THE IRONIES OF ENGLISH

HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT THE FACT THAT:

• "Diphthong" contains only pure vowel sounds, no diphthongs.
• "Monosyllabic" has five syllables, not one.
• "Abbreviation" is such a long word.
• People who have a lisp (1) can't say "lisp".

(1) LISP: speech impediment affecting the pronunciation of /s/.

SILLY NAMES

Some English names can sound comical. The following website http://www.thebabywebsite.com/ has compiled a list of "the most unfortunate names in Britain". All the names given are authentic. This website mentions the following names - can you work out why these names are comical?

1. Will Power
2. Paige Turner
3. Justin Case
4. Terrry Bull
5. Ray Gunn
6. Jo King
7. Helen Back
8. Anna Sasin
9. Carrie Oakey
10. Barry Cade

SOLUTIONS

The names sound like : 1. willpower (1) , 2. page turner (2) , 3. just in case, 4. terrible, 5. ray gun , 6. joking, 7. hell and back (3) , 8. an assassin, 9. karaoke, and 10. barricade.

1. WILLPOWER: determination
2. PAGE TURNER: very interesting book or magazine.
3. TO GO TO HELL AND BACK: suffer a lot and survive.

MY NAME MEANS WHAT?!

Some foreign names can also sound comical to native English-speakers, because they may suggest something completely different to them. For example, Frenchman Marcel Bich, who produced the ballpoint pen, changed the name of his company to Bic because he knew that English-speakers tended to pronounce his surname /bɪtʃ/, a homophone of bitch (1) .

More examples are:

• Gelo (diminutive of Ángel) sounds like "hello"
• Juan, depending of the pronunciation, can sound like "one"
• Maite sounds similar to mighty (2)
• Mari sounds like the English verb "marry".
• Marta sounds much like "martyr" in English.
• Messi (the surname of the Barcelona FC player) is a homophone of "messy " which means "chaotic".
• Patxi sounds like "patchy" which means "fragmentary" or "sporadic" or "erratic".
• Pepa (diminutive for Josefina) is a homophone of "pepper".
• Rosi (familiar form of Rosa) sound like rosy (3) .
• Txiki sounds exactly like "cheeky" (4) .

1. BITCH: female dog / unpleasant woman
2. MIGHTY: powerful
3. ROSY: pink, healthy
4. CHEEKY: insolent, impertinent