--- John Croft <
jdcroft@...> wrote:
> > Let's face it: English is a crazy language.
> >
> > There is no egg in eggplant or
> > ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
> > English muffins were not invented in England or French fries in
> France.
> > Sweetmeats are candies, while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are
> meat.
He forgot grapefruit. Completely different in size, color, shape,
texture and flavor from the grape. And the cereal called Grape Nuts is
little granules of wheat. (Or is it barley?)
This of course is not a feature limited to English.
The French refer "French fried potatoes" as _pommes frites_ -- "fried
apples". (But only because the word for potato is _pomme de terre_,
"earth apple".)
Red Square (in Moscow) was originally called "Beautiful Square"; the
Russian words for "red" and "beautiful" (_krasn-_ and _krasivn-_) are
very closely related.
What we call "Arabic numerals", the Arabs call "Indian numerals".
A French horn is a brass instrument, but an English horn is an alto
oboe.
Gypsies are so-named because they were thought to have come from Egypt.
It is now known that they came from India. And of course "Indian" can
refer to people in America.
Welsh rabbit contains no rabbit. It's a cheese and beer dip.
Head cheese is not cheese; it comes from a hog's head though.
I'll try and think of more.
DaW.
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