1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture.
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10) I did not object to the object.
11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13) They were too close to the door to close it.
14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18) After a number of injections my jaw got number.
19) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
20) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
21) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?


If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth?

One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese?

One index, 2 indices?

Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend?

If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?

If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?

In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?

Ship by truck and send cargo by ship?

Have noses that run and feet that smell?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by
filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.

People, not computers invented English, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all.

That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

P.S.

Why doesn't "buick" rhyme with "quick"?

I can completely understand why people have a hard time with it, especially if it's a second language.

That is why it is the hardest language to learn, and we all think Japanese is difficult.

That's awesome! And true.....

That's what makes English special ...

We park in a driveway and drive on the parkway

Because we are from Texas? Just a thought

no...we don't speak English...we speak Texan

My only answer to the why questions above is "because" that is it....I have no other answer to them

I'm impressed with any one trying to learn English as a 2nd language

Great post Kim... so true!!!

thank you thank you....no applause. Just you undying devotion

I`m NOT Worthy.

sure ya are Ed

That was a pretty cool thing to start the day off with.

Let's all be happy it is our first language

We were all spared the questions because we just learned that's the way we speak!

I have to wonder how many of us would have stuck it out to learn all this stuff if it was our second language?

English is my 3rd language... I assure you, it is NOT the most difficult to learn.

Cheers

*edit

I was wondering if maybe FL was right so I googled it

Extremely Hard: The hardest language to learn is: Polish-Seven Cases, Seven Genders and very difficult pronunciation. Average English speaker is fluent at about the age 12; the average Polish speaker is fluent in their language not until age 16. .


Very Hard: Finnish, Hungarian, and Estonian-These languages are hard because of the countless noun cases. However, the cases are more like English prepositions added to the end of the root.Pretty Hard: Ukrainian and Russian complex grammar and different alphabet but easier pronunciation. Serbian-Also similar to other Slavic languages with a complex case and gender system, but it also has many tenses. alphabet


Fairly Hard: Chinese and Japanese-No cases, no genders, no tenses, no verb changes, short words, very easy grammar, however, writing is hard. But to speak it is very easy. Also intonations make it harder but certainly not harder than Polish pronunciation. I know a Chinese language teacher that says people pick up Chinese very easy, but he speaks several languages and could not learn Polish. I am learning some Chinese, it is not the hardest language maybe even the easiest language to learn. Not the hardest language by any measure. Try to learn some Chinese and Polish your self and you will see which is the hardest language.



Average: French-lots of tenses but not used and moderate grammar. German-only four cases and like five exceptions, everything is logical, of course.


Easy: Spanish and Italian


Basic to hard: English, no cases or gender, you hear it everywhere, spelling can be hard and British tenses you can use the simple and continues tense instead of the perfect tenses and you will speak American English. English at the basic level is easy but to speak it like a native it’s hard because of the dynamic idiomatic nature.


So what – the hardest language to learnSo what is hard? Hard really means, it’s just a longer learning curve. Look I am in my forties and I learned Polish and I have problems with languages, in addition to having a bleeding in the brain. So if I can do it, the only thing holding you back from learning the language of your dreams is method and patience.

John111, great post. Mind if I steal that line about hard just being a longer learning curve ... ? I studied French and Spanish for two years each - no progress ... When I switched to German, it was like coming home - it just makes sense ... ja, even words like 'Natürwissenschaft' ... I'll take a look at Polish -even if it's only to examine their alphabet and diacritical marks ... language is just fun ...

rough
through
dough