Illogical English #7
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same? Both a “slim chance” and a “fat chance” mean to have little possibility. For example, “I think England have a fat chance of winning the next World Cup”. …
Category: Funny English
Illogical English #6
Performers recite at a play. Performers play at a recital. A “play” means a stage drama, such as those by Shakespeare. A “recital” usually means a music performance such as a piano solo.
Illogical English #5
Sometimes it’s hard to understand why words are made this way… When goods are loaded onto a ship, they are called cargo. When goods are loaded onto a car (or truck), they are called a shipment. Sometimes shipment and cargo are …
Illogical English #4
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Those two words have the same noun-suffix, but “Humanitarian” supports humans, whereas “vegetarian” eats vegetables. Quite the opposite, really. Actually, “-arian”-suffixed words have the first meaning – to support, agree with …
Illogical English #3
Here is another one: An alarm When an alarm goes on, it goes off… In this case “on” means “switched on” (like all electrical things), but “off” means “start”. For example, when leaving somewhere, someone may say, “Right, I’m off.” …
Illogical English #2
Another funny word is the musical instrument “Cor Anglais”. “Cor Anglais” is French for “English horn”, but it isn’t of English origin! It isn’t even of French origin. There once was a mistranslation from its German name “Engellisches Horn”. “Engellisches” means …
Illogical English #1
English isn’t always logical! (The animal above, by the way, is a guinea pig) However, some words had a more logical origin. “Hamburger”, for example, was named after its city of origin, Hamburg, and not named after the meat. This …