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Expression of Today: Turophobia - is the fear of what?
Muhammed asked on Facebook
“Why are there some letters that we don’t pronounce?”
For example: Know, Listen, Often, Neighbour
29% of English is French (France was the main language after the 1066 invasion for 600 years)
Examples of French words: Beef, Pork, Pastry, Salad, Portrait, Capitalism, Camoflague
26% of English is from Germanic languages (including Old English, Old Norse and Dutch)
6% of English comes from Greek - it’s a very old language and supposedly the first to use an alphabet with vowels (AEIOU) and consonants (BCDFG).
English also likes to borrow words from other languages.
Tsunami, karate (Japanese)
Caravan (Persian-->French-->English)
Know - Comes from old English. The K has stopped being pronounced.
Listen - Also form Germanic languages. The T is quite hard to say so probably why it stopped
Often - Middle English - Can be pronounced both ways
Neighbour - Old English - from nēah ‘nigh, near’ + gebūr ‘inhabitant, peasant, farmer’
Game of Thrones Expressions
"Lady of Winterfell, [it] has a nice ring to it"
If something "has a nice ring" that means it sounds good or is pleasing to the ear.
"Sir John? That has a nice ring to it"
"It had its moments"
This means that an event was not completely boring or terrible. Some parts were fun or interesting.
"The party last night had its moments"
"I’m sure you weren’t thrilled to hear the Lannister armies are marching North."
To be thrilled means to be happy about something.
"I'm sure you weren't thrilled to see it's raining today."
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