English is a strange language

[BobSch]

Read this on another board:

In the Olympics, he tested his own mettle to win a gold medal made of
gold metal.

or Mary was merry when he asked her to marry him.

[Daryl]

I am just gonna meddle in here a bit. That would be gold and not gold metal, however he did win a gold medal. We don't say iron metal either, just iron.

[leehljp]

Back when the Olympics were in Korea ('88) a close missionary friend of mine in Japan preached a sermon on "winning the prize" and did not realize that Japanese say the "English" word, or "Goldo Medalu" even among themselves. However, he decided to use strictly the Japanese translation of "Gold Medal" - word for word.

Gold = kin (pronounced "keen")
Medal/Coin = dama*
*While there are numerous words than can be used, this is the word often taught in certain contexts as "metal coin".

HOWEVER, "Kin + Dama" when used together (kin dama) means "testicals" - the real jewels !

My friend was a little upset when someone told him what he was saying!

[cabinetman]

Many words can be confusing when read due to their spelling being the same, but their meanings different. This can make understanding our language by foreigners difficult.

For example..."Table", could be a piece of furniture, or it cold be used to describe a method to put off an idea to a later time.

"Grave" could be a site, or could be used to describe a type of incident or danger...by which the site could be an inevitable outcome.

"Counter" could be an object, an opposition, or a tally method or apparatus.

"Flat" could be a description, or a place (depending on location of usage).

"Tire" could be an object on a rim used as a wheel, or could be a description of exhaustion.

"Whip" could be a noun or a verb.

Being able to understand a word depends on how it's used in a sentence. I took Spanish in school, and find that to be difficult. I could never speak it fluently by just learning the words.

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