Language Quirks Quotes

Why do overlook and oversee mean opposite things?

One of the drawbacks of English is you can't spell things by hearing them.

Language, as we know, is full of illogicalities.

By reason of weird translation, many such sets of instructions read like poems anyhow.

Languages are something of a mess. They evolve over centuries through an unplanned, democratic process that leaves them teeming with irregularities, quirks, and words like 'knight.'

Prayer or not, I want to believe that, despite all evidence to the contrary, it is possible for anyone to find that one special person. That person to spend Christmas with or grow old with or just to take a nice silly walk in Central Park with. Somebody who wouldn't judge another for the prepositions they dangle, or their run-on sentences, and who in turn wouldn't be judged for the snobbery of their language etymology inclinations.

Now, I'm not the only language designer with irrationalities. You can think of some languages to go with some of these things.

The only stupid thing about words is the spelling of them.

My mum, Olwen, was a bright and talkative woman who loved a gossip and a story and was given slightly to malapropisms. And she was Welsh, so, of course, she sang.