7. 💡 Linguistic Curiosities

• Where words like breakfast, holiday, handkerchief come from:

  • Breakfast (break + fast): Breaking the night's fast.

  • Holiday (holy + day): Originally, a sacred or festive day.

  • Handkerchief: A cloth for the hand (hand + kerchief - head covering, but for the hand).

• Why English has so much irregularity: Influence from multiple languages throughout its history (Anglo-Saxon, Old Norse, Norman French), resulting in multiple forms of plural and conjugation.

• Curiosities of British vs. American English: 

  • Differences in spelling (-our vs. -or: colour/color).

  • Differences in vocabulary (lift/elevator, flat/apartment).

  • Differences in pronunciation (the post-vocalic /r/ and the /æ/ vowel in dance).