Words We Don't Know How To Pronounce or Use

The English Language Is Hard and Funny

There are so many words which get mispronounced in our language.  Of course there are many many words I don't even know what the meanings are.  I look at words and try to think......how the heck is that pronounced.  Or, why the heck isn't a particular word or thing pronounced this way or that way. 

One particular thing that always baffles me is the number "11".  Why isn't that number pronounced "onety-one".  The number "21" is "twenty-one" so a person could assume the logical pronunciation should have been "onety-one" on the number "11".  Who the heck decided the number pronunciations????

Here are some other words that are frequently mispronounced.  Alzheimer's....how many times have you heard this pronounced "altimers" or "oldtimers".  NO NO NO!!  Another very simple word which people frequently say wrong is "aks" for the word "asks" -  the axe is not there folks!!

Recently there has been a lot of usage of the word "candidate" because of next year's election.  If you listen carefully, people aren't saying "candidate", they are saying "cannidate"....they are dropping the first "d" which isn't cool.  One of the worst words for mispronunciation is "probably".  It typically comes out as "probly".
So many times we abuse the English language.  It became apparent to me when we had a German exchange student, living in our house, who was taught "proper English" rather than the Americanized slang version.  The student questioned me a lot.....it was like I had to defend our sloppy English against the proper English.....then I really started noticing how sloppy we actually are in our pronunciation of words.

I can describe our language as "awfully good"..... but see I just messed it up.  The word awful describes something bad.....but I just made it into an adjective to describe "good".  Wow.....think about it!  Our language is abused everyday .....and, if you don't believe me, listen to the media slaughter our language.  It's actually funny sometimes......

Now I don't claim to be "word perfect" and sometimes I use slang for fun or on purpose to see if you're awake!   So ....  if you see me using a word incorrectly.....call me on it.  It's fun to have someone catch it.

History of Menard
Taken from the book The History of Menard and Mason Counties 1879.  This is a continuation from the last post done on the description of early Menard County.

"Although this county covers but a small area of territory, yet there is no county in the State possessing finer natural advantages. As before intimated, pure, fresh, living water for man and beast, and for purposes of irrigation, is distributed in every part of the county; while the Sangamon River and Salt Creek afford abundance of water for driving manufacturing machinery, either by steam or by water power.

Inexhaustible deposits of bituminous coal of the best quality, underlie the entire area, and at such a depth that it can be mined at a trifling cost. This coal ss deposited in three layers, or strata, that have been worked, and Prof. Worthen, the State Geologist, says that the strata in this part of Illinois will all together make at least twenty-five feet in thickness. A tolerably correct idea of our wealth in this direction may be gained when we remember that miners estimate
that in every foot of the vein in thickness, there are twenty million bushels, or one million tons to the square mile. Now, to say nothing of the twenty-five feet of strata of which Prof. Worthen speaks, let the reader contemplate the wealth that is hidden in the vein that is now being worked. This layer averages over six feet in thickness; but, for safety, we will estimate it at six feet. This gives us 120,000,000 bushels, or 480,000 tons to each square mile of area.

This, of itself, is a source of inexhaustible wealth. A writer in the London Quarterly Review said, not long since, that no people can succeed in the arts of Christian civilization without a supply of coal; and as it is essential to many classes of manufacture, and to the navigation of the ocean, and consequently to the commerce of the world, the statement does not appear to be extravagant. The same writer says that the paddle-wheels of European enterprise are constantly stirring up the dark waters of superstition in the East, and
every Christian steamer that navigates those waters goes as a herald of Christian civilization and advancement ; and that coal is thus becoming a grand and essential agent in the enlightenment of the world. Such were the stores of coal deposited in the bowels of England, and her supply so inexhaustible as supposed that the expression, " carrying coals to Newcastle " has long been the manner of expressing the inexhaustibleness of the deposit. But present indications bid fair for it to become literally true, and also that the " coals carried to Newcastle " shall be from America. Thus we see that in respect to this source of wealth, this little county is behind none of her neighbors. Some seven or eight coal mines are being operated successfully in the county; the most of them, in fact, nearly all, are in the immediate vicinity of the town of Petersburg. In addition to the fact that we thus keep the price of this article
at home, it also affords employment for a large number of laborers, and in the same proportion, it furnishes market of our produce. The coal interests are just beginning to be developed here ; but the time is not far in the future when this will be an important branch of industry here. The first regular coal-shaft was
that time, the several shafts near town, and that of Tallula have been opened.

Stone is not as plentiful in the county as could be desired, yet there are some quarries that, when fully opened, will be of great value. A large field on Rock Creek is underlaid with a fine strata of limestone, lying near the surface in many places, and is finely adapted to building purposes. These quarries have never been properly opened, though great quantities of stone have been
taken out along the hillsides where the ledge crops out ; but the time is not far in the future when they will be properly opened. Limestone is also found on the Sangamon River at Old Salem, and also at Petersburg. Near the east end of the highway bridge over the river at Petersburg, is a stratum of sandstone, though it is not yet known whether it is of a good quality, or of sufficient quantity to pay for working. Some have used this sandstone for foundations
and cellar-walls, but some have fears that it will not resist the weight of the walls and the influence of the frost. There is rock in small quantities in other localities, but these named are the most important and promising. "

Blog Author Note:  After reading the segment on the stone locations, the Indian Point area wasn't mentioned and to this day remains a major source of stone in the area.  I'm not aware of other quarries which existed in the past by Petersburg, Rock Creek or Tallula (which were mentioned as having quantities of stone). 

Recipe
I love pork and love to season ribs and pork tenderloins which I will be cooking on the grill.  I use a dry rub for the entire piece of meat.  The recipe for today has a lot of spices in it but is just perfect for pork.  You may want to cut the amount of black pepper and chili powder if you prefer a less spicy version.

Pork Dry Rub

1 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp ground black pepper
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp mustard powder
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp packed brown sugar
2 tbsp ground paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dry parsley
Mix and rub over the entire piece of pork.


Quote For The Day

I am mentally bifocal.

--Pearl Buck

Don't you just love to read something or do something which is stimulating or invigorating or just restores the soul??  When this happens to me, what a boost this becomes to my entire body.  I seem to perk up....dance around....shout out loud or sometimes jump up and down.  Of course, I don't often do this for fear I might break a leg.

Of course, I find myself analyzing everything about the story or gizmo that did the stimulating or invigoration or restoration of my soul.  I always wonder why I am so inquisitive about things.  I just have tear everything apart to analyze, but I really like to know the reasoning, the inner workings of things and just simply all I can about a subject.  That's how us humanoids learn.   Since I especially like to analyze stimulating things, I guess I could maybe call myself an analytic analeptic  ... what a mouth full! 

If I can't find out what something is all about, I might not even want to be associated with that.  I sometimes cast the gizmo or whatever off and don't even want to look at it again.  Perhaps that's throwing away the chance to dig further, but oh well. 

It never hurts to analyze things.....and learn.....and find out what it's all about.  Try it sometime.  You might learn something you didn't know before.

Only 41 more days until Christmas.  Better start shopping!

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