The Marvels of the English Language

I have always heard the English language is one of the most difficult to learn.  All the silent letters and sounds and how in one word a "c" sounds like a "k" and in another word, the same "c" sounds like an "s".  Case in point:  cat and cent.  What is up with that?

So this ignited something in my brain to write a blog about words.  Just normal everyday words that we use and we think nothing of it.  The first of which is 'yesterday'.  It is perfect normal to say yesterday morning and yesterday afternoon but why don't we say yesterday night?  No.  Instead we say last night.  But would we ever say last morning and last afternoon?  No.  What gives?

Another one that has always puzzled me is numbers.  Why don't we say one, two, three....eight, nine, ten, onety-one, onety-two, onety-three....onety-eight, etc.  When we pass the teen numbers, it starts up again; twenty-one, twenty-two, and so on.  It makes absolutely no sense.  Why are the teen numbers so special?

Something else that I always wondered was why is it perfectly acceptable to combine English with other languages in the same sentence?  Like the word deja vu.  This is a french word yet it's perfectly normal to use it in a sentence with other English words, "Oh, that was definately deja vu."  Why is that?  Why doesn't it translate to something else like most other words do?

The more I think about it, the more puzzling it becomes.  If anyone knows Rosetta Stone, can you ask her and let me know?

Have a great day!

R. K. Avery
www.rkaverybooks.com
@RKAvery1