The English language is such a funny thing! The title of this blog post “I heard the word of a blurred bird” is just one example of how tricksy our language can be. Heard, word, blurred, bird all rhyme with one another yet, use different vowels to make the same sound. If you extract the vowels alongside the ‘r’s in each word and read them aloud they don’t all make the same sound: ear, or, urr, ir.
And then there are words like ‘saw’, ‘sore’, ‘soar’ which all have different meanings and different spellings but all rhyme.
Then there are English proverbs which are commonly used but often have a contradictory counter-part:
“The pen is mightier than the sword” BUT “actions speak louder than words.”
“It’s better to be safe than sorry” BUT “nothing ventured, nothing gained.”
“Many hands make light work” BUT “too many cooks spoil the broth.”
I’m sure there are more examples of these amusing quirks of our language. Can you think of any more? Let me know in the comments below.