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Daily
Thoughts
There is no egg in
eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in
pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French
fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which
aren't sweet, are meat.
Quicksand can work
slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from
Guinea nor is it a pig. And why is it that writers write but
fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?
If teachers
taught, why didn't preacher praught? If a vegetarian eats
vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? If you wrote a letter,
perhaps you bote your tongue?
Ship by truck and
send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? Park
on driveways and drive on parkways? How can a slim chance and a
fat chance be the same, while a wise man and wise guy are
opposites? How can overlook and oversee be opposites, while quite
a lot and quite a few are alike? How can the weather be hot as
hell one day and cold as hell another.
Have you noticed
that we talk about certain things only when they are absent? Have
you ever seen a horseful carriage or a strapful gown? Met a sung
hero or experienced requited love? Have you ever run into someone
who was combobulated, gruntled, ruly or peccable?
You have to
marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can
burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling
it out and in which an alarm clock goes off by going on. English
was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the
creativity of the human race (which, of course, isn't a race at
all). That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but
when the lights are out, they are invisible. And why, when I wind
up my watch, I start it, but when I wind up this essay, I end it.. |
