# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/41 "2017-03-23T20:22:55Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > What English word changes pronunciation when capitalized? > > polish -\> Polish The way you’ve phrased the question makes it seem like there’s just the one answer, but there’s a few others, for example: august lima mobile job nice ---
**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, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/42 "2017-03-23T20:30:09Z")
> [@Turpentine](#): > > Or are you supposed to say “pedigree”, you’re supposed to say it "pedigreeeeeeeeee? Yes, that’s exactly what I’ve been trying to say. That is a bit of an exaggeration, but I pronounce pedigree as pedigreeeeeeeeee. ---
**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, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/43 "2017-03-23T20:32:38Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > I’m sorry, but this is confusing. Are you trying to say that you pronounce the ends of “angry” and “hungry” like they rhyme with “try”? No, that angry and hungry have very short vowel sounds at the end but pedigree has a long, extended vowel sound at the end. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/44 "2017-03-23T20:35:09Z")
Pirates have West Country type accents not Scottish, and besides Newton, Bristol was also a common exiting point for the New World. Depending on the dictionary, either “set” or “run” has the most dictionary definitions, often 400+ meanings each. “ough” can have anywhere from 6-10 different pronunciations, depending on your dialect or age. > [@swampspruce](#): > > Also, English is a whore of a language picking up whatever suits its fancy… “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 riffle their pockets for new vocabulary.” -James Nicoll > [@Okrahoma](#): > > \*inflammable \*is a synonym of _flammable_ What a country! Words like “cleave” can have completely opposite definitions. These are [auto-antonyms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto-antonym). ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/45 "2017-03-23T20:36:36Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > No it doesn’t. The “ngwee” is a minor coin, valued at 1/100 of a Zambian kwacha. Prnounced 'en-gwee". Recognized as an English word in English dictionaries. One ngwee currently worth about 1/10-cent US. > [@gigi](#): > > Cwm shows up in [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com). And of course in Scrabble. Nitpick: “Vowel” refers to either the sound or the orthography. Both those contain vowels, but not letters representing vowels. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/46 "2017-03-23T20:39:46Z")
“cleave” can mean to stick together or to split apart. The word “bear”, meaning the animal, comes from the Old High German word for brown. The bear is literally, The Brown One. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/47 "2017-03-23T20:42:21Z")
> [@Wednesday\_Evening](#): > > The following is a perfectly legit sentence: > > Buffalo buffalo, Buffalo buffalo buffalo, buffalo Buffalo buffalo. I think wikipedia made this up. If you went up to somebody and said that would they understand you? As a matter of fact, just looking at that sentence here I can’t understand what you’re trying to say without looking it up. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/48 "2017-03-23T20:42:37Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > This recent article about [adjective order](http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-37285796) blew my mind. If you are using more than two adjectives at a time, you are probably [doing it wrong](http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/495945-when-you-catch-an-adjective-kill-it-no-i-don-t). ---
**Author:** ![Patx2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/73ab20/32.png) [@Patx2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patx2)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/49 "2017-03-23T21:23:33Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > No it doesn’t. The “ngwee” is a minor coin, valued at 1/100 of a Zambian kwacha. Prnounced 'en-gwee". Recognized as an English word in English dictionaries. One ngwee currently worth about 1/10-cent US. Wow! I learned something new today, thanks 😁! ---
**Author:** ![Patx2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/73ab20/32.png) [@Patx2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patx2)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/50 "2017-03-23T21:25:43Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > “Curple” is a rare but technically English word, and rhymes with purple. > > Lots of English words don’t have a true rhyme. No real word rhymes with wolf, false, or gouge. Those are of course short examples; long words probably don’t have true rhymes more often than they do. > > In English, a word that just rhymes using the last syllable is a “masculine rhyme,” like set and net. Words that lack a masculine rhyme are rare. A feminine rhyme is a word that matches the last two syllables, like treasure and measure. In some words they really don’t “sound” like they rhyme uless they achieve a feminine rhyme. Words without a feminine rhyme are common. This is a very educational thread, I’ve never heard the word curdle, I need to look it up. ---
**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, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/51 "2017-03-23T21:33:10Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Nitpick: “Vowel” refers to either the sound or the orthography. Both those contain vowels, but not letters representing vowels. I learned in grammar school that “y” and “w” were both consonants and vowels. There are many examples of “y” used as a vowel, often the only vowel in a word. But “w” only appears as the only vowel in a few words of Celtic origin, like cwm and crwth. It commonly functions as a vowel, however, in diphthongs with other vowels in words like paw, new, or grow. ---
**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, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/52 "2017-03-23T21:35:41Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > If you are using more than two adjectives at a time, you are probably [doing it wrong](http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/495945-when-you-catch-an-adjective-kill-it-no-i-don-t). I assume you mean “wrongly”. ---
**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, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/53 "2017-03-23T21:46:11Z")
So I started looking for examples of the word 'pedigree" on Youtube. First I thought of the Pedigree brand of dog food and looked for that, and found an Australian commercial where they indeed pronounced it so that it would rhyme with angry/hungry. But [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd09V2AkZv4) is an example discussing pedigree charts–note how pedigree has a long vowel sound at the end–and rhymes with tree, not angry. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/54 "2017-03-23T21:49:08Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I learned in grammar school that “y” and “w” were both consonants and vowels. There are many examples of “y” used as a vowel, often the only vowel in a word. But “w” only appears as the only vowel in a few words of Celtic origin, like cwm and crwth. It commonly functions as a vowel, however, in diphthongs with other vowels in words like paw, new, or grow. “w” is what is called a semi-vowel, of an order comparable to “й”. It _always_ modifies a vowel, either in attack (“wax”) or diphthong-like formation (“cow”). In normal English, it has no sound that is not dependent on a vowel. Apart from lenition, “h” behaves in essentially the same way – it is a sort of semi-consonant-semi-vowel that is always dependent on another single letter to define the sound it represents. “y” is a vowel-semi-vowel hybrid. ---
**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, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/55 "2017-03-23T22:09:57Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > I think wikipedia made this up. As Wiki says, the construction first appeared in Dmitri Borgmann’s _Beyond Language: Adventures in Word and Thought_ in 1967. I recall seeing it when I was in college. > [@](#): > > If you went up to somebody and said that would they understand you? As a matter of fact, just looking at that sentence here I can’t understand what you’re trying to say without looking it up. Of course it’s a highly artificial construction that was created to demonstrate a point about language. Nonetheless, it’s a valid sentence. ---
**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, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/56 "2017-03-23T22:34:10Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Of course it’s a highly artificial construction that was created to demonstrate a point about language. Nonetheless, it’s a valid sentence. I prefer “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.” (“Badgers badgers badgers badgers badgers badgers badgers badgers mushroom mushroom” isn’t a valid sentence, but it sure sticks with you.) ---
**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, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/57 "2017-03-23T22:42:48Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > I prefer “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.” Except that’s just stringing together parts of speech in a valid order. It’s not the same kind of example. The “buffalo” example actually means something, as difficult as it may be to parse. ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/58 "2017-03-23T22:56:34Z")
Here’s something interesting. Any thread about interesting things about English will consist of 3% interesting things and 97% people nitpicking each other’s posts. ---
**Author:** ![igor\_frankensteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/839c29/32.png) [@igor\_frankensteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/igor_frankensteen)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/59 "2017-03-23T23:43:44Z")
I see some silly things here. Is this a joke thread? - “Bird” is clearly an Onomatopoeia. - the claim that the word “duck” doesn’t echo, is a confusion with the myth (i.e.false) that ducks quacking don’t make echoes. They do, but the way they quack often chances to hide the fact. A minor offering of my own: because English has “pilfered” from so many other languages, we end up with situations such as that the word “lead” can either refer to a heavy grey metal, or the act of showing others how to proceed. It’s due to the evolutionary intersection of two words from unrelated languages, which changed over time until they were spelled the same, but pronounced differently. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836/60 "2017-03-23T23:55:46Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > “Badgers badgers badgers badgers badgers badgers badgers badgers mushroom mushroom” isn’t a valid sentence, but it sure sticks with you. “Badger”, “mushroom” and “snake” are each both nouns _and_ verbs. “Badger badgers badgers” would be a valid sentence about a particular mustellid harassing other mustellids of the same kind, and “mushroom mushrooms” is exactly what happens in the video, although the necessary “-s” endings are missing from the words in the chant. The snake part, well, maybe not so much, though it sounds to me faintly like “I think I see a snake, a snake”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-something-interesting-about-english/782836.md?page=4)