is Ebonics a second language? 
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Posts: 2,176
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 2,176 |
[quote=JJHACK]
Wouldn't be surprised if many English language quirks are due to English borrowing from so many languages. I would not be surprised that is correct. Root words in english originate from numerous other languages. EX: Savvy-corruption of Spanish sabe (usted) (you) know, from saber to know, from Latin sapere to be wise. Why is it depot is not pronounced as de/pot or police is not po/lice?
Last edited by LostHighway; 11/04/16.
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Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 2,586
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 2,586 |
"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."
--James D. Nicoll
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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 31,605
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 31,605 |
Years ago several Of us historian types were perusing the Bexar Archive Translations of list of contraband French trade goods seized by Spanish authorities in east Texas circa 1730. One word we came upon was a a description of a type cloth that was Spanish corruption of a French corruption of a common (at that time) english article of clothing. The description went something like " xxxxx bolts of cloth commonly used by the English for "redingotes". We pondered this word for several years and we finally ran across it in a french text. Redingotes = "Riding coats"
Founder
Ancient Order of the 1895 Winchester
"Come, shall we go and kill us venison?
And yet it irks me the poor dappled fools,
Being native burghers of this desert city,
Should in their own confines with forked heads
Have their round haunches gored."
WS
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Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 30,960
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 30,960 |
Well, English does not require one to memorize silly irrelevant gender articles for every noun. There is but one article and it does not change depending on where it is in the sentence. Spelling aside, English is great. ;-{>8 Actually, English is the best language. You can express more ideas with more precision in English than any other language. There a reason it's the language of business, and continues to progress toward becoming the common tongue for everyone.
You didn't use logic or reason to get into this opinion, I cannot use logic or reason to get you out of it.
You cannot over estimate the unimportance of nearly everything. John Maxwell
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 32,080
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 32,080 |
Not to mention getting around the [bleep] bleeps.
Last edited by las; 11/04/16.
The only true cost of having a dog is its death.
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Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 9,097
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 9,097 |
Why do they call them "APARTments" when they're so close together? If someone told you to keep your feet only slightly apart, one could still say they are relatively close together. If you pulled a lego model apart , you could still pile all the parts together in a heap close together. Essentially 'apart' refers to separation, breakdown or division.
-Bulletproof and Waterproof don't mean Idiotproof.
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