More Memes!

5

Here’s another edition of memes reflecting the weirdness of English. You can find more by clicking these links:

Why are peeves always “pet peeves”? No one ever just has regular peeves.

When I put out a light, it stops putting out light. ENGLISH…

“Quite a lot” and “quite a few” mean the same thing. ENGLISH…

“Lift up” and “uplift” are the same. So why are “set up” and “upset” opposites? ENGLISH…

If I fight “with” a dude, am I fighting against him or alongside him? ENGLISH…

*****

If you are so inclined, please leave a comment in the space below.

 

About the Author

Brian WaskoBrian is the founder and president of WriteAtHome.com. One of his passions is to teach young people how to write better.View all posts by Brian Wasko

  1. Grammar Nut
    Grammar Nut11-20-2013

    If uplift is the same as lift up, why are upset and set up opposite in meaning? Why are pertinent and impertinent, canny and uncanny, and famous and infamous neither opposites nor the same? How can raise and raze and reckless and wreckless be opposites when each pair contains the same sound?

    • Brian Wasko
      Brian Wasko11-21-2013

      Has this become some kind of competition?

      • Grammar Nut
        Grammar Nut11-21-2013

        It has. I think that I’m winning. 🙂

  2. Marie
    Marie11-20-2013

    That’s okay Will, the bottom one gave me headaches translating Latin and Greek into English. At least once I read about the battle in The Encyclopedia of Military History to sort out who was on which side and then went back and translated the passage. I’m not sure if it was ambiguous in the original, or if it was just the English dictionary entries that were ambiguous.

  3. Will Egan
    Will Egan11-20-2013

    That bottom one gives me headaches when translating English into Latin.

Leave a Reply

If you like a post, please take a second to click "like," and comment as often as you like.
We promise not to correct your grammar!