# Why is our language like it is? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 6, 2019, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123 "2019-04-06T10:54:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123/21 "2019-04-06T19:07:13Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Yes, English can be weird. It can be understood through tough, thorough thought though. To be clear, this weirdness specifically refers to English _spelling_ only. I don’t think the English language itself is particularly weird. > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Internet Law makes it mandatory to quote James Nicoll here: This is true, but again, this oft quoted characterization of English might give the impression that English is unique in this way, though other languages can have these qualities, too. ---
**Author:** ![kk\_fusion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kk_fusion/32/15276_2.png) [@kk\_fusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kk_fusion)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123/22 "2019-04-06T19:11:29Z")
A hyphenated and a non-hyphenated word walk into a bar. The barman’s head explodes with irony. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123/23 "2019-04-06T20:26:18Z")
And what’s all this with Colors? What are they trying to pull? ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123/24 "2019-04-06T20:46:22Z")
I’ve just noticed there’s also the negative word ‘con’ in ‘confidence’, as in ‘confidence trick’! So confidence must actually be bad… therefore I’m not so sure about the previous statement… er… ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123/25 "2019-04-06T20:56:15Z")
The OP appears primed for Rastafarian linguistics. You have to take the death vibration out of words and replace it with a life vibration: Instead of “deadline,” say “lifeline.” Instead of “dedicate,” say “livicate.” Instead of “appreciate,”\* say “apprecilove.” \*Jamaican dialect often features h-dropping. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123/26 "2019-04-06T22:34:59Z")
> [@glee](#): > > Why is ‘long’ a short word? > Why is ‘abbreviated’ a long word? And why is “monosyllabic” polysyllabic? ---
**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:** [April 6, 2019, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123/27 "2019-04-06T23:07:30Z")
Why do you park on a driveway and drive on a parkway? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123/28 "2019-04-06T23:11:37Z")
Why aren’t palindromes palindromes? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123/29 "2019-04-06T23:17:56Z")
Hang on, I think I did that wrong. ---
**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:** [April 6, 2019, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123/30 "2019-04-06T23:24:25Z")
There’s also “pita” in “hospital,” so it can’t be all bad. (Of course, finding such substrings is nothing peculiar to English; I’m sure you can find examples in most languages. I’m having trouble taking the OP seriously here.) ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123/31 "2019-04-06T23:47:22Z")
> [@Ace309](#): > > I’m intrigued. Who do you think might have set up the English language in order to fool people into thinking hospitals are positive when they’re really negative in nature? Why do you think they’d have done so? What “scam” is being run? Notice how “scam” incorporates “cam”, correctly implying that scammers are recording their victims on video. It all makes sense [del]when you[/del] if you don’t think about it. > [@MortSahlFan](#): > > There are lots of cognates, especially German (since English is a Germanic language). Seems like Greek and Latin lasted pretty long, and maybe Aramaic. Cognates are obviously named after the fact that the official arbiters of language had too much cognac at the time that they issued their decrees. And don’t even get me started about driving on a parkway and parking on a driveway! 😃 ---
**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:** [April 7, 2019, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123/32 "2019-04-07T00:42:10Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > There’s also “pita” in “hospital,” so it can’t be all bad. Also a “ho spit al.” Why does English imply that someone named Al was created by an expectorating prostitute? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123/33 "2019-04-07T01:06:07Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > There’s also “pita” in “hospital,” so it can’t be all bad. I’d go to the hospital too if I had a Pain In The Ass! ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123/34 "2019-04-07T01:53:11Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Why aren’t palindromes palindromes? Why isn’t emordnilap a palindrome? ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123/35 "2019-04-07T03:50:20Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > SCquestions, if you really want to know about how language works, read some introductory books on linguistics like these: > > _What Language Is_ by John McWhorter > _The Language Hoax_ by John McWhorter > _How Language Began_ by Daniel Everett > _The Unfolding of Language_ by Guy Deutscher > _Language: The Cultural Tool_ by Daniel Everett > _Word on the Street_ by John McWhorter > _How Language Works_ by David Crystal > _The Language Instinct_ by Steven Pinker > _An Introduction to Language_ by Victoria Fromkin > _The Power of Language_ by John McWhorter > _The Study of Language_ by George Yule > > These are just some that came to my mind quickly. Other people in this thread can recommend you other books. On the other hand, if you want to create conspiracy theories about language, you won’t be very happy on this board. There are also a number of podcasts devoted to the history of English and/or the etymology of English words. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123/36 "2019-04-07T04:01:53Z")
Why hasn’t the OPoster posted after one minute past the first post? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123/37 "2019-04-07T06:10:18Z")
So, Thudlow Boink and Yllaria, why don’t you recommend some specific books and podcasts? ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123/38 "2019-04-07T07:45:01Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Why hasn’t the OPoster posted after one minute past the first post? 👹 Because it’s a troll post. A post by a person who joined yesterday, posted this one question, and has never logged in again. This obviously wasn’t a serious question. I thought so as soon as I read it. He’s probably laughing his ass off that he got so many serious answers. It should have been deleted by the moderators soon after it was posted. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123/39 "2019-04-07T07:53:07Z")
Nah, if it had gotten cornfielded we wouldn’t have gotten either to have fun with the responses or to obtain a bunch of references that some actual human beings may find interesting. Some trolls are worth burning the bridge, some are not. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123/40 "2019-04-07T10:49:55Z")
> [@glee](#): > > Why is ‘long’ a short word? > Why is ‘abbreviated’ a long word? Parkway/driveway? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123.md?page=3)