Pluralizing With X
"French words," remarked Shameless Shirley, "seem to have a bunch of letters you don't even pronounce."
"I just like them because they get rid of excess vowels," I explained. In my previous turn I had played the word TOILE (pronounced twal) across the board and I was now looking for a way to hook another letter onto it. Gazing at my R, I muttered, "I wonder if 'twaler' [TOILER] is a word. You know, like a person who weaves linen."
Laughing, Shirley replied, "It's a word alright, but I think you mean 'toyler,' like a peasant who toils in the fields."
English may be the hardest language in the world to learn, and I place the blame squarely on the shoulders of William the Conqueror. When the Normans succeeded in invading the Anglo-Saxons a millennium ago, William encouraged his men to marry the local women. A few generations later, the Teutonic language of the isle and the Romantic language of Gaul, each with very different pronunciations and letter combinations, had meshed into the beginnings of a totally new English.
Nowadays, modern words can be very difficult to pronounce without prior knowledge. The idea that TOIL and TOILE have such divergent pronunciations just because of the addition of a silent E is a very hard concept for native speakers, let alone a person learning English later in his/her life.
Some words, despite the years of melding, still appear to be more French than English.
A portmanteau is a large carrying case for clothing and other necessities that unfolds into two equal parts. It is also defined as a word that is a mash-up of two different words. For example, LIGER is a portmanteau word that combines LION and TIGER. The X at the end of PORTMANTEAU pluralizes it. In French, certain words that end in U take an X instead of an S to indicate more than one. Some of those forms made there way into English.
This week's list contains all the English words of six letters and under that can be pluralized with an X. You may notice that many of these forms can also take the normal S plural as well; however, both the S and the X are pronounced with the same "z" sound. Could this language get any more confusing? Unfortunately, it does.
Laughing, Shirley replied, "It's a word alright, but I think you mean 'toyler,' like a peasant who toils in the fields."
English may be the hardest language in the world to learn, and I place the blame squarely on the shoulders of William the Conqueror. When the Normans succeeded in invading the Anglo-Saxons a millennium ago, William encouraged his men to marry the local women. A few generations later, the Teutonic language of the isle and the Romantic language of Gaul, each with very different pronunciations and letter combinations, had meshed into the beginnings of a totally new English.
Nowadays, modern words can be very difficult to pronounce without prior knowledge. The idea that TOIL and TOILE have such divergent pronunciations just because of the addition of a silent E is a very hard concept for native speakers, let alone a person learning English later in his/her life.
Some words, despite the years of melding, still appear to be more French than English.
A portmanteau is a large carrying case for clothing and other necessities that unfolds into two equal parts. It is also defined as a word that is a mash-up of two different words. For example, LIGER is a portmanteau word that combines LION and TIGER. The X at the end of PORTMANTEAU pluralizes it. In French, certain words that end in U take an X instead of an S to indicate more than one. Some of those forms made there way into English.
This week's list contains all the English words of six letters and under that can be pluralized with an X. You may notice that many of these forms can also take the normal S plural as well; however, both the S and the X are pronounced with the same "z" sound. Could this language get any more confusing? Unfortunately, it does.
ADIEU, n., pl. -S or -X, a farewell
BATEAU, n., pl -X, a flat-bottomed boat
BEAU, n., pl. -S or -X, a boyfriend
BIJOU, n., pl. -S or -X, a jewel
BUREAU, n., pl. -S or -X, a chest of drawers; an office; a department of government
COTEAU, n., pl. -X, a highland above a valley
EAU, n., pl. -X, water
GATEAU, n., pl. -S or -X, a fancy cake
JEU, n., pl. -X, a game
MILIEU, n., pl. -S or -X, an environment
RESEAU, n., pl -S or -X, a network; a color filter for a camera
-Jiff Z. Moneyer
posted by Jiff Z Moneyer at
5:13 AM
1 Comments:
Dem french talk funny.
-Shameless
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