Why English is so Hard

We’ll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox should be oxen, not oxes.

Then one fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,

Yet the plural of moose should never be meese,

You may find a lone mouse or a whole nest of mice,

But the plural of house is houses, not hice.

If the plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn’t the plural of pan be called pen?

The cow in the plural may be cows or kine,

But a bow if repeated is never called bine,

And the plural of vow is vows, never vine.

If I speak of a foot and you show me your feet,
And I give you a boot would a pair be called beet?

If one is a tooth, and a whole set are teeth,

Why shouldn’t the plural of booth be called beeth?

If the singular’s this and the plural is these,
Should the plural of kiss ever be nicknamed keese?

Then one may be that and three would be those,

Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,

And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.

We speak of a brother, and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren,

Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,

But imagine the feminine she, shis and shim,

So the English, I think, you all will agree,
Is the queerest language you ever did see.

A little trip down memory lane. This is a very poem many of us might have come across at some stage in middle school. A little research online revealed it to be over hundred years old with no sources revealing its author. Reminded me of Dharmendra and Om Prakash in Chupke Chupke. 

As keen as mustard

"Why are you so suddenly keen on me?"

"I don't really know."

'Keen' is strange word which through the same general meaning conveys different senses. It comes from the Old English root cene which meant 'brave' which came from the Proto-Germanic koniz which meant 'skilful, knowledgeable' which in turn came from the Proto-Indo-European prefix ǵenə- or ǵnō- which meant 'to know', a root also related to the Sanskrit gyan. 

Keen is used in many senses. A keen edge. (sharp) A keen appetite. (fierce) A keen wit. (acuteness of mind) Keen prices. (competitive). Peachy keen. (swell, marvelous)

But my favorite is to be keen on something. Which is again used in different senses. In "I am keen on finishing the paper by 4pm", keen is used in a slightly different sense than in, say "Are you keen on cricket?" which is again slightly different from "Are you keen on her?".

Of the above things, what exactly does it really mean when someone asks you why you are so suddenly keen on them? And if you are not sure what it means does it reflect a not so keen understanding of the word keen on your part, a lack in keenness of wit? I am keen to figure that out.

Cricketing terms

Recently, Liam Herringshaw wrote an excellent piece on the root of  the cricketing term, the yorker. This made me think of other cricket terms which have interesting histories.

Silly-point/mid-on: Silly in OED meant pitiable, weak, insignificant, ignorant, lowly, feeble-minded, foolish and also defenceless.

Third Man: Before the advent of overarm bowling, the slip and the point were the two main fielding positions on the off-side. With over-arm bowling and the off theory attack towards the end of 19th century, another field position was added to buttress the already existing two field position and it was called the third man.

Chinaman: Eliss Edgar Achong, the first test cricketer of Chinese origin used to bowl left arm spin for the West-Indies in the 1930s. He was primarily a left arm orthodox spin bowler with his stock delivery oving away from the right hander but he developed a googly and had the Englishman Walter Roberts beaten and stumped of it. Legend has it that Roberts muttered bitterly to the umpire, "Fancy being done by a bloody Chinaman."

Slip: As the name suggest, it denotes the field position for the balls which slipped away from the batsmen.

Gully: The little corridor/gully between slips and point