I've been idling though GoogleNews looking for articles on English that would be of interest to this board. This from tomorrow's Christian Science Monitor.
"Invaluable" means valuable and "inflammable" means flammable, but "invisible" is the opposite of "visible."
When we send a package by car, it is called a "shipment," but if we send it by ship, it is called "cargo."
We drive on a parkway, but park in a driveway.
Apartments are the buildings closest together,
rush-hour traffic actually is slow.
We still recite at a play, but we play at a recital.
Our feet can smell, and our nose can run.
On television shows we can have a "guest host."
When a lamp is out, it is not shining, but if the stars are out, they are.
"He has left" means he is not here, but "he is left" means he is still present.
With time, the meaning of some words has been reversed:
"terrific," used to mean something awful;
"awful," used to mean "full of awe,"
"Quantum leap" - which is now often considered something like a great stride - was, in its original physics meaning, the smallest possible step (in energy) one could make.
Information theory (the branch of mathematics used for such things as data compression in computer communications) indicates that English is about 75 percent or more redundant. This means - in information-theory terms - that when writing in English, one can only be about 25 percent original, while the rest of what is being written is pretty much dictated by the constraints of spelling, words available, grammar, and so forth.
a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
a slim chance and a fat chance be the same
a wise man and a wise guy are opposites
November 27, 2006, 02:45
arnie
quote:
When we send a package by car, it is called a "shipment," but if we send it by ship, it is called "cargo."
Wrong. It is also called a shipment. The load in the car can also be called "cargo".
quote:
a wise man and a wise guy are opposites
Not necessarily. True, it is often unwise to be a wise guy, but not always.
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
November 27, 2006, 08:26
zmježd
"Invaluable" means valuable and "inflammable" means flammable, but "invisible" is the opposite of "visible."
This is because there are two different prefixes in-: the first augmenting and the second negating.This message has been edited. Last edited by: zmježd,
—Ceci n'est pas un seing.
November 27, 2006, 10:45
neveu
quote:
Information theory (the branch of mathematics used for such things as data compression in computer communications) indicates that English is about 75 percent or more redundant. This means - in information-theory terms - that when writing in English, one can only be about 25 percent original, while the rest of what is being written is pretty much dictated by the constraints of spelling, words available, grammar, and so forth.
What it means is that if you treat English text as a string of characters you can losslessly compress it to about 25% of its original size, nothing else. Switching to a non-redundant language will not, unfortunately, increase your originality by 300%.
January 04, 2007, 10:35
Granny O'Doul
quote:
Originally posted by shufitz:
a slim chance and a fat chance be the same
No, they be not. "Fat chance" is simply an expression that is always used ironically.
January 04, 2007, 12:13
arnie
Hey! Welcome back, Granny!
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
January 04, 2007, 13:12
TrossL
quote:
Originally posted by shufitz:
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
and in that vein... If olive oil is made from olives and corn oil is made from corn what is baby oil made from?
January 04, 2007, 14:48
Granny O'Doul
quote:
"Invaluable" means valuable
Not exactly. If something is valuable, you would sell it for only a great amount of money while if it is invaluable, you would not sell it for any amount.
Hi arnie! Happy newish year.
January 04, 2007, 15:49
BobHale
Of course it's always possible to pick these things to pieces but as they are intended for humour not education, personally I just have a laugh and don't worry about them.
"No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." Samuel Johnson.
January 04, 2007, 20:06
Kalleh
Funny, TrossL! Hey, Granny and TrossL, good to see you both back. Now stay!
Hey, Granny and TrossL, good to see you both back. Now stay! 