Hello out there? Hello? It's me. Oh, hello, hello, hello. Ronnie. Ronnie here.
This is a really fun lesson, kind of something that I live for every day. One of my...
It's not a hobby. One thing that I think is cool, generally and for real, are words in English. Being
an English teacher, teaching you English, I come across words that just don't make sense.
If you think of them in a different language, maybe your language, and then you translate
it into English, it... What? It just does not make sense. So, I've got only 10 of these
for you today, and I could go on with a thousand, but we are limited in our video time. So,
today, 10 words, 10 things in English that just don't make sense.
First one. You have probably learned that in English, if you have: "in" or "un" or "anti"
or "un" or "dis" before a word, it means not. So, your brain looks at this and says: "inflammable",
"flammable". Okay. So, maybe you know the word, maybe you're French, maybe you know
"flammable" or you can decide that "flame" means fire. So, if you look at this word in
your logical brain, "inflammable" and "flammable" must mean the opposite. "Inflammable" must
mean that something cannot catch fire, while as "flammable" must mean logically that something
can catch fire. Guess what? Not in English. "Inflammable" and "flammable" both mean the
same thing. What? So, the reason is "inflammable", sometimes the preposition... Not the prepositions.
The things before the words can make it to do with it. So, actually "inflammable" means
in flames. Do you know that band, In Flames? So, the prefix of "in"-it's a prefix-you know
means not, but in this case, it means with or in, together. Mind.
Next one, this is fun: "noses run". Okay. So, you have a nose, it runs. This means that
some liquid, which is called "mucus" or "snot", comes out of your nose. So, we say:
"My nose is running. Ah, my nose is running." But: "Your feet smell."
noses run and feet smell. This is another way how English is funny for me, because
"feet smell" has two meanings. One, "smell" is a verb, and the other one:
"Your feet smell bad." So, I can say: "My nose is running, and your feet smell." Because usually we run
with our feet and we smell with our nose. Crazy.
The next one I've already kind of talked about, is: "mucus", "snot", or this word which is
"phlegm". So, in your language-Japanese, Korean, Spanish-you probably... Not Spanish. But you
probably say something close to "nose water", "hana sui". But guess what? In English, no.
"Nose water" would be too easy. "Hana mizu", no way. We call it: "mucus", "snot", or "phlegm".
We also have another word that's quite fun, it's called a "booger". A booger is something
that you pick from your nose and you can flick. The mucus or the snot is the liquid, like
the water. Nose water. It's nose water. So, mucus and snot is liquid, and the booger is
more of a solid. Delicious. Okay.
Speaking about the nose, we have holes in our nose. Everyone probably has two. Yeah?
Most people have two. Does anybody have one nostril out there? Because if you... You'd
have to breathe double, I guess. Guess what? They're not called "nose holes", "hana no ana",
mm-mm. They're called: "nostrils". Yeah, don't know why. It'd be easier if we just
said: "Hey. My nose hole is really not doing too well over here." But we have to say:
"My nostril is full of mucus." We can't say: "Hey. My nose hole is full of nose water." People
would go: "Ah, cool. Want a Kleenex?" But no, no, we have to use these crazy words.
The other word, like in your language-Spanish "dedo", mm-hmm-you guys probably have something
to do with your foot and a finger. Lots of languages you guys will probably say:
"foot fingers", but not in English. We have to say: "toes". Hmm.
"Foot fingers", it's really funny for me, because I've grown up my whole life knowing them as "toes", but "foot fingers"
just makes more sense. English doesn't make sense.
On to the next five. If you have a car and you want to leave the car somewhere near your
house, this place is called a "driveway". So, you park your car in a driveway. However,
if you want to take your car someplace, like on a drive, you drive on a parkway. Obviously,
it would make more sense if I park in my parkway and drive on the driveway, but again, this
is why I have a job to teach you the crazy things, this is why learning English makes
you crazy. Welcome to my world.
Next one, Canadian people, American people, I'm sorry, you're wrong. Okay? This sport
is "football". All right? Let me explain something to you: It's a ball, you use your feet. So,
why have Canadians and Americans called it "soccer"? There's no socks, there's no hers.
It's football, people. Let's change this. Let's be... Let's start a new revolution in
Canada, and call it football, that'll be fun. Toronto, the great city that I live in has
a football team. The name of it is Toronto FC. Hmm. What do you think the "F" means?
It means Football. I think we would get laughed at if they said: "Toronto SC, Toronto Soccer".
What? Soccer Club? Do you have socks and hers? Please, it's football. "American football?"
you might be asking yourself, okay, you can't use your feet. Only when you kick it one time,
and the ball's kind of like an egg, so, sorry, no, I'm not having it. Bye-bye, soccer, you're
One of the most confusing things in English and one of the most difficult things for most
people to remember is singular and plural-yeah-of words. So, one of them in your mouth is called
a "tooth". Okay? And the plural or more than one are called "teeth". So, every day, please,
maybe twice, three times a day, we do something that's called: "brush your teeth". So, we
say: "I brush my teeth." Because you want to brush all of them. But the thing that we
use to brush our teeth is a "toothbrush". Why is it not called a "teethbrush"? You're
not sitting in the mirror only doing one at a time. It would take you ages to get ready.
-"What are you doing?" -"I'm brushing my teeth. I'll be there in like two hours tops. I'll
take the fast way." And the stuff that we use to clean our teeth-"teeth", not "tooth"-is
called "toothpaste". Again, I would like to change this to "teethpaste", but apparently
whoever made this crazy English language decided: "We're going to call it toothpaste." Yeah,
Another problem with the plural are things that you wear on your lower body. We always
have to call them "pants" and "jeans". The last time I checked, I had one lower body,
but we always have to put the plural on "pants" and "jeans". "I went shopping and I bought
pant." Nope, we have to say "pants". "I got a new pair of jean." Who's Jean? If you say
even a pair, we have to say: "A pair of jeans." So this makes me think now that I have four
of these things, because you have a pair of... So, we say: "A pair of pants" and "a pair
of jeans". I think I'm going to quit this English thing. Can I learn your language?
The last one is kind of cute, kind of funny. We have these things called "shipments" or
"cargo". "Shipments" or "cargo" are ways to deliver things that you want. So, for example,
if you order something off the internet, off of internet website-Amazon-or something like
that, and you want it delivered to your house, they will tell you: "Your shipment will arrive"
-never-"in two weeks". Now, the interesting thing about this is the way that they actually ship the
thing is with a car or a truck. Mm-hmm. But if it's actually on a ship, it's called "cargo".
So, the "cargo" gets on a ship or an airplane, but a "shipment" is sent by a car or a truck.
Logically, Ronnie thinks that "cargo" should be by a car, and "shipment" should be made
by a ship. This is why Ronnie was not allowed to invent the English language, because then
you would have nothing to study.
So, if you want to study more, check out www.engvid.com, subscribe to my YouTube channel.
You can learn lots of fun things, and you might just go crazy doing it, or not.
Until then, I'll see you soon.