English Curiosities

English is such a peculiar language, with so much diversity in pronunciation and spelling that I can’t believe those just learning English as a second language can ever wrap their heads around some of it. I guess even native speakers avoid such linguistic traps for fear of showing their ignorance. For example, how could one explain the difference in meaning between these two seemingly exact same words—offensive and offensive? “He was going on the offensive” and “He was offensive.” The first seems to be a positive word describing a course of action that’s positive, and the second is a negative adjective about someone’s rude behavior or bad odor. Now look at the parallel pair, defensive and defensive. “He was going on the defensive” and “He was defensive.” These two are exactly the same. Curious and peculiar, right? It’s a little like the principle/principal problem. Or the all together/altogether conundrum. Or the tortuous/torturous painful twisting. Or the lay/lie positioning. Or the “Which do I use?” affect/effect puzzle. There must literally be a billion examples of such linguistic curiosities. Or do I mean there must figuratively be a billion examples of such? You get the point. The painful point of our verbal vagaries.