Meme Thread... no politics

In reply to AMiataCalledSteve :

There used to be a website dedicated to cringy English worded shirts and stuff in Japan.

Keith Tanner said:

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

Well, that's what it means in Latin :) 

English mugged Latin for a lot of things, not always keeping the same meaning 

Take the word "decimate".  It means to execute 10% or something in Latin, means to completely destroy in English.

It got so bad that they built a wall to keep the English language out of the Roman empire.

GameboyRMH said:

Duke said:

In reply to aircooled :

Wait, whut?  What's so hard about English spelling?

English:  Tank

German:  Schutzengrabenvernichtungsautomobile

You think I'm kidding?  That was the original word before "panzer" was coined.

 

The way that spelling in English is very un-phonetic compared to most languages. See how the first 3 letters in "english" are pronounced completely differently to the same first 3 letters in "engine" for one quick example.

Edit: Requisite meme:

Now try to teach that to your kids whom you are homeschooling. 

Recon1342 said:

Author unknown, but it's still fantastically relevant-

We'll begin with box, and the plural is boxes; 
But the plural of ox should be oxen, not oxes. 

Then one fowl is goose, but two are called geese, 
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese. 

You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice, 
Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice. 

If the plural of man is always called men, 
Why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen? 

The cow in the plural may be cows or kine, 
But the plural of vow is vows, not vine. 

I speak of my foot and show you my feet, 
If I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet? 

If one is a tooth, and a whole set are teeth, 
Why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth? 

If the singular is this and the plural is these, 
Why shouldn't the plural of kiss be named kese? 

Then one may be that, and three may be those, 
Yet the plural of hat would never be hose; 

We speak of a brother, and also of brethren, 
But though we say mother, we never say methren. 

The masculine pronouns are he, his and him, 
But imagine the feminine she, shis, and shim! 

So our English, I think, you all will agree, 
Is the craziest language you ever did see. 

I take it you already know 
Of tough and bough and cough and dough? 
Others may stumble, but not you, 
On hiccough, thorough, slough, and through? 

Well done! And now you wish, perhaps 
To learn of less familiar traps? 

Beware of heard, a dreadful word, 
That looks like beard and sounds like bird. 

And dead; it's said like bed, not bead; 
For goodness sake, don't call it deed! 
Watch out for meat and great and threat; 
They rhyme with suite and straight and debt. 

A moth is not a moth in mother, 
Nor both in bother, broth in brother. 

And here is not a match for there, 
Or dear and fear for bear and pear. 

And then there's dose and rose and lose, 
Just look them up, and goose and choose. 

And cork and work and card and ward, 
And font and front and word and sword. 

And do and go, then thwart and cart. 
Come, come, I've hardly made a start. 

A dreadful language? Why, man alive, 
I'd learned to talk it when I was five, 
And yet to write it, the more I tried, 
I hadn't learned it at fifty-five! 

That's fantastic!

It sure sounds like Dr Seuss...

In reply to volvoclearinghouse :

We started homeschooling 30 years ago. 
 

I found it humorous that at the dawn of the internet the word "homeschool" wasn't in any of the spellcheck dictionaries, and no one was quite sure if the proper spelling was 1 word or 2. 

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

In reply to AMiataCalledSteve :

There used to be a website dedicated to cringy English worded shirts and stuff in Japan.

Engrish.com

I tried to check it out and it wasn't throwing an error message. But there is a facebook page doing the same job.

Language humor is one of my favorites. The late master of language humor, George Carlin's grandfather copied the entire works of Shakespeare in longhand.

Beer Baron said:

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

In reply to AMiataCalledSteve :

There used to be a website dedicated to cringy English worded shirts and stuff in Japan.

Engrish.com

I tried to check it out and it wasn't throwing an error message. But there is a facebook page doing the same job.

Engrish.com made you feel kind of bad sometimes for making fun of the Japanese language for combining letters such as R and L. With that said, I hope everyone is ready for Erection Day tomorrow.

In reply to GCrites80s :

Boo!!! Horrible pun!!! My one-legged Irish aunt Eileen disapproves! So does my one-legged Korean aunt Irene!

Anyways, birthday time is coming.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

Keith Tanner said:

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

Well, that's what it means in Latin :) 

English mugged Latin for a lot of things, not always keeping the same meaning 

Take the word "decimate".  It means to execute 10% or something in Latin, means to completely destroy in English.

No, it means kill one of ten in English as well, for those who know English.

Appleseed said:

Having talked with lots of Germans, although this is surprisingly accurate, it's also a demonstration of the limitations Germans have speaking English. Germans learn to speak very formal and proper English, but they don't understand how to *play* with English the way a native speaker does. They only learn how to speak like you would compose a business letter.

English is one of the easiest second-languages to learn, especially for a German speaker. But it is one of the hardest to master.

[deleted long explanation about what grammar actually is]

Honsch said:

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

Keith Tanner said:

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

Well, that's what it means in Latin :) 

English mugged Latin for a lot of things, not always keeping the same meaning 

Take the word "decimate".  It means to execute 10% or something in Latin, means to completely destroy in English.

No, it means kill one of ten in English as well, for those who know English.

To make matters even more fun, the dictionary definition includes both of those meanings. 

Because the metric system is for Communists and eggheads, I prefer to use the term, "eighthimate"

I want to keep the language topic going for a bit longer. 
Searched my phone, found this...

AMiataCalledSteve said:

bearmtnmartin (Forum Supporter) said:  What is funny is walking with a Japanese guy who is having a great time reading American tattooes and sniggering. 

This cuts both ways - from my own personal collection of photos I took in Japan:

I hope these count as memes

I have GOT to get some of those shirts for my 13 y.o. daughter!  She'd go ApeE36M3 for them.

EDIT:  I've been looking online for a source for such shirts with no success.  Do we have any members of The Hive in Japan?

Beer Baron said:

Appleseed said:

Having talked with lots of Germans, although this is surprisingly accurate, it's also a demonstration of the limitations Germans have speaking English. Germans learn to speak very formal and proper English, but they don't understand how to *play* with English the way a native speaker does. They only learn how to speak like you would compose a business letter.

English is one of the easiest second-languages to learn, especially for a German speaker. But it is one of the hardest to master.

[deleted long explanation about what grammar actually is]

Everybody remember Amelia Bedeila from school? That's the kind of stuff non-native English speakers really struggle with. The other characters said "Let's hit the road" and Amelia grabbed a stick and smacked the road with it.