How Some Words Get Forgetted

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  • Опубликовано: 16 май 2024
  • It’s the Great American Read!
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    English is a confusing language for many reasons. But the irregular verbs might be the most confusing part. Why is “told” the past tense of “tell” but “smold” isn’t the past tense of “smell”? It turns out that the study of irregular verbs can teach us a lot about how languages evolve. This week, we look at how the era of Big Data is unlocking secrets behind the weirdness of words.
    OTHER VIDEOS TO CHECK OUT:
    “The Zipf Mystery” - Vsauce • The Zipf Mystery
    “Trending Artists of the 17th Century” - The Art Assignment • Trending Artists of th...
    REFERENCES:
    Uncharted: Big Data as a Lens on Human Culture - Erez Aiden and Jean-Baptiste Michel amzn.to/2MLBEHF
    Words and Rules - Steven Pinker amzn.to/2vKL1kf
    Lieberman, Erez, et al. "Quantifying the evolutionary dynamics of language." Nature 449.7163 (2007): 713.
    Michel, Jean-Baptiste, et al. "Quantitative analysis of culture using millions of digitized books." Science (2010): 1199644.
    Hanley, M. L., Joos, M., & Fein, T. (1937). Word index to James Joyce's Ulysses. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
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Комментарии • 5 тыс.

  • @besmart
    @besmart  5 лет назад +1432

    Share your favorite irregular verbs and Google Ngram searches below!
    If you're not already subscribed, hopefully this earned your subscription. And click that bell icon so you get notified when we have a new video!

  • @elisekate3283
    @elisekate3283 5 лет назад +3023

    Dude in video: Hi smart people!
    Me: Sorry you must have the wrong number

    • @rainjar
      @rainjar 4 года назад +39

      You're only as smart as you want to be.

    • @pownotthere
      @pownotthere 4 года назад +12

      Wow, so smart

    • @marrowyoutube
      @marrowyoutube 4 года назад +56

      @@rainjar nice theory but it's been debunked by the stupid people

    • @JupiterKnight
      @JupiterKnight 4 года назад

      Glaring hah

    • @maribelsanchez5703
      @maribelsanchez5703 3 года назад

      well yes but yes

  • @ryannickens7848
    @ryannickens7848 5 лет назад +3011

    When he said "Google," my phone heard him, thought it was me and did a search. He is indeed powerful

    • @Darkstar.....
      @Darkstar..... 5 лет назад +72

      Keep voice recognition turned off. Its a serious serious hassle. I dont use it. My fingers work just fine. Im sure you like it. Dont stop using it. Its not for me though.

    • @classydays43
      @classydays43 5 лет назад +98

      @@Darkstar..... Your sentences sound like that short guy from Cleveland Show.

    • @blackhole28
      @blackhole28 5 лет назад +10

      Dark Star oh “Don't stop using it”
      You mean I have to stop “stop using” the voice recognition

    • @futurevoid4261
      @futurevoid4261 5 лет назад +1

      All the time man

    • @princerufioh
      @princerufioh 4 года назад +5

      IBrainedMyDamage there’s something called computers and tablets, ya know?

  • @KestrelDC
    @KestrelDC 2 года назад +549

    There’s also “hang.” Generally, the past tense is “hung” except when it comes to the execution method of hanging, then we say someone was “hanged.” Though I have noticed that seems to be fading out as well and often hear people just naturally say “hung” because it’s what they’re used to and say far more often so it’s almost instinctive lol.

  • @UGMD
    @UGMD 3 года назад +164

    I like the reason “England got invaded a lot” more

    • @tomlxyz
      @tomlxyz 3 года назад +1

      But it's a lame reason

    • @mewmagic545
      @mewmagic545 2 года назад +9

      You mean "England got invode a lot"?

    • @duo4780
      @duo4780 2 года назад +2

      @@mewmagic545 OMG I WAS ABOUT TO SAY THAT
      YOU ARE A MAGIC

    • @slayerslayer7623
      @slayerslayer7623 2 года назад

      It's an incorrect reason though.

    • @toomanyopinions8353
      @toomanyopinions8353 Год назад

      It's a reason for weird English stuff, but not the reason for this particular phenomenon.

  • @lukeholland3525
    @lukeholland3525 5 лет назад +1585

    My English teacher would choke to death if she saw this thumbnail

  • @jakoborrazor4059
    @jakoborrazor4059 5 лет назад +6509

    Yeeted or yote?

  • @allegraalberoni9780
    @allegraalberoni9780 3 года назад +232

    As an Italian, I remember when in middle school they made us memorize around 50/70 irregular english verbs, and that was when I realized I could form actual sentences, tell simple stories and carry small conversation (keep in mind I was 12 and Italian education isn't the best, so that is where I was back then). Turns out those irregular verbs are also the most used ones, uh?

    • @rockingamingwiththesahit2145
      @rockingamingwiththesahit2145 Год назад +3

      I wish I could do the same with French.

    • @grassytramtracks
      @grassytramtracks 9 месяцев назад

      The irregular verbs in Italian are common ones too, by and large, and Italian has a lot (not as many as French or English i don't think): essere, avere, fare, dire, scrivere, udire, vedere, ascoltare, mettere, tenere, aprire, chiudere I could go on. It's easy for you to know the irregular verbs in Italian because it's your first language, whereas I'm learning it as a non native. Like how I have to try and remember that the conjugation of udire is odo, odi, ode, udiamo, udite, odono and thst the past participle of spegnere is spento, not spegnuto

  • @karnowo
    @karnowo 3 года назад +79

    Okay, but I'm never giving up my pt endings.
    Wept, slept, crept, kept.

  • @tosht2515
    @tosht2515 5 лет назад +2998

    *_"Do worms have butts?"_* 😂😂

    • @lalulilalavilly723
      @lalulilalavilly723 5 лет назад +74

      Tosh T yeah I had to pause the video to double check I read that right.

    • @yw5617
      @yw5617 5 лет назад +16

      yes they do doesnt seem like he liked biology class much this guy

    • @briggzm2098
      @briggzm2098 5 лет назад +35

      Anonymous edgy nerd Probably not. That’s why he decided to do phd in biology

    • @NameThatNobodyTakes
      @NameThatNobodyTakes 5 лет назад +47

      Yes they do. When I picked one up recently, it pooped in my hand out of fear (I was wearing gloves though)

    • @camlg
      @camlg 5 лет назад +2

      I just commented that to lol

  • @ryanxin1848
    @ryanxin1848 4 года назад +1533

    English: Im really hard to learn
    Almost every other language: Hold my verbs

    • @vargvikernes4859
      @vargvikernes4859 4 года назад +23

      What's that profile picture is about I see everyone using that

    • @ryanxin1848
      @ryanxin1848 4 года назад +9

      @@vargvikernes4859 idk

    • @vargvikernes4859
      @vargvikernes4859 4 года назад +43

      @@ryanxin1848 then why you're using that lol

    • @ryanxin1848
      @ryanxin1848 4 года назад +11

      @@vargvikernes4859 just becauae

    • @yuikoo0613
      @yuikoo0613 4 года назад +21

      Saltanat Kadyrbekova its a youtuber maxmillianmus or something

  • @KrimsonWing
    @KrimsonWing 3 года назад +308

    I have been seeing people write “could of” instead of “could have” and it’s really really grating on me. I can feel my soul leaving my body every time I see it.

    • @alankent
      @alankent 2 года назад +13

      Technically, the word "very" should be used instead of "really."

    • @beckyfromhr588
      @beckyfromhr588 2 года назад +90

      @@alankent If you’re talking about the usage of really in the sentence “it’s really really grating on me”, there isn’t anything wrong with it, considering really is an adverb and grating is a verb and adverbs are supposed to be used with verbs. Also very is supposed to be used with an adjective and considering grating isn’t an adjective it wouldn’t work here.

    • @usernames_are_hard_
      @usernames_are_hard_ 2 года назад +12

      I could of listened to this comment but I won't:}

    • @erase_mello
      @erase_mello 2 года назад +40

      @@alankent Does “it’s very very grating on me” sound right at all? No it’s better as “it’s really really grating on me” at least learn to use grammar and spell first before trying to correct people

    • @jamesthekitty9065
      @jamesthekitty9065 2 года назад +4

      @@erase_mello plot twist I like both

  • @SquidsINCIsABadYouTuber
    @SquidsINCIsABadYouTuber 3 года назад +1216

    “English is complicated”
    Other languages: NoUnS hAvE gEnDeRs
    ok nevermind english is worse

    • @user-kx5es4kr4x
      @user-kx5es4kr4x 3 года назад +310

      Other languages: sOmE wOrDs hAvE fOrMaL aNd iNfOrMaL vErSiOnS

    • @berry.mixxxx
      @berry.mixxxx 3 года назад +156

      And then there are people who get confused on what nouns to use when the meet non-binary people

    • @imokin86
      @imokin86 3 года назад +43

      Verbs have aspects. They are almost impossible to explain in plain English.

    • @waqqashanafi
      @waqqashanafi 3 года назад +13

      Javanese smiles in all levels of Javanese.

    • @ppowerrz
      @ppowerrz 3 года назад +24

      im learning french and it is so hard to comprehend the whole informal and formal thing

  • @personne-fp6cr
    @personne-fp6cr 5 лет назад +3137

    "English is complicated"
    Me: * laughs in French *

    • @13.7BYITM
      @13.7BYITM 5 лет назад +350

      *Laughs in chinese*

    • @BillyDrakePianoMan
      @BillyDrakePianoMan 5 лет назад +266

      Lol French is downright simple compared to English. Your grammar rules aren’t convoluted like ours. Our rules and pronunciations have multiple exceptions to exceptions to exceptions.

    • @laramaen5685
      @laramaen5685 5 лет назад +217

      *laughs in Arabic*

    • @pawion
      @pawion 5 лет назад +252

      How can the verb "avoir" (to have) be conjugated in French ?
      INDICATIF
      *Présent*
      j'ai
      tu as
      il a
      nous avons
      vous avez
      ils ont
      *Passé composé*
      j'ai eu
      tu as eu
      il a eu
      nous avons eu
      vous avez eu
      ils ont eu
      *Imparfait*
      j'avais
      tu avais
      il avait
      nous avions
      vous aviez
      ils avaient
      *Plus-que-parfait*
      j'avais eu
      tu avais eu
      il avait eu
      nous avions eu
      vous aviez eu
      ils avaient eu
      *Passé simple*
      j'eus
      tu eus
      il eut
      nous eûmes
      vous eûtes
      ils eurent
      *Passé antérieur*
      j'eus eu
      tu eus eu
      il eut eu
      nous eûmes eu
      vous eûtes eu
      ils eurent eu
      *Futur simple*
      j'aurai
      tu auras
      il aura
      nous aurons
      vous aurez
      ils auront
      *Futur antérieur*
      j'aurai eu
      tu auras eu
      il aura eu
      nous aurons eu
      vous aurez eu
      ils auront eu
      CONDITIONNEL
      *Présent*
      j'aurais
      tu aurais
      il aurait
      nous aurions
      vous auriez
      ils auraient
      *Passé*
      j'aurais eu
      tu aurais eu
      il aurait eu
      nous aurions eu
      vous auriez eu
      ils auraient eu
      SUBJONCTIF
      *Présent*
      que j'aie
      que tu aies
      qu'il ait
      que nous ayons
      que vous ayez
      qu'ils aient
      *Passé*
      que j'aie eu
      que tu aies eu
      qu'il ait eu
      que nous ayons eu
      que vous ayez eu
      qu'ils aient eu
      *Imparfait*
      que j'eusse
      que tu eusses
      qu'il eût
      que nous eussions
      que vous eussiez
      qu'ils eussent
      *Plus-que-parfait*
      que j'eusse eu
      que tu eusses eu
      qu'il eût eu
      que nous eussions eu
      que vous eussiez eu
      qu'ils eussent eu
      IMPERATIF
      *Présent*
      aie
      ayons
      ayez
      *Passé*
      aie eu
      ayons eu
      ayez eu
      INFINITIF
      *Présent*
      avoir
      *Passé*
      avoir eu
      PARTICIPE
      *Présent*
      ayant
      *Passé*
      eu
      ayant eu
      GERONDIF
      *Présent*
      en ayant
      *Passé*
      en ayant eu

    • @tordfrankeulset3981
      @tordfrankeulset3981 5 лет назад +44

      *Laughs in Nynorsk

  • @granky_
    @granky_ 5 лет назад +3020

    As a non english speaker, it was so hard to learn irregular verbs, we used to do so many tests on them and eventually I learnt them by heart in alphabetical order. Everytime I hear "awake" I feel like adding "awoke, awoken" or "be" with "was, were, been", that's how traumatised I am, only when I got into university I learnt that it's easier study them by sound and phonetically but it was already too late for me

    • @32fps
      @32fps 5 лет назад +102

      Fra Don't mess with beans Where did you learn English? I've only ever heard "learned," not "learnt" but in another discussion in this comment section someone mentioned "t" endings as being British

    • @granky_
      @granky_ 5 лет назад +216

      @@32fps I'm italian and europeans study british english. I've always wrote "dreamt" and not "dreamed" as well, not sure if "dreamed" is american... I remember that points were removed from my written and oral exams if I used any american english like writing "color" instead of "colour". Also, here in Italy at least, you're considered "bad at english" if you can't imitate a british accent, my teacher used to give more points in speaking tests if you could speak like a briton.

    • @32fps
      @32fps 5 лет назад +64

      Fra Don't mess with beans Omg that's amazing! Haha I had no idea; I knew there were differences between American English and British English but I never realized verb tenses were one of them. It's odd too because dreamt sounds better to me than dreamed, but I've always used learned. Guess it all goes back to which one you heard first. The accent thing is a bit odd though... although I suppose I just enjoy listening to people's accents when they speak English, makes it more interesting (but then again most people don't like "American" accents, including us XD). At least when I've been taught languages no one pushes you to have the correct accent... I suppose that's why we sound horrible when speaking other languages v_v

    • @zbrown02
      @zbrown02 5 лет назад +15

      Christine Douglas the differences are only in the way some words are spelled and they have some words like trainers (athletic shoes) that we don’t use in the USA. but sentence structure and grammar is all the same

    • @winterismyfavseason
      @winterismyfavseason 5 лет назад +36

      English is my 4th language and I can kind of relate, it was hard for me to learn irregular verbs at first but with revising and dedication, I learnt them from revising repeatedly. I think I started to remember them well in 3rd grade. I've always been interested in British English since I was young, I was the only one in my class who studied English hard to learn it, not just to get good marks. I taught myself English by watching RUclips and reading lots of books. I'm in 10th grade and I'm still trying to learn more and more. I think it's the easiest language that I know and it's fun to learn more because it's easier for me than other languages.

  • @borrero-md1196
    @borrero-md1196 3 года назад +171

    As a non native English speaker, I've always thought this was the reason why it felt easy to learn the very basics of English but amazingly hard to master it. There are SO MANY EXCEPTIONS to grammar rules that it's crazy how you people learn it from the start haha. On the other hand, Spanish (my native language) seems to me to be rrally hard for you to learn, as our language structure is more complex, but once an English-speaking person manages to dominate that.. Well, then it's easier to master it. Another really interestingly weird and even frustrating thing about english is how many words are pronounced the same way despite even being written different and have totally different meanings. That's rarer in spanish. Anyways. I loved this video

    • @shadowlord4277
      @shadowlord4277 2 года назад +12

      It was never hard for me to learn english because I playd lots of videogames, and I google translated all the words I didn't know, and as the result I spoke fluent english when I was 6th grade

    • @maccamacca7787
      @maccamacca7787 Год назад +5

      English speakers will hate on Chinese for having to memorize every character (when it’s basically a word) but fail to mention how you just have to memorize every words’ pronunciation, spelling, and tenses. And a bunch of it does not match up, so if you see something similar to another word chances are there is nothing similar in pronunciation or tenses. And even English speakers are constantly making mistakes in everyday convo 💀

    • @joe-op2gr
      @joe-op2gr Год назад

      Yeah, I'm learning spanish and I feel bad for those who have to learn english

    • @jerstumc5033
      @jerstumc5033 Год назад +4

      irregular verbs aren't hard to learn or grammar, what i hate the most in english is its inconsistent pronunciation, some words even are pronounced in three ways or i sometimes hear that they don't pronounce it like in the dictionaries, like the word "process" that has two ways of pronouncing it and one of them is for the verb and the other is for the noun, but they just use the pronunciation of the verb for both meanings, which it's kind of annoying or some words have double pronunciation but in the dictionaries don't come up, english is a troll Lol

    • @leftysheppey
      @leftysheppey Год назад +1

      One of my favourite ways to show English is stupid is the following, reasonably famous phrase:
      English is easy, but it can be learned through tough thorough thought though
      Each one of those OU sounds are different. My housemate, who isn't native English, couldn't even try and start it lol

  • @dogeth4021
    @dogeth4021 3 года назад +13

    How to roughly translate languages:
    Find the probability of all the words in the unknown language, relate them to the ones you know of the same probability, boom a rough translation

  • @leounderseas
    @leounderseas 4 года назад +1219

    "joe hanson"
    "how tall is joe hanson"
    "pictures of joe hanson"
    "how many twitter followers does joe hans..."
    *"do worms have butts"*
    Who is this guy and what does he have to do with worm butts?

    • @hugeturd42
      @hugeturd42 4 года назад +13

      yes

    • @Lemonsrt
      @Lemonsrt 4 года назад +68

      He is unlocking the secrets of life leave them be

    • @oyrox
      @oyrox 3 года назад +2

      Le Epic Troll bruh

    • @Steinninn
      @Steinninn 3 года назад +9

      You forgot about Spotzen

    • @adjoint_functor
      @adjoint_functor 3 года назад +6

      2:00

  • @seanwaddell2659
    @seanwaddell2659 5 лет назад +809

    But what is an irregular verb, and how much does it weigh?
    *Vsause Music*

    • @9nikolai
      @9nikolai 5 лет назад +26

      Fun fact: Regular verbs woghe 4 grammes in the 1800s, but in the past decade, they've weighed at least 6 grams.
      Irregular verbs, however, are harder to weigh, as they irregularly change their regular weight. But last time I woghe them, they were approximately woghed at 2 gramophones.

    • @WR3ND
      @WR3ND 5 лет назад

      Ask the Kelloggs. They've been in the business of weighing regularity.

    • @aarezbanoori8296
      @aarezbanoori8296 5 лет назад

      Hahaha! Vsauce is a weird and interesting person. 😅

    • @carval2001
      @carval2001 4 года назад +1

      *Casually writes irregular verbs onto paper and weighs it*
      About 2 grams.

    • @westzapwood8697
      @westzapwood8697 4 года назад +1

      "... and how much does it *weighted* "

  • @valacarno
    @valacarno 3 года назад +160

    English people: "English is complicated!"
    Me: *laughs in Russian, French, German, Greek, Latvian & Latin looking at the colleague laughing in Hungarian & Chinese*

    • @cookiesconsoles7626
      @cookiesconsoles7626 2 года назад +5

      *Laughs also in arabic*

    • @paige13
      @paige13 2 года назад +5

      Wait a minute.. what about ELGLISH?!
      I totally didn’t misspell English

    • @soleursuelos3616
      @soleursuelos3616 2 года назад

      Until you try to sound out a word you've never seen before

    • @madbruv
      @madbruv 2 года назад +1

      forshi, no kurienes tu esi? sveicieni tev no latvijas.

    • @valacarno
      @valacarno 2 года назад

      @@madbruv Paldies. Sveicieni pretī no Rīgas. 😉👍

  • @lambda6564
    @lambda6564 3 года назад +68

    Some interesting things I found with the Google program:
    Peking changes to Beijing in the 1980s
    Moscow becomes less significant after 1990
    The german word for evil-"böse" is most prevalent in 1940-1950
    The use of the german city names in eastern Europe drop dramatically after 1950 (Königsberg,Preßburg,Breslau,etc.)
    Rhodesia,Burma and Ceylon loose prevalence after the 50s
    Keks becomes a german word around 1900 and explodes in use. (Keks comes from cake and is our word for cookie now :) )

    • @10thdoctor15
      @10thdoctor15 2 года назад +1

      While biscuit comes from the Italian 'biscotti', meaning 'twice baked'.

    • @TheJTMcDaniel
      @TheJTMcDaniel 2 года назад +2

      Peking to Beijing was a result of their government adopting a phonetic spelling of Mandarin in place of the Cantonese used in most western countries (since that was where most Chinese living in the West came from).

    • @Milesco
      @Milesco Год назад

      And "loose" has exploded in use since the 2000s. 🙄

  • @christopherbaker6375
    @christopherbaker6375 5 лет назад +447

    The verbs in English are a fright.
    How can we learn to read and write?
    Today we speak, but first we spoke;
    Some faucets leak, but never loke.
    Today we write, but first we wrote;
    We bite our tongues, but never bote.
    Each day I teach, for years I taught,
    And preachers preach, but never praught.
    This tale I tell; this tale I told;
    I smell the flowers, but never smold.
    If knights still slay, as once they slew,
    Then do we play, as once we plew?
    If I still do as once I did,
    Then do cows moo, as they once mid?
    -Richard Lederer
    You're welcome internet.

  • @dirgecry2047
    @dirgecry2047 5 лет назад +581

    I love the fact that people once spoke pie. "Yea, I'm fluent in PIE."

    • @LisaBeergutHolst
      @LisaBeergutHolst 4 года назад +29

      I'm fluent in DONUT 😉

    • @kiiwr6283
      @kiiwr6283 4 года назад +8

      @@LisaBeergutHolst im eating a donut rn lol

    • @TheManinBlack9054
      @TheManinBlack9054 4 года назад +5

      I dont think that this is what it was called

    • @alpeolpa437
      @alpeolpa437 4 года назад +9

      I'm fluent in pi
      3.1415926535897932395033832

    • @cdogforlife9472
      @cdogforlife9472 4 года назад +7

      We had pi in math, now we have it in language?

  • @Hidden.username
    @Hidden.username Год назад +4

    1:50
    We've got a Joe Hanson stalker on out hands bois

  • @Nynke_K
    @Nynke_K 3 года назад +10

    2:32 I'm so glad I only became a linguist after the advent of concordancing software :)

  • @nathantew2180
    @nathantew2180 4 года назад +658

    I don’t see any comments about this but I absolutely love those Vsauce references, really cracked me up

  • @Lord_Skeptic
    @Lord_Skeptic 5 лет назад +691

    Spelt or spelled.
    Dreamt or dreamed.
    Burnt or burned.
    Learnt or learned.
    Smelt or smelled.
    Hung or hanged.

    • @bvthebalkananarchistmapper5642
      @bvthebalkananarchistmapper5642 5 лет назад +60

      Spelled is a recent regularization.
      Dreamed is a regularization in the near future.

    • @Lord_Skeptic
      @Lord_Skeptic 5 лет назад +61

      dreamed is used

    • @catpoke9557
      @catpoke9557 5 лет назад +93

      The last one is always "Hung" as far as I know, except for in the case of hanging someone, in which case it is always hanged. I think the others are interchangeable although there might be some minor differences.

    • @denniswilson3902
      @denniswilson3902 5 лет назад +48

      I THINK, for most of those, the ones ending in "t" are the UK spelling, and the "ed" ones are the US spelling. As for hung vs hanged, that's a usage variable. There IS a difference, but I'd have to look it up.

    • @catpoke9557
      @catpoke9557 5 лет назад +46

      @@denniswilson3902 "Hanged" is used specifically for the act of actually hanging someone, like killing them. Not just hanging them or another object over something, but using a noose on them.

  • @zeidlers
    @zeidlers 2 года назад +7

    Very late to the party but, in translation, concordances are still used! They are very helpful for extracting key terms from large bodies of text. We also use it concordances for phrases to see what has been translated a certain way most often

  • @loopkill
    @loopkill 2 года назад

    I immediately thought about Vsauce's video! Cool and hilarious way to reference/credit Michael's video :)

  • @krisherrick4261
    @krisherrick4261 5 лет назад +468

    PBS, you're doing a great job being engaging without trying too hard to be trendy and I'm very proud of you.

    • @TommoCarroll
      @TommoCarroll 5 лет назад +21

      I'm happy I looked in the comment to this video! This is a really nice comment! Makes a good change! And you're right, PBS is great for this sort of content! Are you a science-lover!?

    • @jimbojones1848
      @jimbojones1848 5 лет назад +7

      @@TommoCarroll everyone should be a science lover

    • @seanleith5312
      @seanleith5312 2 года назад +1

      Forgetted? is that a English word? I have seen anyone using it. I can't even find it from the dictionary. Forgetted? I learned a new word.

    • @Parappadarappa2
      @Parappadarappa2 2 года назад +2

      @@TommoCarroll yeah because of watching bill nye and magic school bus as a kid and even now watching vsauce

    • @carrotisalie
      @carrotisalie 2 года назад +3

      @@seanleith5312 yeah the whole point of the video is that words change, people used to say forgetted but don't anymore

  • @ridslol5318
    @ridslol5318 4 года назад +176

    2:00 "do worms have butts" lol now I'm curious 😂

    • @ristal2714
      @ristal2714 3 года назад +10

      nope
      their poop comes out of one end of the worm and makes worm poop
      and they look like mini dirt hills

    • @ridslol5318
      @ridslol5318 3 года назад +9

      @@ristal2714 LMAO NOT U RPLYING A YEAR AFTER SJJSJSJSJS

    • @stevedoetsch
      @stevedoetsch 3 года назад

      Yes, that's where dirt comes from. No joke.

    • @black_rhino241
      @black_rhino241 3 года назад +2

      @@stevedoetsch no dirt is like sand where it’s just tiny rocks but with plant matter mashed in between

    • @jeromesuarez5293
      @jeromesuarez5293 2 года назад +1

      Lol

  • @talideon
    @talideon 3 года назад +2

    Left out of this is the _opposite_ phenomenon. Many of the "irregular" verbs fit into one of the "strong" verb paradigms, which are themselves regular. You mentioned one: sing/sang/sung. An interesting thing is that verbs that get used often can make the jump from the "weak" paradigm of marking the past tense or past participle with -ed to using a strong paradigm, because we associate those paradigms with common verbs that sound similar. An example of this would be "wear", which was originally a weak verb, but over time shifted towards using one of the strong paradigms: wear/wore/worn, which is the same paradigm as bear/bore/born.
    As a side benefit, once you notice this in English, it can make learning other West Germanic languages, like Dutch and German, much easier.

  • @rogersledz6793
    @rogersledz6793 3 года назад +1

    Thank you so much for uploading this video. It is helping me get through the pandemic!

  • @anthonywhelan5419
    @anthonywhelan5419 5 лет назад +233

    What about phrases. I grew up in Australia with Irish parents. My mum would say 'dress the bed', not 'make the bed'. In Australia we shorten words. We have a colloquial expression for having a quick look around called 'having a stickybeak'. We aussies shorten the phrase to 'have a sticky'. My father was a strict Irish Catholic and had never been in a protestant church (Catholic law used to forbid it as a mortal sin). I was in England as a young adult and assumed the Brits had the same idioms as Australians. My English cousin asked me how religious my father was. I merely said that he'd only just gone into a Protestant Church to satisfy his curiosity as the rule forbidding Catholics from entering a protestant church had been changed. My cousin almost fainted when I informed her that my dad just went in for a 'quick sticky'. She cried out, 'He did what!" Perplexed, I said, 'You know, to have a sticky. (eyes popping out cousin's head). You know, a sticky break. (still confused) to have a look around...... It turned out that she thought my dad had gone into the church to masturbate!

    • @coldmoonlight6361
      @coldmoonlight6361 5 лет назад +29

      He wouldn't be the first

    • @Cypresssina
      @Cypresssina 5 лет назад +12

      😂😂😂😂😂

    • @mishalbaig1732
      @mishalbaig1732 5 лет назад +29

      I read this whole comment with a weird mixture of Irish and Australian accent in my head 😂

    • @hellokaugmaon2347
      @hellokaugmaon2347 4 года назад +22

      That was wild from start to finish

    • @AliCatGtz
      @AliCatGtz 4 года назад +7

      I would have thought the same thing too 😂😂😂

  • @billmalcolm4291
    @billmalcolm4291 5 лет назад +273

    Not a verb, but I'm bringing back the word "betwixt" in lieu of "between." It hit it's peak around 1650, but give it a few decades, it'll come back around

    • @user-vz7mu4su9n
      @user-vz7mu4su9n 5 лет назад +17

      I wish the middle English pronouns would make a comeback too. They just make so much sense. And the -ence, -ither words.

    • @Lobstrominous
      @Lobstrominous 5 лет назад +1

      do you mean _bringing back_ ?

    • @Lobstrominous
      @Lobstrominous 5 лет назад

      ? middle English pronouns are virtually the same as modern ones. The main difference is the spelling.

    • @Lobstrominous
      @Lobstrominous 5 лет назад +2

      why? bringing back all those good old English words eh? Like " in lieu of" ...

    • @hamzaraissouli
      @hamzaraissouli 5 лет назад +3

      Khasab that's French

  • @randomperson4786
    @randomperson4786 2 года назад +3

    Its cute when children say "I breaked my toy"
    Me: Ahhhhhhhhhhhh (complete mental breakdown and almost explodes)

  • @crybebebunny
    @crybebebunny 2 года назад +2

    This video is So Very Interesting and Beautiful to Me because, my youngest and I love making up New words that we use extremely often enough that our close people know what they are and uses them back. Some things crazy that, we started by keeping baby words(bables) around longer than we were babies. I kept using the bables of my siblings and introducing them to my own children to the point that they don't know if they are words in another language or baby bable.

  • @theartassignment
    @theartassignment 5 лет назад +256

    Hey thanks for the shout! This was fascinating. Museums should make concordances of the words in all of their wall labels and text. Would be an excellent way to identify the overused and unhelpful worst offenders of art speak!

    • @sion8
      @sion8 5 лет назад

      Huh?

    • @vin9916
      @vin9916 2 года назад +4

      Hey thanks for the shout! This was fascinating. Museums should make concordances of the words in all of their wall labels and text. Would be an excellent way to identify the overused and unhelpful worst offenders of art speak

  • @prinzessinpummelfee3958
    @prinzessinpummelfee3958 5 лет назад +560

    My native language is German. It’s like the weirdest language ever.
    Oh wait, there’s still French!

    • @ismt9390
      @ismt9390 5 лет назад +48

      I think the German grammar actually makes a lot more sense than in most romance languages. German's not a hard language to learn, because if you follow the rules (and can remember them all) it does pay off.

    • @anwalt693
      @anwalt693 5 лет назад +20

      Und meine Muttersprache ist Englisch. Ich finde Deutsch sehr logisch. Die Regeln funktionieren, obwohl es sehr viele Regeln gibt. Im Gegensatz dazu hat Französisch wenigere Regeln -- die oft nicht funktionieren. Deutsche Redewendungen sind typisch lustig und einprägsam, während die Französche sind oft wie willkürliche Wortsammlungen. Doch weiter zu meinem Punkt. Englisch ist grundlich eine Mischung von sehr altes Französisch und vier sogar ältere Germanische Sprachen. Würde man eine neue Sprache erfinden. wäre es eine gute Idee Erfolg mittels eine Mischung von Deutsch und Französch zu suchen? Deshalb ist meiner Meinung nach, Englisch viel seltsamer als Deutsch -- und auch der Grund dafür das englische Rechtschreibung ein totaler Unglück ist.

    • @Omgits7ito
      @Omgits7ito 5 лет назад +22

      Have you looked at the polish language

    • @nova66666
      @nova66666 5 лет назад +2

      Meine Meinung! Ich hasse Französisch, es ist mir einfach zu kompliziert

    • @granky_
      @granky_ 5 лет назад +19

      I'm italian so for me french was easier to learn as they're both latin languages. Now studying german was a *disaster*. I had to learn like 50 words for every test because you never knew if the article was Die, Der or Das, the gender isn't even the same as italian so I just couldn't guess. What's even worst is that you also have to study what their plural is since there isn't a fixed rule. You also had to remember to put a capital letter for every noun in written tests otherwise my teacher would remove points. And what I feared the most were the speaking tests. You had to remember so many things at once, like deciding if the verb was going at the very end or not, if the article or adjective needed to have a declension, what case of declension was needed, die der den das dem?? I'm sorry it was a living nightmare, I had no idea how I got german b2. Italian in comparison is very very easy, since the hardest thing I can think of is the huge amount of verb tenses (we have like 8 past tenses) and ways you can say a verb and you need to see which one fits the most.

  • @ladylaviniadasani796
    @ladylaviniadasani796 3 года назад +7

    I'm doing an exam on language right now and this was indeed very interesting. Great content, mate.

  • @j.s.7335
    @j.s.7335 3 года назад +1

    What fascinates me is that while the past forms of many verbs are irregular, there's not a single irregular present participle. Every single one gets the "-ing" ending.
    I think "clad" is about done for in favor of "clothed". I think some high contenders for regularization are "drived", "catched", and "teached".

    • @soleursuelos3616
      @soleursuelos3616 2 года назад

      Scantily clad is very much alive.
      Asleep, alive, abrew. Basically sleeping living, brewing.

  • @rainynight02
    @rainynight02 5 лет назад +413

    Technically speaking, even if you only read a single book, you HAVE read a fraction of all books.
    Not a large fraction, but a fraction none the less.

    • @entropyzero5588
      @entropyzero5588 5 лет назад +26

      You don't actually have to read _any_ books - 0/[a lot] is still a fraction.

    • @Jordan_Dossou
      @Jordan_Dossou 5 лет назад +8

      Boi/gurl u know what he meant

    • @notketki
      @notketki 5 лет назад +18

      Which also could mean that if one reads the alphabet , it would be a fraction as well . I think...

    • @Zombarakh
      @Zombarakh 5 лет назад

      Interesting, *raises eyebrow*!

    • @vampyrangel1982
      @vampyrangel1982 5 лет назад +6

      Couldn't you technically read one word and still have read a fraction?

  • @nezzy4645
    @nezzy4645 5 лет назад +147

    I read a novel by Charles Dickens recently (my first time reading a work of his) and he continuously uses the word ‘lighted’ not ‘lit’ which I found very interesting and now I have an answer, thank you

    • @ab9840
      @ab9840 4 года назад +13

      You could also say "one of his literary works" which makes it sound kind of fancy.

    • @petroglyph888mcgregor2
      @petroglyph888mcgregor2 4 года назад +12

      Some say that those words have different meanings. You LIT the candle. Then the candle LIGHTED the hallway. But in present tense, they're both just "light".

    • @petroglyph888mcgregor2
      @petroglyph888mcgregor2 4 года назад +5

      @@cedrichua3476 Huh? Who's "we"? I use that type of double possessive phrase sometimes, and I thought that a lot of other people do, too. Wait---are you saying that it's old-fashioned!? I never realized that. I thought that double-possessive was an oddity of the English language that would be impossible to eliminate now. But maybe I was wrong.

    • @queenoftheslums3714
      @queenoftheslums3714 4 года назад

      @@cedrichua3476 thats funny coz ive never ready any of his works and i say "work of his" (btw im american too)

    • @aristheia_
      @aristheia_ 3 года назад +1

      @@cedrichua3476 well, for me it's not stupid, it genuinely made me curious because that's how I usually say/write it too except I never personally realized it until you pointed it out. I'm not a native English speaker and I don't live in an environment where people speak English on a daily basis, so I don't notice these subtle nuances as much. Very thought provoking actually.

  • @pajamesie
    @pajamesie 3 года назад +7

    “We almost never say words like halux”
    Me: oh that’s a Zelda boss, right?

  • @CreatorLovesLegos
    @CreatorLovesLegos 3 года назад +5

    Proto
    İndo
    European
    “Did someone say pie, i want pie, give me some pie!”

  • @ckijiae
    @ckijiae 5 лет назад +360

    Now I really curious
    ...DO WORMS HAVE BUTTS?!?!

    • @jaschabull2365
      @jaschabull2365 5 лет назад +45

      Depends on the type of worm. Roundworms, earthworms, leeches and all of those do, and their butts are equivalent to people's faces. Flatworms don't have them though, as just like jellyfish, they can't poop, just barf.

    • @coldmoonlight6361
      @coldmoonlight6361 5 лет назад +5

      Google it

    • @MK-hj9de
      @MK-hj9de 4 года назад +4

      @@jaschabull2365 woah

    • @Peppapig-th7fr
      @Peppapig-th7fr 4 года назад +1

      Wow

    • @xandeath75
      @xandeath75 4 года назад +1

      I'm*

  • @chichen174
    @chichen174 5 лет назад +386

    I’ve thought about this for a very long time. SpongeBob’s father has a darker skin tone than his son and wife, which leads me to believe he is a full-blooded sponge of color. SpongeBob’s mother has only a semi-darker skin tone than her son, so I infer she is mixed race, which would explain the next member of SpongeBob’s family. SpongeBob’s grandmother has a darker skin tone than her possible daughter, which would explain her as biracial. But SpongeBob’s grandmother is never told to be his maternal or paternal grandparent which is compromising to my theory but only on a small scale. Now, SpongeBob’s cousin Blackjack has a tan skin tone reminiscent of SpongeBob’s mother’s, which means there are more sponges of color in the SquarePants family. Now, time for some math, SpongeBob’s father is full-blooded and his mother is mixed race, so let’s assume she is half sponge of color, now this would mean SpongeBob is 3/4ths sponge of color. In conclusion, with SpongeBob being 3/4ths sponge of color, I believe he has free reign to say the N-word.

    • @Lysergic_
      @Lysergic_ 5 лет назад +27

      What about his cousin spongebill or whatever who judt couldnt stop being annoying

    • @candicelau5233
      @candicelau5233 5 лет назад +42

      *claps*

    • @nezzy4645
      @nezzy4645 5 лет назад +43

      Don’t forget that his ancestor SpongeBuck looks exactly like him

    • @alecwhatshisname5170
      @alecwhatshisname5170 5 лет назад +28

      I went ahead and let chief know that this is it for you. At ease, soldier.

    • @mehakbhangu6422
      @mehakbhangu6422 5 лет назад +29

      *claps* You have earned my respect.

  • @dpdurlston-powell3851
    @dpdurlston-powell3851 2 года назад +2

    An Ngram review of transport methods was interesting as it also reflects societies' engagement with those transport methods. (Lengthy bookmark to the ngram at the bottom of this comment will probably have to be copy/pasted).
    - CAR/AUTOMOBILE peaked in 1920 with automobile declining in favour of car ever since. There was an overall decline of coverage until around 1995 when car usage shoots upjust to begin dipping down again from 2015.
    - PLANE peaked over the 1940-1970 period and whilst slightly declining, was used consistently until it began dipping down again from 2015.
    - TRAIN was at its peak 1890-1920 and declined all the way through to 1990. Usage has been increasing steadily since then, exceeding PLANE for the first time around 2015.
    - BUS usage became popular from 1920 (just as TRAIN declined) and climbed steadily but slowly until 2015. Usage of BUS has been declining since 2015.
    - BIKE/BICYCLE has not been used as much as any of the words above and after a blip around 1895, settled to low usage. That was until about 1990, since when usage has steadily climbed. The use of BIKE exceeded AUTOMOBILE in 2010 and grows as AUTOMOBILE usage shrinks.
    - TRAM never seems to have been popular, only matching BICYCLE usage around 1910 before fading away again. Usage of TRAM has risen tiny but steady amounts since a low in 1980 and now gets about 25% of the usage that BICYCLE enjoys.
    Given that we could logically suppose that the usage of the word is relative to the use/desire to use that transport method in some way, it suggests that it's time to get out of PLANES, into TRAINS and out of AUTOMOBILES. Meanwhile BUSES are becoming slightly less popular whilst TRAMS never have been. Heartening for the planet though is that there is increased interest in people getting on their BIKES.
    books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=car%2C+automobile%2C+train%2C+bus%2C+plane%2C+tram%2C+bicycle%2C+bike&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2Ccar%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cautomobile%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Ctrain%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cbus%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cplane%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Ctram%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cbicycle%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cbike%3B%2Cc0

  • @unseenjoy
    @unseenjoy 3 года назад +2

    My child uses the contraction "amn't" and I don't have the heart to stop him.

    • @nuhafatimah4303
      @nuhafatimah4303 3 года назад

      In do use it as well

    • @kijul468
      @kijul468 3 года назад

      For me it's all 'ay' as in:
      I ay
      you ay
      We ay
      He/She/It ay
      They ay

    • @claire98
      @claire98 3 года назад

      I personally believe that it's ok to use incorrect grammar if you're doing it for fun and if you'd be able to switch to to the correct one if forced to write an essay or something for school. God knows I do this all the time while chatting with ppl irl. Definitely don't stop him, lol

  • @LTDLimiTeD1995
    @LTDLimiTeD1995 5 лет назад +343

    I'm a huge fan of english's lost letters. þ, I think is a very logical letter to have, just to highlight my favorite.

    • @redhidinghood9337
      @redhidinghood9337 4 года назад +28

      How is it pronounced

    • @idk-ch7hj
      @idk-ch7hj 4 года назад +62

      Red Hiding Hood It’s pronounced ‘th’.

    • @redhidinghood9337
      @redhidinghood9337 4 года назад +10

      @@idk-ch7hj ohh cool

    • @-brianflix-6292
      @-brianflix-6292 4 года назад +14

      Well it's much too late to change it.

    • @3rivals
      @3rivals 4 года назад +44

      Still used in Icelandic with the same sound 'th' (TH sound in 'thought' not 'the') :)

  • @emberquillion4907
    @emberquillion4907 5 лет назад +357

    'People tend to write down language'
    i wOUlD hAvE NeVEr GueSSeD

    • @pringlesthegoose1702
      @pringlesthegoose1702 3 года назад +9

      chinese with the couple thousand characters: *uh oh*

    • @sboeke
      @sboeke 3 года назад +1

      Damn did you say that? Or did you write that? Perhaps you typed that?

    • @truepeacenik
      @truepeacenik 3 года назад +1

      Not all languages are in literate cultures.

  • @Aphrodite10
    @Aphrodite10 3 года назад +16

    I "READ" the book.
    the above sentence is in present tense or past tense?
    English is confusing.
    ""We have the feet that smell and nose that run!!!""

  • @thesparks00
    @thesparks00 3 года назад +2

    Goosebumped when *that* music played...

  • @Housewarmin
    @Housewarmin 5 лет назад +1125

    I have a poem titled “search history” :
    Do worms have Butts?
    How many twitter followers does Joe Hanson have?
    Pictures of Joe Hanson
    How tall is Joe Hanson?
    Joe Hanson.

    • @mospusthespider1246
      @mospusthespider1246 5 лет назад +16

      Sincerelyy Eccentric haha so I wasn’t the first to notice

    • @mospusthespider1246
      @mospusthespider1246 5 лет назад +1

      Sincerelyy Eccentric a

    • @Speed001
      @Speed001 5 лет назад +14

      Apparently Equivalate isn't a word. I think it should be.
      Ex: This equivalates to that.
      Rather than: This is the equivalent to/of that.
      Word: Equivalate
      My def: to be the equivalent of.

    • @zyaicob
      @zyaicob 5 лет назад +2

      I love this so much

    • @TheWatcher802
      @TheWatcher802 5 лет назад +5

      @@Speed001 you already have the word equal.
      One car equals three boats.

  • @kaileys6237
    @kaileys6237 4 года назад +170

    “I before E except after C”
    wEIrd

    • @mickblock
      @mickblock 4 года назад +35

      It is weird indeed neighbor. But how much does weird... weigh?

    • @ArloMathis
      @ArloMathis 4 года назад +16

      There are far more words that defy that rule than follow it.

    • @jamyreaf
      @jamyreaf 4 года назад +20

      receive, foreign, counterfeit, neither, einsteinium, canoeing, height, fleeing, feisty, seize, reinforce, forfeit, apartheid, deceit, leisure, neighbor, either, their, weight, beige, seismic, eight, being, kaleidoscope, caffeine, protein, monotheism, conceit, heinous, seeing, etc.

    • @gabor6259
      @gabor6259 3 года назад +2

      @@jamyreaf A lot of those words don't count because either they come from another language, or there is just a prefix/suffix added.

    • @jamyreaf
      @jamyreaf 3 года назад +11

      @@gabor6259 doesn't almost every word in the english language come from another language lol

  • @sorosaltgaming
    @sorosaltgaming 3 года назад +10

    "Hey smart people, Joe here."
    Dumb people: excuse me?!?

  • @callmebite
    @callmebite 2 года назад

    I'm not a smart person but this video is interesting!
    I love it so much! Like knowing verbs like: Applaud-Applauded(rarely used) but Keep-Kept(frequently used). I slightly understood or understanded?
    Great video Man!😊

  • @fartgirl6284
    @fartgirl6284 4 года назад +262

    I've heard a lot of people say "Wedded" insetad of wed lol

    • @erentoraman2663
      @erentoraman2663 4 года назад +45

      _insetad_

    • @sparklingstarsforeverinthe493
      @sparklingstarsforeverinthe493 4 года назад +2

      Koalauren * instead

    • @vargvikernes4859
      @vargvikernes4859 4 года назад +3

      Losted

    • @aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa790
      @aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa790 4 года назад +3

      Don't they have different functions?

    • @RobBCactive
      @RobBCactive 4 года назад +9

      That's because to be wedded to something is a common phrase. To wed is rather an archaic verb, to marry and to be married is usual.
      On the other hand newly married people are frequently called newly weds.
      Anyone who's learned foreign languages knows it's the common verbs that are irregular, often because the modified form is easier to say.
      Why to wed has gone out of fashion might even be due to uncertainty, saying he married her at a church wedding, avoids doubt but also repitition. To marry at a marriage ceremony sounds equally stupid.

  • @Ana.Forlin
    @Ana.Forlin 4 года назад +55

    8:58 Wow... I really used to say things the unconventional way. For years, people made fun of me for the way I spoke. I used to say "dove" and "wed" instead of "dived" and "wedded" I had to change my writing because I was being failed in courses for the way I wrote. Moreover, people often wouldn't understand what I meant as I spoke. So, I had to change to adapt.

    • @nicholaswilley9001
      @nicholaswilley9001 3 года назад +17

      Dove is correct...

    • @Ana.Forlin
      @Ana.Forlin 3 года назад +11

      @@nicholaswilley9001 I'm aware. Unfortunately, it appears that most people aren't.

    • @stucutt2828
      @stucutt2828 3 года назад +1

      @@Ana.Forlin I'm curious as to what subject you took that would require a written submission of coursework (that would evidently count towards your grade)?...Safely inferring as you did, that they are superior in the knowledge of the 'written English language'. How has the establishment even been allowed to grade papers? Given that it is the general consensus a fluent English speaker AND writer would be the one grading the paper. Otherwise you may as well have took it up-on yourself to grade your own writing. Which tells me, it wasn't English you took, nor was it a subject requiring the proper use of English language, I.e screen writing or law... Please enlighten me? :)

    • @davidjacobs8558
      @davidjacobs8558 3 года назад +2

      @@stucutt2828 exactly. unless it's English or related cource, no one will fail you for misspelling one or two words.

    • @Ana.Forlin
      @Ana.Forlin 3 года назад +7

      @@stucutt2828 I'm not sure as to where you are located, but in Canada (at least Atlantic Canada), professors have complete autonomy in the creation and assessment of their course curriculum. They can grade papers as they please.
      The specific course I think of each time I recall that awful experience is "ENGL 1201: Introduction to Principles of Literary Analysis". My professor quite literally called me into his office to talk about why I was failing -- apparently, he had to read my paper 5 times to actually understand my point. I'll quote his words -- "the first 4 times, I was scratching my head, trying to figure out what your point was. The fifth time, I realised that you really did have a point, but due to the flowery and elaborate language you used, I was more focussed on consulting the dictionary to understand what you were trying to say, and your point was lost. It's almost like a work of art, but unfortunately, I can't pass this paper. I'll reconsider if it rewrite it in simple language without the long words". I asked him why my use of long words was such an issue, as the problem clearly wasn't typos or incorrect grammar, spelling or punctuation. He said that no modern day English speaker can decipher this paper on their first read, and will have to read it several times to understand it.

  • @jhonwask
    @jhonwask 2 года назад +1

    I love the history of languages, especially the English language. There was a British series called (Now, I may be wrong about the title, but it's a close approximation.) "Adventures in English: The History of a Language." It was such a fascinating story and I've never seen anything like it since. (dangling participle)

    • @gerryboudreaultboudreault2608
      @gerryboudreaultboudreault2608 6 месяцев назад +1

      A really great series on PBS years ago called "The Story of English" hosted by Robert MacNeal.

  • @MaxOakland
    @MaxOakland 9 месяцев назад +1

    English is a messy language but I love how much you can do with it! I'm really into poetry and lyrics

  • @shmuelparzal
    @shmuelparzal 5 лет назад +15

    In Old English, they had 3 types of verbs: immutable or 'weak' verbs (what we would today call 'regular' verbs, where the central vowel doesn't change, and which form their past tense simply by adding -ed), mutable or 'strong' verbs (verbs where the central vowel changes in the past tense, like drink-drank-drunk / break-broke-broken), and lastly, fully irregular verbs. From the root vowel and the ending of the verb infinitive, it was obvious in Old English which verbs were mutable and which immutable; thankfully the irregular verbs were few in number, but were also the commonest verbs, and one was able to remember them because of common use (as discussed in the video). However, once Norman French started interfering with English, the difference became less obvious. The rules that helped us recognise mutable verbs from immutable verbs couldn't be applied to foreign loanwords, and so fell out of use; verbs which would once have been considered regular mutable verbs are now ALL classed as 'irregular'.

    • @109Rage
      @109Rage 5 лет назад +2

      Although French is often blamed for English becoming weird, I've heard claims that loanwords had nothing to do with it. English just had a number of sound shifts *after* the Norman French, that eventually made it difficult to tell which were weak or strong verbs. This process is apparently also what broke down the case and gender system English once had. The rules used to distinguish these things had become obscure after sound shifts merged and shifted certain sounds over time.
      Languages take in loanwords all the time. They don't tend to completely collapse a language's case and gender system.

    • @kraio-sfu
      @kraio-sfu 5 лет назад

      Can’t trust a lingual history written by a person that uses “commonest”

  • @Macerly
    @Macerly 5 лет назад +186

    Shoutout to me accidentally picking up the book “Alex through the looking glass” yesterday - literally reading about Zipfs Law. I was thinking about the law all day, and for some reason I decided to finally end my day with watching some RUclips video, this video being the first one I clicked on- and then YET AGAIN, I was exposed to the zipfs law. Why is it that universe wants to expose this law so much to me please provide some explanation 😫😅🤭🙄

    • @TommoCarroll
      @TommoCarroll 5 лет назад +4

      Haha, we're waiting _Universe_ - answer here question! 😅

    • @ateendrasharma5687
      @ateendrasharma5687 5 лет назад +17

      Two explanations. First: You talked out loud about Zipf's law and Google picked it up through your phone/tablet/laptop's mic. Second: Coincidence.

    • @sion8
      @sion8 5 лет назад +2

      +Macerly
      The Universe wants you to know that the most used stuff is the least complex, while the least used are the most complex.

    • @thexinventor47
      @thexinventor47 5 лет назад +4

      Perhaps the next person to view this video only learned about Zipf's law half as much

    • @Macerly
      @Macerly 5 лет назад

      omg

  • @bradensorensen966
    @bradensorensen966 3 года назад +1

    This is the most interesting grammar video I have ever sawed!

  • @godofbiscuitssf
    @godofbiscuitssf 3 года назад

    It's not about verbs, but something that I've noticed that's rapidly changing is comparative adjectives. More frequently, those regular comparatives -- those that use suffixes 'er' for comparative and 'est' suffix for superlative -- have replaced with using "more" before the base version. "more clear" instead of "clearer", "more bright" instead of "brighter", etc.
    Have you noticed this?

  • @klaasbil8459
    @klaasbil8459 5 лет назад +113

    "You could never read every book, or even a fraction of them, in a lifetime". That's clearly not true. Of course you can read a fraction of them. Granted, it will be a tiny fraction.

    • @rumham7631
      @rumham7631 5 лет назад +8

      Yea if you read 1 book then you’ve already read a fraction of them

    • @denniswilson3902
      @denniswilson3902 5 лет назад +12

      I'm SURE he meant "a significant fraction." But, you're right, what he SAID was incorrect.

    • @Laurenrdraws
      @Laurenrdraws 5 лет назад +4

      you must be fun at parties

    • @lukeahandsa
      @lukeahandsa 5 лет назад

      You don't need to read books.
      0/x

    • @warmmilk3058
      @warmmilk3058 5 лет назад

      Yeah like .0000000000000000000000000000001% or .000000000000000000000000000001/1000000000

  • @dhulkiflfairoz9175
    @dhulkiflfairoz9175 4 года назад +54

    2:00 "Do worms have butts" he be asking the real questions here

  • @jackhughman282
    @jackhughman282 2 года назад +2

    Damn, tacky got back handed. Really asserted his dominance there.

  • @daavkad4753
    @daavkad4753 3 года назад

    Great work. I really like this video and I assume this is useful for English language learners as well.

  • @SciencewithKatie
    @SciencewithKatie 5 лет назад +836

    I feel so bad for those learning English as a foreign language with all our irregular verbs. And a lot of stuff isn't pronounced like it looks either! 🙈

    • @bazeidrhook3528
      @bazeidrhook3528 5 лет назад +221

      Science with Katie english is really easy to learn

    • @RamzaBeoulves
      @RamzaBeoulves 5 лет назад +66

      The easiest language I tried to learn by far
      For instance, French is an easy language to learn and their verbs are a lot harder ^_^

    • @patstaysuckafreeboss8006
      @patstaysuckafreeboss8006 5 лет назад +147

      English is literally the easiest language to learn lol it took me a year to get fluent

    • @redditfm4578
      @redditfm4578 5 лет назад +41

      Bonjour, je confirme ça doit être difficile pour un anglais ou autre d’apprendre le français, mais c’est une langue magnifique avec plein de règles compliquées !
      Hello, I’m sorry but English is one of the easiest language to learn in the world, unlike Asians who are entirely different compare to Europeans :)

    • @botigamer9011
      @botigamer9011 5 лет назад +24

      I learned English as a foreign language, and some people think I sound like an authentic Australian (I was born and raised in Mexico, and I've never even been to Australia)

  • @jmcosmos
    @jmcosmos 5 лет назад +54

    So let's throw in a rapidly irregularizing verb ... have you noticed how often the past imperfect of "sneak" is now "snuck"? In my 1960s childhood, "snuck" was strongly disapproved as slang; today, it's common to hear and read.

    • @sion8
      @sion8 5 лет назад +2

      Can you provide a source on that? That rather interesting, because in linguistic time that's not that long ago.

    • @jmcosmos
      @jmcosmos 5 лет назад

      Ì personally can't, but I found this blog bit.ly/2BewsKP studying it.

    • @vbgvbg1133
      @vbgvbg1133 5 лет назад +2

      Soon it would probably be snook

    • @rickyrojas1901
      @rickyrojas1901 5 лет назад +3

      Upon further review it seems that sneak and sneaked are mostly used and that snook isn’t a word but a type of fish so it’s showed up frequently. I also found the uses for snuck on grammarly. “Sneaked is the past tense of sneak when the verb is treated like a regular verb. Snuck is the past tense of sneak when the verb is treated like an irregular verb. Some people frown upon snuck, so if you're in doubt about which form to use, sneaked is always the safer option.”

    • @soraneyorumi2017
      @soraneyorumi2017 5 лет назад +1

      One is hanged, but one is beING hung. (In terms of the verb in context of a noose.) BUT WAIT IT DOESN'T ALWAYS WORK. "We hung out this weekend. ""I hung up the Christmas lights." "The Christmas lights were hung [up] a week before Thanksgiving!"
      When I think up example sentences, the verb hang is only treated regularly in context of someone being hanged...hung? I don't know. I do believe that this verb is regular or irregular based on the transitivity of the verb (whether it takes an object or not) but it could also be explained by region and local dialectal changes, because I'm certain that one form of the verb is preferred over other forms in certain regions of the English speaking world.
      Personally, I don't use the verb "plead" enough, I would use begged instead to avoid confusion. However, if I do use it, plead always becomes pled.
      Sneaked vs snuck is also a transitivity question. I personally say snuck as past tense third or first person conjugation. Sneaked is just wrong sounding. Snuck looks weird but said in context it sounds correct. "I snuck out last night to meet Barbara at the park." "The boy snuck around the cryptic house wondering if there was any thing of value."

  • @Buenanueva1
    @Buenanueva1 2 года назад

    After seeing that the GameStop investors were saying the squeeze got squozed, I got curious to see if there were ever any other instances of verbs being changed to become irregular, because it just sounded so funny! Im so glad I found this video. To put my two cents, I think that the rise of autocorrect and spell check might slow down the move towards regularization because people dont have to memorize the irregular past of any verb they dont use very frequently

  • @rawegg5591
    @rawegg5591 2 года назад

    The title is what got me clicking, not the sentence but the “word” forgotted, i was about to write in the comments about it but it turns out it’s deliberate.

  • @anastasiachristina
    @anastasiachristina 5 лет назад +81

    We have found Joe Hanson's biggest fan: Joe Hanson

  • @ReKiD1697
    @ReKiD1697 5 лет назад +45

    AND THIS IS WHY WE NEED A LINGUISTICS CHANNEL I WANT TO KNOW MORE. PBS STUDIO DO IT FOR THE ONE TIME

    • @LuisAldamiz
      @LuisAldamiz 5 лет назад +4

      I like Paul's channel Langfocus but if you want an English-specific linguistic channel, I don't know what recommend to you. Paul's channel is overly cosmopolitan.

    • @ReKiD1697
      @ReKiD1697 5 лет назад +3

      Luis Aldamiz I have been a die hard of langfocus for years. Paul is more about the languages themselves and not the linguistics behind them

    • @LuisAldamiz
      @LuisAldamiz 5 лет назад

      True. But linguistics of all languages is such a wide theme, also slippery terrain: in many instances there are more theories than linguists!

    • @gregkrobinson
      @gregkrobinson 5 лет назад +1

      Check out Alliterative

    • @pokemonhacker01
      @pokemonhacker01 5 лет назад +4

      Nativlang and Xidnaf are some of my favorite linguistics channel. Check em out!

  • @imma27
    @imma27 2 года назад

    As soon as he started talking about words I thought of Zipfs law from Vsauce lmao I love that he added him in

  • @pierrechaput2439
    @pierrechaput2439 Год назад

    Great vid, thank you :) Your little Chuck Darwin dude reminds me so much of FoodScienceBabe's videos lol

  • @BoWSkittlez
    @BoWSkittlez 5 лет назад +61

    1:59 next video. “Do worms have butts?”

  • @sirseriously
    @sirseriously 5 лет назад +54

    Ngram search: Rock, Paper, Scissors - Paper beats rock, and rock beat scissors. Who would've thunk?

  • @vectorstrike
    @vectorstrike 2 года назад

    The subtle Paper vs Rock graph!

  • @JorgeLopez-ix2zi
    @JorgeLopez-ix2zi 2 года назад

    What an awesome video! I was raised in Spanish but have lived the majority of my life in English.

  • @dogphlap6749
    @dogphlap6749 5 лет назад +53

    I might say "I'm fully wedded to the concept of anthropomorphic global warming" but I might also say "my sister wed her long term boyfriend last weekend" so I guess for me wed and wedded have similar but subtly different meanings.

    • @tiffprendergast
      @tiffprendergast 4 года назад

      Dogphlap yup

    • @Untoldanimations
      @Untoldanimations 4 года назад +6

      That doesn't count because you used the participle for the first and past tense for the second. The apple is eaten. I ate the apple

    • @littlefox_100
      @littlefox_100 3 года назад

      Wet

  • @redskiez
    @redskiez 5 лет назад +47

    I once used the word 'gladdened' in an English test paper. My teacher marked it wrong but I had checked it beforehand and knew it was a word. I didn't know words could die and this is very interesting to me. Thank you for the informative video.

    • @Shinathen
      @Shinathen 10 месяцев назад +1

      Im pretty sure gladdened is still a word, it’s just not used in the most common sentence, for instance if you were to say “I am gladdened” it’s present tense but the verb is past however the sentence still makes sense and you’re speaking in the third person which you rarely use

  • @TheNextFiles288
    @TheNextFiles288 8 месяцев назад

    Could you put a link where i can get those charts used for your examples of words and languages

  • @patrickgichini1754
    @patrickgichini1754 2 года назад +2

    Well, I also think the fact that English is a cocktail of a bunch of languages doesn't help at all. English is my third language but since I started on it basically in nursery school alongside my other first languages I never saw anything weird in it until I started learning other languages. Now as an adult with about 8 languages in my pocket, I can clearly see the effects that languages like German, Spanish and French have had on the English language. And even indirectly how languages like Arabic have affected Spanish which has in turn affected English.
    But then I also think about the effort I had to put into learning stuff like Arabic and Japanese and English seems easy.

  • @Freakyros
    @Freakyros 5 лет назад +18

    These videos are so poetically written. I often get goosebumps when he gets to the end to finish it off with a great punchline. Hell, this channel can make the invention of paper look interesting. Shout out to the writers of the script and off course the host (Joe?), who is the face of enthousiastic speaking in these science videos. Love it.

  • @noora1142
    @noora1142 5 лет назад +620

    Can't people in RUclips comment section just forget the word "first" 😒

  • @user-me7ci7pf7r
    @user-me7ci7pf7r 3 года назад +3

    I love how his ears got progressively red throughout the video

  • @jonasholzer4422
    @jonasholzer4422 3 года назад

    My guess always was that the irregular words as they are also the most often used words, wore down over time. I taught that language evolution basically worked faster on those often used words and therefore they changed the most.
    But avter the video the opposite seems logical. It's easier to learn the irregulars you often see. But people will forget how rare words change in different tenses and use the regular way.

  • @Denise11Schultz
    @Denise11Schultz 5 лет назад +37

    Really fun video, thank you. My theory why the irregular verbs are high in frequency of use is because of their sound. If many things affect our ability to distinguish spoken language accurately, such as hearing deficits, noisy backgrounds, being a visual rather than auditory learner, etc., it would be helpful to have more unique sounds to differentiate between very commonly used words.

    • @fernandobanda5734
      @fernandobanda5734 3 года назад +3

      If that was a factor, we wouldn't have verbs like "set" and "put" that get more ambiguous for getting irregular. Irregular verbs resist changes because of tradition, nothing else.

    • @matthewparker9276
      @matthewparker9276 2 года назад +2

      Common words get used more often, so are more well known, and the pronunciation is more reinforced, even as the language undergoes a shift, so are more likely to become irregular.

  • @elizaflorendo
    @elizaflorendo 2 года назад

    Excellent video! Thanks!

  • @deleted-something
    @deleted-something 6 месяцев назад

    Amazing videos as always :)

  • @cheeseburgermonkey7104
    @cheeseburgermonkey7104 5 лет назад +62

    you can always remember this one:
    supercalifragilisticexbialidocious

    • @idk-ch7hj
      @idk-ch7hj 4 года назад +21

      Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious*.

    • @emmansvlogz4535
      @emmansvlogz4535 4 года назад +6

      How about pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis?

    • @madamii
      @madamii 4 года назад +6

      @@emmansvlogz4535 I practiced saying that word a while ago so I can say it fluently now.

    • @pmmeurcatpics
      @pmmeurcatpics 4 года назад +8

      @@madamii weird flex but okay

    • @madamii
      @madamii 4 года назад +1

      @@pmmeurcatpics You're not wrong

  • @icepebbles8471
    @icepebbles8471 5 лет назад +82

    browser history: do worms have butts?
    me: idk 😂

  • @arvaneret_329
    @arvaneret_329 3 года назад +2

    I think this is also happening to certain concepts which are being disregarded in society, such as humility and modesty as opposed to arrogance and the like. The more recent generations in the English-speaking world and the rest of people who speak English on a regular basis, are substituting the verb “to brag” with “to flex”, thereby taking away its negative, shameful connotations. For example, you see people flexing their muscles at a gym and these people cause respect and admiration from others, instead of annoyance or pity as should happen around an arrogant individual who inconsiderately brags about his achievements or acquisitions in front of those who lack them. Words are tools with which we think, construct ideas and understand ourselves in the world; when we find ourselves trapped in a sociocultural environment which has indoctrinated us ideologically, or simply in a way that limits our ability to think and understand new information, it can be damaging.

    • @theheathbar123
      @theheathbar123 Год назад +1

      I actually hear "flex" used often with a negative connotation, not so much shamefully as dismissively, e.g. "Yeah, whatever, he's just flexing." This doesn't express admiration for the bragging, but rather a healthy skepticism in the words or actions of the arrogant person.

    • @arvaneret_329
      @arvaneret_329 Год назад

      @@theheathbar123 You admitted the term “to flex” takes away the shameful connotation and proposes indifference towards it. That's the problem, it facilitates normalization of that attitude, and then it stops being a problem.

  • @YourRyeBread
    @YourRyeBread Год назад +1

    yessss more channels like vsauce I need it
    4:13 lol its in my recommended and I planned to watch it after this
    5:18 is it cuz people wanna sound smart?

  • @109Rage
    @109Rage 5 лет назад +8

    For the record, "irregular verbs" used to follow rules in Old English (In German they're called "strong verbs"), based on the morphology of the word. But after various sound shifts, these rules became obscured, and the strong/weak verbs system turned into irregular/regular verbs.

  • @um_internacionalista
    @um_internacionalista 4 года назад +73

    "English verbs are hard"
    Portuguese: Am I joke to you?

    • @gernottiefenbrunner172
      @gernottiefenbrunner172 4 года назад +8

      @ltx if you disregard spelling. that's easier in most other european languages.

    • @yumyumwhatzohai
      @yumyumwhatzohai 4 года назад +2

      @ltx is English not a European language, or are you just a dumbass?

    • @arm8636
      @arm8636 4 года назад +1

      @@yumyumwhatzohai 2nd answer

    • @raissa383
      @raissa383 3 года назад +4

      porque, porquê, por quê, por que....

    • @raissa383
      @raissa383 3 года назад

      @MatZ nao importa o quanto eu tente eu nunca decoro os porquês, nao lembro oq é esse negócio de regular e irregular e etc.. por isso acho ingles mais fácil

  • @Ice-ps9yo
    @Ice-ps9yo 2 года назад +2

    2:00
    "Do worms have butts?"
    Good question...I'm gonna google that

  • @smallstudiodesign
    @smallstudiodesign 3 года назад +2

    In Canada we have to learn both French and English ... and realize that English is not alone with irregularities ... and having studied Spanish, Japanese and Arabic ... it’s not uncommon in other lingos to be inconsistent.

    • @andrewgwilliam4831
      @andrewgwilliam4831 2 года назад

      I doubt there are any natural languages which change the form of words according to grammatical context without there being any inconsistencies.