Enjoy this whistlestop tour of the weirdness of English. And start speaking a new languages in 3 weeks with Babbel . Get up to 60% OFF your subscription ? Here: https://go.babbel.com/t?bsc=usa-influ... …
...more4,683 Comments
Add a comment...
What's missing from English? Let me know below. And start speaking a new languages in 3 weeks with Babbel . Get up to 60% OFF your subscription Here: https://go.babbel.com/t?bsc=usa-influ-promo&btp=default&utm_term=generic_v1&utm_medium=paidsocial&utm_source=YouTube&utm_campaign=robwords&utm_content=Influencer..May-2024..USA-TATAM..promo-yt-robwords-may-2024
78
152 replies
English is weird. It can be understood through tough thorough thought though.
934
29 replies
When only a contraction sounds "right" but the full words do not. Don't you dare! v. Do not you dare!
1.4K
112 replies
In Australia, we use a word to negate a negative statement and we use it all the time. For example “Rob, you didn’t take the bins out again.” “Bullshit!”
Read more137
7 replies
A friend of mine started using "grandboss" for boss's boss and I love it.
29
Mine own owl, grown and gowned, owned a crow's crown, mined by the slow plow, flown down, never scowling, yet unknown.
127
9 replies
“Rob, you didn’t take the bins out again.” “False.”
202
29 replies
When you talked about the present tense, I thought you were going to mention (you almost did but didn't quite), the fact that we don't use the "present tense" as our present tense: "What are you doing?" "I am reading a book." We never ever say: "I read a book." The so-called "present progressive" has completely supplanted the present tense in our language.
103
12 replies
As a Swede, I'm so jealous of your access to single words to describe certain bodily movements like "shrug", "squat", "frown", "nudge" and "poke". In Swedish, you often have to describe it with a whole sentence, like "sitting down in a crouched position" or "push someone gently with your elbow". A terrible waste of time for us..
9
3 replies
3:16 RIP, Rob. Eaten by his Kitten. Another tragic instance in which a comma could've saved a life.
182
13 replies
The part about phrasal verbs reminds me of a joke that Victor Borge used to tell about how, in English, it is odd that you have to cut down a tree before you can cut it up.
26
Rob: we don't have a word to negate a negative statement. me: incorrect
9
Loved the "medieval Youtube" screen The little details like "brethren", "subscribeth", the video with the boar. That's quality: taking time to produce a result, even if that product is there for a few seconds.
20
2 replies
Indefinite article in Dutch created the word 'Decoy'. It came from 'Eendekooi', duck cage (Eend = Duck), which was used to catch wild ducks by putting tame ducks in a cage. Wild ducks would flock with the tame ones making it easier to catch them. Anyway, it was wrongly assumed the 'Een' at the beginning was the indefinite article, thus 'Een dekooi' which turned into 'a decoy'.
146
The missing word I've been asked about several times by learners of English is the question word asking for an ordinal number. "Whichth wierdness was the pronouns?" - "The seventh." "Whichth president was Obama?" - "The forty-fourth." Thanks for the video!
Read more133
18 replies
A fun fact: in “Star Trek: Enterprise” they don’t use the definite article about the ship (eg. “We need to get back to Enterprise.”). In other Star Trek series, they do use it (eg. “We need to get back to the Enterprise.”).
78
16 replies
5:26 - My mother who was raised in England would END a sentence with "do" for emphasis!, as in "Stop it, DO!" (very British!)
19
3 replies
20:26 We should bring back overmorrow and ereyesterday into common usage, they could be pretty useful (although maybe change "ereyesterday" to sound better since it doesn't sound as nice as "overmorrow" to me).
386
54 replies
I would argue that the indefinite article serves an absolute purpose, in clarification. Such as, from Monty Python and the Holy Grail: "You got my note!" "Well, I got A note." It doesn't work the same without that indefinite article specifying that he doubts the note's authenticity.
94
17 replies
A conversation with my Italian friend... "How do you say your alarm wakes you up in the morning?" "My alarm goes off.." "NO! Your alarm goes ON!" Gave me pause for thought.
Read more4
Sider
