English Is Confusing
Nov
23
Having young children has made me realize just how confusing the English language can be.
My 3 year old likes it when we make words together with letter magnets and she also likes to name things that start with a certain letter. She picked up the ‘k’ magnet and said “K is for cat”. Why do we have two letters that usually make the same sound?
A week ago we went to a high school’s play where a friend of mine is the drama teacher. The play was Beauty And The Beast and my girls just loved it. The next day I mentioned to Sariah and Bekah how fun the Belle play was. Rebekah said “I like to play with my friends”. So I explained how the Beauty And The Beast we saw the night before is called a play and Rebekah said “no, that’s movie”. Why do we have different meanings for the same word?
We can’t even be sure what a certain product is by its name, we usually need to see a picture to know what an advertiser is trying to sell. If I saw an ad that was selling a weather pack with no picture or description, the first thing I would think of is that it is a kind of survival pack while someone else may think of a back pack when what they are actually trying to sell is an automotive wiring kit.
At least I have learned to have more compassion on immigrants who are struggling to learn the English language.