English is not just weird. It is often unfathomable for nonnative speakers:
-There is no ham in hamburger.
-There is egg in egg plant.
-There is no pine in pineapple.
-There is no apple in pineapple.
-English muffins were not invented in England.
-French fries were not invented in France.
-Sweetmeats are candies.
-Sweetbreads are neither sweets nor breads; they are pancreases and often thought of as a meat product.
-Quick sand sucks one under slowly.
-Boxing rings are square.
-Guinea pigs are not from Guinea, nor are they pigs.
-Writers write, but fingers don’t fing; grocers don’t groc; and hammers don’t ham.
-Vegetarians eat vegetables; so, what do humanitarians eat?
-English speakers recite at a play and play at a recital.
-We ship by truck, but we also move cargo by ship.
-One’s house can burn up as it burns down.
-Our noses run, and our feet smell.
-An alarm goes off by going on.
-We fill in a form by filling it out.
-The human race is not a race—and is not destined to become an Olympic activity.
-Stars are visible when they are out, but lights are invisible when they are out.
-A statistically unlikely event can be at once a slim chance and a fat chance.
-Buick does not rhyme with quick.
Try and figure out what the simple little word, “up” means from how it is used by English speakers:
-Up is the direction towards the sky or heaven, or the top of a list.
-We wake up in the morning. ? .
-At a meeting, a topic comes up. ? .
-We speak up.
-Politicians come up for election.
-It is up to the officer to write up a report.
-We call up friends.
-We brighten up a room.
-We polish up silverware.
-We lock up the house.
-The guy fixes up his old clunker.
-Rabble rousers stir up trouble.
-Fans line up for tickets.
-Junk takes up space in a crowded garage.
-Effort works up an appetite.
-We think up excuses.
-Everybody dresses; but on special occasions, we dress up.
-A drain gets clogged up.
-The shopkeeper opens up his store in the morning.
-When it is clouding up, it looks like a rain storm is coming up.
-Rain comes down and messes things up.
-After the rain, things dry up. The sun comes out and the weather clears up.
-English can mix a foreigner or even a native up.
-Sometimes things just don’t add up, but a very industrious student of English may be up to it.
-My time is up; so, I really should wrap this up and shut up. And you should just give up, since you could end up with a hundred more examples that come up.