Monday, April 02, 2007
Put and Putting
Here's one of those odd English lessons. You can put something away by putting it away. Tiger Wood can make a good putt by putting with accuracy. Should Tiger be puttting? By the way, when I Google "puttting" I get 43,900 hits. "Puttting" brings it down to about 8.
It's similar to using polish to polish the Polish eagle emblem. How is one to know the difference in pronunciation? The capitalization could be a clue, but then, "Polish that shoe!" puts (putts?) and end to that.
And how many people do you know who would be willing to desert the desert for dessert? Would that be their just deserts?
How about a fish that makes a low frequency noise? Would that be a bass bass?
Does two does make a pair if they're standing in a pear orchard?
And looking into the Wikipedia, I find these are called heteronyms - and a pretty deserted entry it is.
