Interesting English Words - Language Trap

Why does“pineapple”neither grow on pine trees nor look like an“apple”？

Why does“guinea pig”neither come from Guinea nor look like a pig？

Why a“writer”can write，a “hammer” cannot ham？

Why the third hand of a clock called the second hand?

Why the plural form of “tooth” is teeth，the plural form of “booth” is not“beeth”？

Why a“vegetarian”can eat vegetable，while a “humanitarian”never eat Human？

Why“slim chance” and “fat chance” mean equally “little chance”？

Why “wise man”and “wise guy” just have the opposite meanings？

Why “overlook”means look upwards while “oversee” means look downwards？

Why “quite a lot” and “quite a few” all mean“quite a number of”？

Why a house will finally “burn down”when starting“burn up”？

Why “sweetmeat”is a kind of dessert while“sweetbread”is a kind of meat？

My dear friends,

Please try your best to add a few more interesting English words or phrases to the list!

Why not?

Jeannie

[em09][em09][em09]

[此贴子已经被作者于2005-11-29 15:41:13编辑过]

Dear friends,
 
I am always amazed by children’s fascinating remarks.  
 
My friend has a 9-year-old little girl, at the age full of imagination and creativity.  I am often dumbfounded before her questions.  For instance, she once asked: “Which part of yourself can be made into a book?   - A hand - A handbook!”   When Katrina hit the south of the United States, she told her mom that it must be caused by cats, since a disaster like Katrina is also called catastrophe, starting with CAT. 

Jeannie

[此贴子已经被作者于2005-11-30 15:02:36编辑过]

Dear Jeannie,

Your friend's 9 year old little girl is such a cute and clever child since she could conjure up so many interesting mind twisters or weird explanations for natrual phenomena with her own tricky language of English. I think it is very amazing to see and hear people create such fun with their language this way.

But adults seldom do so. They speak very rigid language so much so that you get bored to death withour their knowing it, whether in class listening to your teacher or sitting at meeting with your leaders as sole speakers. In contrast, so many words that were once spoken or written creatively have become everlasting mottos or household quotations full of humour and passion and vitality. Here is a website you can go to to take a look at how famous people work wonders with their language: http://www.iloveeng.com/list/list_30_1.html. If you find that site is a bit boring, you also can go to http://www.hao360.com/page/details_fun.asp?id=6364. There you may get in touch with something amusing.

Charlie