Bliss by Harry Bliss for March 24, 2025

Who “woke” the cat?

“Words Unraveled” on YouTube is great!

codeine and seizure are also exceptions

Sometimes grammar “rules” are weird.

Sometimes the so-called “rules” aren’t really rules.

And people wonder why U.S. English is so hard to learn

Just say: “Neigh”

It has its roots in Germanic mythology, so not English, English rules don’t apply.

I used to know someone whose screensaver read “I before E except after C is weird science”.

I before E, except when your foreign neighbor, Keith, receives eight counterfeit beige sleighs from feisty caffeinated weightlifters. Weird!

“I before E, except after C, or sounded as “A” in neighbor and weight…and numerous other exceptions."

The dog doesn’t look fascinated.

English is perfect.

The dog is neither amused nor interested.

It’s not even close to being a rule. See traveler’s post above for many examples, and others will want to put their two cents in.

I don’t think that spelling really falls under the heading of “grammar” anyway, but I do find language to be fascinating. The more one reads and writes, the less trouble one has with “illogical” spelling, even allowing for differences between English and American standards.

“Shut UP, I’m concentrating on this ball.”

Spelling rules, not grammar rules. And really more of a suggestion than a rule.

Weird is weird.

if it followed rule, would not be weird

Seize the weird foreigner!

Why can’t I have such a smart cat?

Yes, so “weird” is “weird” by definition. The older form was “weyrd” and meant “fate”, “destiny”.

If I were that dog, I’d be happy that the cat had found something else to do rather than playing the ‘swat the dog’ game.

Don’t you mean, “Meow, meow, meow, meow, meow?”

The dog is NOT amused at the cat’s verbosity. Yet, this time I am in agreement with the cat…. grammar and vocabulary are valuable. Give that cat a catnip cigar!

English is a mixture of Celtic, Teutonic, and Romance. On top of that there’s Latin grammar which isn’t always a good fit. Diagramming sentences makes sense immediately in Latin.

That is weird.

Yes, English is weird.

Goose/Geese, but not Moose/Meese.

Ox/Oxen, but not Fox/Foxen or Box/Boxen.

Mouse/Mice, but not House/Hice. And why is rice both singular AND plural?

Ismo is a Finnish stand up comic and he has lots of English word jokes.

That’s not grammar, it’s spelling (orthography), and English spelling is hugely dysfunctional.