# Post Something Interesting About English **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 23, 2017, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836 "2017-03-23T15:46:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/1 "2017-03-23T15:46:27Z")
The English language is lots of fun. Post a fact about grammar, spelling, vocabulary, definitions of words changing with time, pronounciation, something factual and cool. I’ll start. - The origin of the word “bird” is unknown. As simple and common a word as it is, they don’t know where it came from. It has no obvious comparisons to any other Germanic or French word. The Old English for avian animals was “fugol,” from whence we get “fowl.” So why bird? No one can say. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/2 "2017-03-23T15:51:21Z")
It’s spelled “grammar.” Unless you’re Sideshow Bob. Ouch, I’m goin’. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/3 "2017-03-23T16:02:08Z")
English has 37 words for “snow” but no word for “rain”. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/4 "2017-03-23T16:03:20Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > English has 37 words for “snow” but no word for “rain”. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/5 "2017-03-23T16:08:35Z")
Hey, **RicJay** originaly mispeled “grammar,” dammit! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/6 "2017-03-23T16:15:23Z")
The English word “duck” does not echo. No one knows why. ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/7 "2017-03-23T16:32:21Z")
There are only three words in Modern-ish English that end in -gry; hungry, angry, and puggry…:0 Also, English is a whore of a language picking up whatever suits its fancy… ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/8 "2017-03-23T16:41:18Z")
All your language belong to us. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/9 "2017-03-23T16:43:33Z")
All senses of the word “check” (to control or limit something; to examine or test something; a piece of paper indicating either you wish to transfer money from your bank account to someone else or indicating that you owe someone else, like a restaurant, a certain sum of money; a mark used as an indicator; a claim check; a good hard whack with a hockey stick; a pattern made up of a grid of squares; etc., etc., etc.) [come from the same original meaning](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/01/01/secret-iranian-influence-in-the-u-s-constitution/?tid=a_inl): An attack on the king in the game of chess. The word “check” itself comes from the well-known Persian word for king, _shah_. ---
**Author:** ![Okrahoma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90db22/32.png) [@Okrahoma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Okrahoma)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/10 "2017-03-23T16:47:01Z")
_invisible_ is an antonym of _visible_ _inappropriate_ is an antonym of _appropriate_ …etc… \*inflammable \*is a synonym of _flammable_ ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/11 "2017-03-23T17:37:45Z")
The origin of “acorn” seems like a no-brainer. It’s from “oak corn” (“corn” = “seed”). [Nope](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=acorn). But the folk belief in that meaning did lead to it’s current spelling. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_wuzzy)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/12 "2017-03-23T18:02:27Z")
The word _ghost_ is spelt with an h due to Belgian typesetters working in the early printing trade in England. The word for ghost in Belgian or Dutch is gheest. _Ghastly_ is spelt the way it is for the same reason. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/13 "2017-03-23T18:07:31Z")
English has a more complicated system of grammatical aspect than most other major languages have. So there are actions you can easily express in English which are more complicated to accurately express in other languages. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/14 "2017-03-23T18:17:52Z")
What English word changes pronunciation when capitalized? polish -\> Polish What English word changes number when you add -s, and then changes number and gender when you add another -s. prince -\> princes -\> princess ---
**Author:** ![RunSilent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e0b2c6/32.png) [@RunSilent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RunSilent)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/15 "2017-03-23T18:30:40Z")
A fat chance and a slim chance mean the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/16 "2017-03-23T18:34:33Z")
> [@swampspruce](#): > > There are only three words in Modern-ish English that end in -gry; hungry, angry, and puggry…:0 > > Also, English is a whore of a language picking up whatever suits its fancy… If you ask people out loud to name three common words that end in the “gry” sound, they think of “angry,” and “hungry,” but never think of “pedigree,” which to an oral riddle is a perfectly good answer. Pirates doubtfully spoke any differently from any other person of the same socio-economic class of their time. “Talking like a pirate” is a Disney invention. It’s based on the dialogue written for Robert Newton, the actor who played Long John Silver in _Treasure Island_ and _Long John Silver_. It’s some 20th century American Disney writer’s idea of the the way someone with a Scottish accent would have spoken Georgian English in a story written by a Victorian. Robert Louis Stevenson, FWIW, doesn’t have Silver speaking with things like the present subjunctive (ie, “So if that be my end,” as opposed to “So if that is my end”). The writers of the earlier version of _Treasure Island_, didn’t give Silver so many oddities, albeit, they did try to give the film a Georgian flavor, and Silver still has the Scottish accent. Or, Hollywood Scottish. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/17 "2017-03-23T18:36:13Z")
Being up the creek and being sold down the river: either way, you’re screwed. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/18 "2017-03-23T18:56:32Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > If you ask people out loud to name three common words that end in the “gry” sound, they think of “angry,” and “hungry,” but never think of “pedigree,” which to an oral riddle is a perfectly good answer. Okay, I gotta ask, do you pronounce pedigree pedigry, or do you pronounce angry and hungry angree and hungree? Because those words do _not_ end with the same sounds in any dialect I’ve ever heard. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/19 "2017-03-23T18:58:02Z")
Many languages have gendered nouns, and while English _no longer_ has them, at least one gendered pair survived. two/twain are such a feminine/masculine pair. “Twain” is almost entirely used in semi-archaic phrases like “split in twain” and “never the twain shall meet” (and for scanner image formats). ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/20 "2017-03-23T19:04:09Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Okay, I gotta ask, do you pronounce pedigree pedigry, or do you pronounce angry and hungry angree and hungree? Because those words do _not_ end with the same sounds in any dialect I’ve ever heard. I can’t even imagine what sound you are referring to. “Gree” and the “gry” of those words sound exactly the same to me in the dialects of English I’m familiar with, namely /ɡɹi/. ETA: Just to be sure, I checked wiktionary, Merriam-Webster, and [Dictionary.com](http://Dictionary.com), and they all have the same ending for “angry,” “hungry,” and “pedigree.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836.md?page=2)