Word play - or - Who thinks of these?

[The Smoking Gun!]

Instead of always picking all your brains, I felt a little language humor would be a nice change!


Many languages have unusual inconsistencies but I think English is the worst in this respect.
Most people have asked such questions as to, why do we park on driveway, but drive on a parkway?

Below are a few others that come to mind
(inspired by the first listed post)

Everyone is always talking about listening to their I-pod, or downloading I-tunes, to listen to, however this is not aptly named, because if they were, they would have been called EAR pods,, or Ear tunes since you LISTEN to them and not WATCH them.

Whenever we have to do something over we are re-doing it, just as when speaking something for a second time we are repeating it, so when is it we actually "peat"?
Also along this same logic if someone is tardy they are late, right?
So when someone is retarded wouldn't that mean they are late again?

Often times we will use "regards" in a closing salutation, but when is it we actually "gard" for the first time?

How is it that we move something, which is moving it once, but if you remove it it doesn't mean moving it for the second time?

Well off to work again.... hmmm would that mean I don't have to work for being being "off"?.....it should actually be rework today since I am working AGAIN!!!!

Feel free to add to these if you find any of this at all amusing!

TSG!

[Snookerman]

why do we park on driveway, but drive on a parkway?
I liked that one, the others were a bit far-fetched.

Here's a similar one that comes to my mind: Why is it called a shipment if something is transported by car, but a cargo if it's transported on a ship?

[Nile]

Why do dogs like to stick their face out of moving cars, but don't like to be blown on.

[Medyman]

I liked that one, the others were a bit far-fetched.

Here's a similar one that comes to my mind: Why is it called a shipment if something is transported by car, but a cargo if it's transported on a ship?

Same here. The other seem less inconsistencies and more just a result of the arbitrariness of language and lexical change over time. If you trace the roots of some of the words, you'll see that they make more sense (though, those origins are arbitrary as well).

[djr33]

All of the "re-" prefix issues are due to bringing in those terms from Latin.
"Regards" is the plural of "regard" which comes from the roots "re" (again) and "gard" (look)-- so if you "regard" someone, you look at them again-- similar to "respect", where you look at them again.
Of course in English much of this is lost so it seems odd, and this is due to borrowing roots from a language so distant now that it doesn't make any sense. Breaking down words like this isn't really possible for the average speaker of English, but only those who have studied etymology, Latin, linguistics, etc.

"Remove" IS moving it again-- first time you move it from A-B then you move it again, from B-A.

"Peat" is a changed spelling from "repetition" etc, which is like "petition again", and the root "pet[ere]" is to "put forth".--> ends up meaning "redo"

www.etymonline.com is a good site for this stuff. (Had to look up "pet-" on there.)


However, as for Apple's nonsensical naming systems, feel free to laugh at that. :) (But, of course, it's more like "my pod" than "eye pod".)


Driveway/Parkway are completely English issues, nothing due to borrowing, just a lack of foresight.

[Snookerman]

www.etymonline.com is a good site for this stuff.
I prefer HotForWords (http://www.hotforwords.com/) :D

[The Smoking Gun!]

WOW what an educational journey re-sult-ing (got an answer for that one LOL) from a whimsical thought of nonsense (self explanatory) and as much as it is appreciated, it was rhetorical but I really liked the addition of the shipment cargo one, haven't thought of that one before, although I can go on and on with others as well.

Glad some found it both humorous and educational......which brings me to going to grade school, why is it the educators fell the need to cram all that stuff in to our minds when the essence of the word educate, from the Latin educe, which really means to draw out, meaning that to educate someone , the educators role is to draw out from the young minds their own realizations about things in general, and not cram all kinds of information in!!!! :)


TSG!

[djr33]

Here's a very strange pairing:
Greenland and Iceland.

[Medyman]

Rather than those inconsistencies, I find it more interesting to look at words which contradict themselves depending on context. Linguistic pragmatics is fascinating - at least to me.

For example, take a word like before. In the most common usage, it refers to an earlier time (i.e. something in the past). But in certain contexts, it can mean in front of or in advance of (e.g. "reading this application before me" or "the future is before us").

Of course, there are plenty more.

[Snookerman]

Actually, before means in front of. The past came first, so it was in front of the present or before the present. The problem is that when people image time, they see the future in front of them, or before them, and the past behind them, which is of course natural. So in all cases, before means if front of.

[Medyman]

Actually, before means in front of. The past came first, so it was in front of the present or before the present. The problem is that when people image time, they see the future in front of them, or before them, and the past behind them, which is of course natural. So in all cases, before means if front of.

Well, that might be semantic history of how those two seemingly contradictory meanings came to arise but I think my point is still valid. I didn't say that the meaning was irrational, just contradictory.

Maybe "before" isn't the best example. It's the first one that came to mind.

[Rockonmetal]

woah woah woah my brain, just ya, blew up!