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Post by DAS (formerly BushAdmirer) on May 1, 2020 15:28:28 GMT
This one should crack you UP! An amazing 2 letter English word.
A reminder that one word in the English language
that can be a noun, verb, adjective, adverb and preposition UP
Read until the end ... you'll laugh.
This two-letter word in English has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that
word is 'UP.' It is listed in the dictionary as an [adv.], [prep.], [adj.], [n] or [v].
It's easy to understandUP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken
in the morning, why do we wakeUP?
At a meeting, why does a topic comeUP?
Why do we speak UP, and why are the officers
UP for election and why is itUP to the secretary
to writeUP a report? We call UP our friends,
brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, warmUP the leftovers and clean UPthe
kitchen. We lockUP the house and fix UP the old car.
At other times, this little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses.
To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special. And this UP is confusing: A drain must be openedUP because it is stopped UP.
We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UPat night. We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP!
To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look UP the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary,
it takesUP almost 1/4 of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions. If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more. When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP When the sun comes out, we say it is clearing UP. When it rains, the earth soaks it UP.
When it does not rain for awhile, things dry UP. One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP, for now . . . my time
is UP! Oh . . . one more thing: What is the first thing you do in the morning and the last thing you do at night?
UP !
Did that one crack you UP?
Don't screw UP. Send this on to everyone
you look UP in your address book . .
or not . . it's UP to you.
Now I'll shut UP!
_________ Our poor student of the English language is now finding out just how difficult learning English can be. I Once he or she has mastered the word UP, they can then move on to the words Ass, and the four letter word FUCK
How many different meanings can you think of for how those two words are being used? If you won't take the time to do it, then you are a lazy ass.
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Post by rebel2020 on May 2, 2020 9:38:44 GMT
Must be very confusing for an outsider, In the past Ive had a go at German (While working there during the 80s) Arabic (Again while working in the Middle East, just about got by !) and Russian (Very difficult, more or less gave up on that one).
But English when one singal word can mean many things, Guess it must add to the challenge !
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Post by Big Lin on May 2, 2020 22:29:01 GMT
German is my best foreign language; I also speak fairly good Turkish, reasonable French and mediocre Russian. But Arabic defeats me - the squiggly writing just doesn't mean a thing!
I can only remember a few words like 'mafi mishkala' and 'mishkala kabir' from my time in Saudi Arabia.
But Mike says that the most difficult and irrational grammar he's ever come across is Welsh.
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Post by Big Lin on May 2, 2020 22:31:10 GMT
In the days when we used to teach English as a foreign language, we had two things we used to do when we wanted to wind up our students.
One was to ask them to parse Lewis Carroll's 'Jabberwocky.'
The other was to get them to practice the 'ough' combination of words - slough/slough (pronounced differently but spelt the same), bough. cough, rough.
It never failed to confuse them!
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Post by DAS (formerly BushAdmirer) on May 3, 2020 11:03:11 GMT
German is my best foreign language; I also speak fairly good Turkish, reasonable French and mediocre Russian. But Arabic defeats me - the squiggly writing just doesn't mean a thing! I can only remember a few words like 'mafi mishkala' and 'mishkala kabir' from my time in Saudi Arabia. But Mike says that the most difficult and irrational grammar he's ever come across is Welsh. ____ Most Americans have never been out of their own country and only speak English. I took Spanish in high school but never got to the conversational level. I soon forgot most of it for lack of opportunity to use it. However, in more recent times, Latino immigration has swollen the population of Spanish speakers. It might be easier to practice using it for today's students. Zero opportunity for most Americans to use languages like French, German, Italian, Croation, Turkish, Russian, etc. Lots of effort is required to learn one of those languages with little or no payback or benefit. Fortunately for us, English has evolved into the international standard language. This is probably because the Brits were so active in the era of colonization. They exported the English language to much of the world. In our foreign travels the past ten or fifteen years, I've had little or no difficulty finding an English speaker to help me translate. The one most notable exception happened at a seafood restaurant in a small French village on the Brittany seacoast. Our waiter couldn't speak a word of English and the menu was all in French. The dinners being served at nearby tables all looked delicious. I ended up just guessing when choosing my dinner from the menu. When we were served my wife got a beautiful whole lobster. I got a heap of mashed potations with flaked dried salt cod stirred into it. Bummer.
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Post by deyana on May 9, 2020 20:37:28 GMT
I find French a lot harder to learn than English. Spanish is a very simple language I have found and easy to pick up.
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