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Crazy, Stupid English

In any language, you can find some anomalies in the grammar, spellings or the meanings of words. English, though the "global" language, is no exception, as I have found today.

Consider the word "awesome".


awe·some

 

[aw-suhm]
adjective
1.
inspiring awe: an awesome sight.
2.
showing or characterized by awe.
3.
Slang . very impressive


It means something amazing or unbelievable, right?

Now let us see the word "awful".


aw·ful 

[aw-fuhl]
adjective
1.
extremely bad; unpleasant; ugly
2.
inspiring fear; dreadful; terrible


It is the exact opposite of "awesome".

"awe" + "some" = "awesome".

"awe" + "full" = "awful"

But we all know that "some" < "full"

Doesn't this mean that awful should be something better than awesome?

Am I just plain crazy, or is this a flaw in the language?

The second one is also rather interesting.

If horrific means horrifying, shouldn't terrific mean terrifying?

Comments

  1. Bhavneet Singh12 November 2012 at 21:26

    There are many more! Cake is cake (KAKE) Where 'C' sounds like 'K' and 'K' also sounds like 'K'

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown12 November 2012 at 21:39

    Those are phonetics.. you have a lot of differences in spellings and pronunciation..

    ReplyDelete

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