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Probably no other language has as many strange, quirky and funny words as English. This is good news for those who like a laugh because there are so many possibilities for a joke.
1) Funny English Words with Quirky Logic
- There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger.
- Have you noticed that there is neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
- English muffins weren’t invented in England.
- French fries do not originate in France.
- A guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.
- And there are no hogs in Hogmanay.
- And why is it that writers write but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce and hammers don’t ham?
- You cannot buy boots in Boots nor virgins in Virgin. You cannot buy threshers in Threshers and the Superdrug chain is a big disappointment.
- Quicksand only works slowly
- If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn’t the plural of booth beeth?
- One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese?
- If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught?
- If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
- A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.
- See Examples of Engrish humour
2) More Funny Words
- There is no parlour in in parlous. (Parlous – dangerous, hazardous)
- Sweetmeats are sweets while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat.
- When you are incommunicado: you are without the means to communicate.
3) Words to slip into conversation
It’s not that these English words are funny, its just that Will and I challenge you to include them in your repertoire and slip them into conversation.
- imbue: to dye; to instill profoundly.
- spoony: foolishly or sentimentally in love.
- visage: the face; also, appearance; aspect.
- sapient: wise; sage; discerning.
- quiddity: the essence or nature of a thing.
- exegete: one who explains or interprets difficult parts of written works.
- sine qua non: an indispensable thing.
- sesquipedalian: (of words) long; having many syllables.
- predilection: an established preference.
- grandee: a man of elevated rank or station; a nobleman.
For example:
It’s the quiddity of grandees that they have a predilection to imbue sesquipedalian words.
We bet that you can do even better.
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