Homonyms and Their Grammatical Heirs

[Nitack]

When running a garden center while in college I had a woman with a very southern accent ask for "lamb". Not sure why she was asking for live stalk I was sure I must have misheard her. So I asked to to repeat her request over and over again and realized after a while that she was asking for "lime" the mineral.

To add to the list:
Capitol
Capital

[Turtle]

When I climb to the summit of the mountain, I enter a different clime than found in the valley.

[Turtle]

The instructor was told to lessen the verbosity of her lesson.

[Turtle]

The basis for including bases is outlined on page 5.

[Turtle]

The tinner who sang tenor lost a tenner playing craps.

[Donk]

Originally Posted by Nitack

When running a garden center while in college I had a woman with a very southern accent ask for "lamb". Not sure why she was asking for live stalk I was sure I must have misheard her. So I asked to to repeat her request over and over again and realized after a while that she was asking for "lime" the mineral.

In parts of the United States all the vowel sounds are merging. Many Americans can't hear the difference between "tapas" and "topless", or "irony" and "Arnie".

If it carries on they'll have to communicate by passing notes to each other - provided they can still remember how to read & write

[Turtle]

The rabbit lept into its den to escape the din of men.

[Turtle]

The friar gave a grunt as he heaved the heretic into the massive fryer.

[Doctordick]

Originally Posted by DougF

English is a crazy language.

I seldom read this thread but today I got an e-mail about a post and had some spare time and decided to have a look. DougF's post hit my funny bone and I just had to tell you all about an event I experienced back in 1981. I was in Japan negotiating a contract. As my translator, the Japanese negotiator and I were walking into the local hotel, I laughed about a motorcycle parked there with the word “Lead” splashed across the fuel tank in a clearly professional logo. I pointed at it and said, “who in the world would want to buy a ‘Lead’ motorcycle.” The Japanese negotiator responded with, “that’s not a lead motorcycle, that’s a ‘lead motorcycle’” using a long “e”. I told him that no one really fluent in English would interpret the name of something to be an adjective if a noun interpretation existed. He responded with, “Oh... That’s probably why they didn’t sell in the U.S., we had wondered what the problem was”.

Have fun -- Dick

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by Doctordick

I seldom read this thread but today I got an e-mail about a post and had some spare time and decided to have a look. DougF's post hit my funny bone and I just had to tell you all about an event I experienced back in 1981. I was in Japan negotiating a contract. As my translator, the Japanese negotiator and I were walking into the local hotel, I laughed about a motorcycle parked there with the word “Lead” splashed across the fuel tank in a clearly professional logo. I pointed at it and said, “who in the world would want to buy a ‘Lead’ motorcycle.” The Japanese negotiator responded with, “that’s not a lead motorcycle, that’s a ‘lead motorcycle’” using a long “e”. I told him that no one really fluent in English would interpret the name of something to be an adjective if a noun interpretation existed. He responded with, “Oh... That’s probably why they didn’t sell in the U.S., we had wondered what the problem was”.

Have fun -- Dick

I hope you visit regulary now Doc. I have heard a similar story about Chevy Nova's not selling in Mexico because 'no-va' is 'not go'.

If you find yourself fined, best to just pay up.