English
may be cool, but it’s also crazy. Part of the problem with learning
English is accounted for by this very fact. Consider for a moment that
according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word ‘misnomer’ means
the ‘use of a wrong or inappropriate name’ when naming something. In
this respect, such words and terms as driveway and parkway; eggplant
and hamburger; sweetmeats and sweetbreads; English muffins and French
fries, as well as boxing ring and starfish are all misnomers. Why,
because in English we ‘drive cars on parkways’ and ‘park cars on
driveways’. There is no ‘egg’ in eggplant just as there is no ‘ham’ in
hamburger. Sweetmeats are ‘candies’ and sweetbreads are ‘meats’.
English muffins didn’t come from England nor did French fries come from
France. And should it not be obvious boxing rings are square and
starfish are not fish at all. And should you now be wondering if
Panama hats come from Panama, India ink from India and Chinese checkers
from China, the answer is a resounding ‘No’. And lest it go unsaid,
these are only a few of the hundreds of misnomers in the English
language.
So how did English become so crazy? The answer to this question is not
simple to answer as there are too many reasons for this one article to
list. However, some of the more popular explanations are as follows.
Some misnomers are holdovers from an earlier time. Such words as lead
pencil, tin can, steamroller and clothes iron are all holdovers from
the ‘good old days’. Essentially, old names were retained for
convenience. One truly British example are the well-known May balls
(evening parties) and May Bumps (boat races) hosted by Cambridge
University each year. Neither occurs in May but rather in May week
which, by the way, is in the second week of June.
Words such as Kleenex (in place of tissue), Xerox (in place of
photocopy) and Memory stick (in place of flash drive) are all the
result of using well-known product names in place of common generic
names.
Sometimes misnomers result from popular misconceptions even though
there is scientific evidence to the contrary. Koala bears are not
actually bears; rather they are marsupials and therefore related to
kangaroos. And in that sense, fireflies are not flies (they’re
beetles) and palm trees are not really trees (they’re grass). And just
to set the record straight, shooting stars are actually meteors, not
stars.
Finally, we have a group of misnomers which almost defy explanation.
Hitting your ‘funny bone’ hurts and is not funny. And while we’re on
the subject, your funny bone is not a bone. And how is it possible for
our nose ‘to run’ and our feet ‘to smell’. Is it really true that a
shipment is ‘sent by car’ while cargo is ‘sent by ship’. And in what
other language could people ‘recite at a play’ and ‘play at a recital’.
So there you have it. English is a truly amazing language. It’s full
of misnomers paradoxes and verbal contradictions, yet it is loved by
millions. What more can I say? The time has come for me to ‘wind up’
this article . . . and speaking of time, I’d better ‘wind up’ my watch
while I’m at it. And if it hasn’t occurred to you, guess which one
means ‘to finish’ and which one means ‘to start’.
Yipes! I think English has got me coming and going!
Категория: Лексика | Добавил: sveta (02.01.2010)
| Автор: languagelink
Просмотров: 2645
| Рейтинг: 5.0 |
Вы овладеете английским!
Вы верите, что всего за несколько часов можно понять, как поставить правильное произношение, не изучая долго и нудно теоретическую фонетику, а всего-лишь поймав "фокус" языка?
Вы верите, что за несколько часов можно понять всю систему английских времен, которую безуспешно учат годами в школе, институте или на курсах?
Вы верите, что вместо скучных учебников можно заниматься по Вашим любимым фильмам и сериалам, испытывая при этом восторг и наслаждение от занятий английским?
Мы не только верим, а и твердо убеждены, так как уже сотни людей прошли по этому пути и поделились с нами своми успехами и достижениями!
И мы верим в Вас, потому что Вы легко научились говорить на языке, который на порядок сложнее английского!
Поэтому более простым и логичным английским Вы овладеете гораздо быстрее и легче! Конечно,если будете делать это правильно, естественным путем - моделируя носителей языка. Руководствуясь при этом не громоздкими правилами, а простыми и понятными визуальными моделями!
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