English is a weird language...

[cdnmatt]

Let's talk about language. Leo knows English quite well, but learned from school, so obviously doesn't understand slang. You guys ever get this with your BFs or Thai friends? Share your experiences.

For one example, Leo thinks "naked" is pronounced "nake" in the present tense, which is logically correct. If you're in school learning English, than "naked" would be past tense, hence "nake" would be present tense.

Then loads of other fuck ups in the English language. And there's another one. Have fun trying to explain what "fuck ups" mean to someone who isn't a native English speaker.

Here's some more that I've found hard to try an explain the meaning of:

- "Why not?". Multiple meanings, totally dependent on context.
- "Oh, shit"
- "You told me straight up..."
- "Got it!" -- Again, multiple meaning based on context
- "Fuck me", "fuck off", "fuck that", and so on...
- "You bet!"

And the list goes on... feel free to ad.

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[bkkguy]

For one example, Leo thinks "naked" is pronounced "nake" in the present tense, which is logically correct. If you're in school learning English, than "naked" would be past tense, hence "nake" would be present tense.

I don't know what school you went to but at my school what was " logically correct" was that, unlike verbs, adjectives didn't have tense - past or present

though outside of school if you wanted to "conjugate the verb" it was easier to be naked

if you really want to confuse a non-native speaker my favorite is still "Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana"

bkkguy

[francois]

matt, judging by your use of "fuck" and its variants in your posts, I think Leo must be quite aware of the nuances? I know my bf is!

[cdnmatt]

matt, judging by your use of "fuck" and its variants in your posts, I think Leo must be quite aware of the nuances? I know my bf is!

No, I actually got him to stop saying "fuck" all the time. I watched myself and stopped using it, plus told him it's a bad word that you don't need to use. Now I have him wandering around saying "ho, shit!" all the time, haha. There's no winning.

Another one that's hard to explain is "what's up?". He's still back in his village, but will be back tomorrow, and I guess he's wandering around saying "what's up?" to everyone.

No, dude.... that's not how it works. You have to wait for people to come up to you, then you ask them, "what's up?". Althought you can, you don't generally just walk up to your friends and say "what's up?". You wait for them to approach you.

[cdnmatt]

I don't know what school you went to but at my school what was " logically correct" was that, unlike verbs, adjectives didn't have tense - past or present

though outside of school if you wanted to "conjugate the verb" it was easier to be naked

if you really want to confuse a non-native speaker my favorite is still "Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana"

bkkguy

I don't know what school he went to either, but it was obviously shit. He;s told me before that he thinks Hitler is the guy from Russia who saved everyone from WWIII, has asked if Canada is in Europe, and the list goes on.

Nonetheless, he is good at English, and I can see that. If he sees "ed" at the end of a word, he'll just assume that means past tense. I guess I'm a bit of an asshole, because I haven't bothered correcting him on it yet, because I just find it really fucken cute, to the point I now say "nake" all the time too.

[FarangRuMak]

Every language has phrases, conventions, idioms etc that are confusing to learners.
A TEFL practitioner was amazed by her Japanese students holding their books open above their heads when she told them to "look it up in your book".
😑Not convincing I know.

[arsenal]

English actually has words that can mean almost the exact opposite with slightly different usage.

'The meal was fine' means it was just about ok but 'it was a fine meal' means it was very good.

'Correct' can mean that is right or it needs to be changed.

[cdnmatt]

"I don't give a shit" is another good one I just remebered.

"What?!? You don't want to give me your shit????".

That makes for a fun explanation.

[FarangRuMak]

When you say to your darling of the moment something like "sure you can go to Morlam with your friends, I don't care" they often get upset and ask why you don't care about them.

[Chuai-Duai]

I made the mistake of trying to explain the concept of "ish" to my young friend. i.e. "is it cold?" "coldish".

He then went around with his lips in an exagerated pout adding a "ssshhh" sound to the end of almost any word.

I also tried to get him to stop saying "Oh my God" all the time which didn't sound right coming from him particularly with a pause between each word.

Another thing he gets wrong is personal pronouns. So he will say "my mother hurt MY leg" when what he means is "my mother hurt HER leg". He does that so much that I've given up trying to correct him as I usually know what he means.