For no particular reason, I've been thinking lately about how frustratingly weird the English language can be. I found myself thinking last night about the following sentence:
He passed the time with a pastime until it was past time he should depart.
Specifically, I was thinking how a sentence like that must be agonizing for anyone who is a non-native speaker of English, because of the (near) homophones.
So, after coming up with another one, I decided to create a page dedicated to weird stuff like that. For the moment, there's only the two three these few and they're focused on the use of homophones in a single sentence, but I may branch out later on. (For the moment, they're things I've come up with myself, but if I come across anything cool, I reserve the right to use quotes for further examples. If that happens, I will of course give credit to the origin of the quote.)
- He passed the time with a pastime until it was past time he should depart.
- It might be discreet for us to stay in discrete locations.
- They're there to plan their wedding.
- (Inspired by a line from Oshi-Rabu.)
- They're engaged in guerilla warfare to protect the gorilla.
- I seek to speak the sooth, though that will not soothe.
- (Okay, yeah, that doesn't entirely work as a sentence, but I'm kinda tired of seeing people use "sooth" when they mean "soothe"...)
- Unable to take another breath, he tried to signal his companions to tell them he couldn't breathe.
- I am loath to tell him how much I loathe him.
- Taking a peek at the peak only served to pique his interest further.
- After she had seen the scene on stage, she suddenly realized what she saw had included the very same saw that had been used to saw off the legs of her chair!
- (Inspired by both a line from an episode of The Muppet Show and a line from a "For Better Or Worse" comic strip.)
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