Lord Tas - teach, learn and be smart!

A friend once said to me, "English," mimicking the stiff upper lip, he started, "is a terrible language." How so, I enquired? He carried on to illustrate, "they have got too many rules, and here is why..."

Ummm. He may have a point, I wondered. How is a language where you do not pronounce the words they way it is spelt and where a letter can have two different sounds, where "c" and "k" sound alike, and so on be easy for non native speakers?

Earlier today, I was talking to someone who looks 40 something, about his job. He is a maintenance technician and I asked what business his company was in. "Pa-Ma-Si" came the reply. I was quite dumbfounded. Not wanting to appear arrogant or rude, I engaged in more conversation to find out more. This takes immense skill. Through my years of interaction with students, I have horned my questioning skills to perfection.

Alas, "Pa-Ma-Si" is actually Pharmacy! You see, he pronounced it the way it was spelt! (I had to contain my laughter). Of course, Lingerie is another word that we too often hear it as "Lin-Ger-Ree". Ha ha ha. Well, as Reader's Digest says, "Laughter is the Best Medicine!".