Crazy English phrases

I'd thought I'd inject a bit of humour and fun into the lingustic forum. Namely English words and phrases that seem strange. To kick off I shall start with one my brother pointed out over the weekend. The phrase near-miss normally implys that you nearly hit something. Surely near miss means you nearly missed it ie: you hit it. Wouldn't it be better if it was near-hit?

Who says that the English language is supposed to make since?

Since you make reference to make since, I'd like to do one with make do with.
What is to make do with? To make do with something is to use an inferior substitute when the real good stuff isn't available.
For example, one Japanese presentation class was supposed to make do with catsup instead of tomato paste for making pasta sauce.
Since do carries the sense of positive action, shouldn't it be make half-do or make under-do ?

Gasoline tankers and cargo trucks carrying combustibles often bear the sign, "flammable" when it should be "inflameable." Strange folk etymology has created strange words indeed.

lexico said:

Gasoline tankers and cargo trucks carrying combustibles often bear the sign, "flammable" when it should be "inflammable." Strange folk etymology has created strange words indeed.

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According to dictionary they mean the same thing. But inflameable is an older term. flammable is just commonly used now. Both meaning substance the can burned or set on fire.

Usage Note: Historically, flammable and inflammable mean the same thing. However, the presence of the prefix in- has misled many people into assuming that inflammable means ?gnot flammable?h or ?gnoncombustible.?h The prefix -in in inflammable is not, however, the Latin negative prefix -in, which is related to the English -un and appears in such words as indecent and inglorious. Rather, this -in is an intensive prefix derived from the Latin preposition in. This prefix also appears in the word enflame. But many people are not aware of this derivation, and for clarity's sake it is advisable to use only flammable to give warnings.

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But onthe contrary inflammable can also be used ased a synonym for excited.
"He is easily inflammable/excited."

Mycernius said:

I'd thought I'd inject a bit of humour and fun into the lingustic forum. Namely English words and phrases that seem strange. To kick off I shall start with one my brother pointed out over the weekend. The phrase near-miss normally implys that you nearly hit something. Surely near miss means you nearly missed it ie: you hit it. Wouldn't it be better if it was near-hit?

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I was under the impression that 'miss' in this case implied a failure, and so a near-miss is a success, or more accurately, a lack of failure. In other words, you almost failed or made a mistake, but luckily just succeeded.

Damicci said:

According to dictionary they mean the same thing. But inflameable is an older term. flammable is just commonly used now. Both meaning substance the can burned or set on fire.

But onthe contrary inflammable can also be used ased a synonym for excited.
"He is easily inflammable/excited."

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Thanks for the research, Damici! Now I now you're also into words!

Damicci said:

But many people are not aware of this derivation, and for clarity's sake it is advisable to use only flammable to give warnings.

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Heehee..That's a interesting interpretation, but it makes sense for safety's sake. You don't want any misunderstanding there for sure. I'm just curious if this is another case of chicken and egg, or whether there was an actual misunderstanding that can be traced back. Was it someone's mistaken hypercorrection of inflammable-->flammable or did someone knowingly make the spelling adjustment for public safety ?

Damicci said:

Rather, this -in is an intensive prefix derived from the Latin preposition in. This prefix also appears in the word enflame.

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In addition to giving emphasis to verbs, this en- in- im- prefixes also have the interesting property of turning adjectives or nouns into verbs, I noticed, with the meaning of "make+(object)+adjective," "make+(object)+like+a+noun," often used together with the Latin verb ending -ate.

1) verb->verb: endure, incinerate, incise, implore, intend,
2) adjective->verb: inflict, intense, impale, enrich, impoverish
3) noun->verb: indicate, induct, induce, inflame, impersonate, insinuate, inundate, endanger, engender, engulf, endorse, ensure, entangle, entrench, embark

The -en -on suffix has similar usage, but that probably comes from the Germanic adjective maker also present in the past participle endings of strong verbs.

1) verb->verb/adjective: reckon / smitten, striken, taken, trodden, rotten, ridden
2) adjective->verb/adjective: darken, deepen, madden, redden, sadden, whiten /sunken, drunken
3) noun->verb/adjective: beckon, lengthen, shorten, strengthen, lighten, enlighten (prefix & suffix) / ashen, earthen, golden, porcelain, silken, wooden, linen

lexico said:

Thanks for the research, Damici! Now I now you're also into words! Heehee..That's a interesting interpretation, but it makes sense for safety's sake. You don't want any misunderstanding there for sure. I'm just curious if this is another case of chicken and egg, or whether there was an actual misunderstanding that can be traced back. Was it someone's mistaken hypercorrection of inflammable-->flammable or did someone knowingly make the spelling adjustment for public safety ?

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I believe it was the latter - and I haven't checked this out, but I believe Benjamin Franklin may have been the culprit, when he was busy "simplifying" English and English spelling for the benefit of our American cousins.

If so, however, I am a little surprised (surprized ...?) with old Ben! Not only was he a colorful (colourful.... ?) old guy, but he was quite versed in English, Latin, and I believe Greek and French. But he does seem to have simplified his thinking by assuming that the "in" prefix posessed an unnecessary and 'incorrect' or illogical negative connotation that destroyed the true meaning of the word. In this regard, he was probably being a little inept ( ... but I've never met anyone who can be described as "ept" ... so...)

What the heck .... he was probably right ..... !

Suffice to say that "flammable" is always used in North America, whilst the normal term in the UK is "inflammable".

....Just a thought... !

Regards,

?W????

Thanks for the historical detail and the British-American distinction, Sensuikan San ! These bring much depth to the simple strangeness of 'flammables'.

Hello Lexico !

?ǂ??v???܂??? !

Regards,

?W????

Send it by ship, it's "cargo"

Send it by car (truck), it's "shipment"

A "wimp and a half" . . . is a whole person because a wimp is 2/3 of a person so add 1/3 to it and you get a whole.

That last one will have a few folks reaching for their calculators.....! :clap:

?W????

Sensuikan San said:

In this regard, he was probably being a little inept ( ... but I've never met anyone who can be described as "ept" ... so...)
?W????

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Funny you mention that. I was just thinking about the root of the word inflammable considering it's suffix as stated usually denotes negative of the root word. You would think "inept" would be defined as uncapable of or lacking ept but if you look up Inept you'll find that it is the opposite of "Apt" while ept doesn't seem to be a word.


My favorite is still. Hamburger - IT'S MADE FROM BEEF! WHERE THE F@#K IS THE HAM? :souka:

Damicci said:

My favorite is still. Hamburger - IT'S MADE FROM BEEF! WHERE THE F@#K IS THE HAM? :souka:

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That's a good one. So one day this guy get's a strange burger made of cold ham, and asks, "Where's the beef?"
And I thought hamstring was funny too. How about the abusive use of Bologna sausage, and the Viennese Wiener ? I always though they were funny without knowing exactly why. And the word "to punish" supposedly coming from the Carthagean Punics seems rather far fetched, don't you think ?

Dr. Nick: Inflammable means flammable? What a country!

Damicci said:

My favorite is still. Hamburger - IT'S MADE FROM BEEF! WHERE THE F@#K IS THE HAM? :souka:

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Obviously not in Germany.

Some more:
Found missing, alone together, original copies, genuine imitation

Jumbo shrimp, freezer burn

Sensuikan San said:

That last one will have a few folks reaching for their calculators.....! :clap:

?W????

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LOL! But what are they gonna do if they realize calculators can't do fractions?


nonpareil. I've never seen pareils

Complimentary gift.

An accurate estimate