What's Da Buzz?

As a fellow Filipino who immigrated over to the USA, I know speaking the English language can be challenging. When I first arrived, I would give instructions to my daughter in English but with an accent that confused the daylights out of my husband.

The primary culprits are our substituting the letter ‘p’ for the letter ‘f’, the letter ‘e’ for the first ‘i’ in a word and pronouncing the letters ‘th’ as ‘ts’.

Using that guide, substitute the letters in the following two sentences and retype them to see what your hubby hears.

Brush your teeth.

Are you finished?

As you can see, that will make any American pause to try and figure out what you really meant. So my Goryo shared with me a tongue twister he made up way back in 6th grade. Given our challenges with the English language and our accents, it will act as a very good training tool. Have fun mastering it!! The goal is to be able to say it all in less than 2 seconds.

“Three thick thorns thought that they were thistles in a thermos for three thick headed thieves.”

Have fun!

An exercise in ESL for Pinays like me.

This is an example of how confusing the English language can be!

When you get up in the morning and find your voice to be scratchy, it is called hoarse. But that has nothing to do with engines which are rated by horsepower. But do you know a horse is not always a horse? When it is born, it is not called a baby horse but a foal whether it is male or female. But as it ages to about 1-2 years old it is no longer a foal but a colt if it is male and a filly if it is female.

Be careful though as a Colt is also a type of gun. Do not spell filly wrong either as Philly is referring to both the city of Philadelphia and the Philly Cheese Steak sandwich. When the colt matures, it becomes a stallion. But a stallion isn’t always a stallion as it is also a bronco if it is wild and cannot be ridden. At least the grown up filly isn’t as complex as that is called a mare. So are you hoarse yet?

What about the geese? Well, the word ‘geese’ is the plural of goose. However you have to be careful when you say goose as a goose is not just a singular version of geese but it is also when someone grabs your “puwet” or butt. That is a goose but it can never be a geese. And a goose is not always a goose. As a goose is the name for a female goose. The babies are goslings and the male is a gander.

But a gander is not always a goose because if you forget to say ‘a’ or ‘the’ gander then the word changes to mean ‘take a look around.’ So did you take a gander at the person who goosed the horse with the hoarse throat? LOL!  Hayy, kakaloka!

Welcome to your Minnie lesson, este sorry mini-lesson in the joys of the English language.