Stavning og rim

 
Det engelske sprog er næsten lige så besværligt at stave (eller udtale, når man læser det) som det danske, og det kan anskueliggøres på mange måder - her er en side med vers, der - ehem - af og til afslører en vis diskrepans mellem det sete og det sagte:

I take it you already know
Of tough and bough and cough and dough?
Others may stumble, but not you,
On hiccough, thorough, lough and through?
Well done! And now you wish, perhaps,
To learn of less familiar traps?
Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard and sounds like bird,
And dead: it's said like bed, not bead -
For goodness sake don't call it deed!
Watch out for meat and great and threat
(They rhyme with suite and straight and debt).

A moth is not a moth in mother,
Nor both in bother, broth in brother,
And here is not a match for there
Nor dear and fear for bear and pear,
And then there's dose and rose and lose -
Just look them up - and goose and choose,
And cork and work and card and ward,
And font and front and word and sword,
And do and go and thwart and cart -
Come, come, I've hardly made a start!
A dreadful language? Man alive!
I'd mastered it when I was five!

Eller hvad med lidt ordspil? Her er de første ni linjer af et andet digt:

We must polish the Polish furniture.
He could lead if he would get the lead out.
The farm was used to produce produce.
The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
The soldier decided to desert in the desert.
This was a good time to present the present.
A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
I did not object to the object.

Link til Simplified Spelling Society' side med afslørende digte.
Via BoingBoing.

[ agger, Wed 19 Apr, :06:07: /diverse] - kommentar(er) - link

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