English is Broken! Analyzing "The Chaos" Poem by Gerard Nolst Trenité (ASMR)

[@raccoonofmotivation20]

The guy that made the word colonel is laughing from the grave right now.

[@remi_dadude]

I think he just really liked popcorn

[@Stanzafly]

Colonel is a French word that has become bastardized in pronunciation over the years. Pretty much most French words in English are like this. Croissant, bureau, debris, facade, rendezvous... they're all terrible because French is terrible too lol

[@Noodle177]

colonial: kuhlouneeul colonel: kurnul wtf

[@zoebaggins90]

​@@Stanzafly I have to agree. The French are trolling everyone.

[@mitchelldkirby]

@@zoebaggins90 the French have a governmental organization to turn English words to French words so that English doesn’t overrun them. Say what you will about the language, it has one of the strangest abilities to create words at an absolutely insane pace.

[@dragonjo7550]

the line "Reading, Reading" the first R is capitalized due to starting the line, the second R is capitalized due to being a name

[@EphemeralRift]

Yeah, duh, lol

[@bladeshriner6632]

Its a mix of french latin and german and possibly more. Its a amalgamation of alot of languages and i accually kinda like how complex english is and the variation in sounds bc it makes poetry easier bc i could use different variations of the same word to rhyme i.e "the bells are all i use to hear" or "the bells are all i heard" which have the same meaning but rhyme differently

[@MaRBL23563]

ive heard mandarin chinese is also really good for that

[@anonymousmysteries3171]

English is such a complex language, with how many words from other languages it has added (tortilla, sayonara, bologna, etc). It might be because I'm a Nerd(tm), but I love how you can trace certain words to other languages; I love how English speakers can **vaguely** understand different languages due to words they share.

[@utaldotralha]

English aint complex

[@MaRBL23563]

@@utaldotralha *English is not complex.

[@utaldotralha]

@@MaRBL23563 oh shit looks like it is

[@drudan8957]

The reason for the inconsistency is mainly down to the fact that right after time written English finally got standardized, it went through a large amount of vowel shifts. edit: I forgot to mention the large Latin and Old Norse influence as well.

[@polk-e-dot8177]

I wouldn't discount the Norman conquering of England in the 11th century. 300 years of your government now speaking a different language! I'd argue a lot of the inconsistency comes from what was basically the stapling of one language on top of the other.

[@catsabotage3362]

At one point in English history it was considered a sign of intelligence and high education to use different ways to spell words.

[@hyseb2]

The answer to most of your WHYs is either "french" or "great vowel shift"

[@ursuraf]

I like this language, its the second language I know and I often think in this language because I find it easier. What I like about this language is the way you can express yourself, i find it easier in english rather than other languages, but I dont know, i might be wrong though 😅

[@rickytoktok138]

Never heard about the poem before this, but that man is an absolute legend.

[@brennan_]

English is frustrating! But I found once I starting looking into the inconsistencies and learned about different etymologies and lingusitic sources, I think it does make more sense. English has borrowed a lot from a lot of different places.

[@amarantheinwhite]

These talking videos you have been doing are super relaxing. Ive been getting my daily naps in with them. 🥱😌

[@derpyfresh1705]

English gets a lot of words from a lot of different languages and generally tends to keep the spelling and pronunciation of those words the same, meaning words with the same series of letters in two words with different etymological origins will sound different. The reason why the inconsistent spelling is not fixed is because pronunciations change, both over time and depending on who is speaking. If we attempted to spell everything phonetically, Written English would change with every dialect.English also has more spoken vowel sounds than letters to represent them.

[@spec5385]

Day 72 of asking ER to make a video where he tells inanimate objects just how truly he appreciates them.

[@joblake627]

A good description i heard of english was something like it took any scraps and shit from any drunk language walking by

[@The_Entire_Atlantic_Ocean]

Do you think we could see a return from Andy Steve Michael Roberts in the near future? Its been many years since we last saw the guy, i hope he didn't get lost in the woods behind the sanitarium again.

[@chrispreedy7964]

plumber is from latin for lead, (led not leed 🙂): plumbum - as used to be used for water pipes. Lead is Pb on periodic table of elements because of this

[@nyaaanjake]

All this has bothered me greatly ever since I started learning Japanese. They use a syllabary instead of an alphabet and as a result, pronunciation is almost entirely consistent (there are some exceptions but they're much rarer than in English). Part of me thinks a syllabary is just the way to go since enforcing spelling with an alphabet is just an accident waiting to happen.

[@gojoubabee]

i’m learning too!! 一緒に頑張りましょう！(and yes I agree that JP pronunciation is way more consistent than english)

[@musikalniyfanboichik]

these where you just sit down and talk are my fav

[@TheFortuneCat]

Please look into why the first visiting hours is unavailable. It's one of my favorite ASMR videos of all time.

[@q2405]

Well I'm no linguist. But I'm preeeety sure that for every time you asked "why is this like that" there's a solid explanation. Etymology, evolution of language throughout the years etc. The thing is, no language is perfect, but it constantly evolves. And as time passes, weird things happen and stay in there. Doesn't mean that it is malfunctional, just ... weird. And trust me. As a french speaker, your language is ba FAR the one that makes the most sense.

[@00RoxPink]

What do you mean by the last part? I am curious

[@ANIMEFAN-ym6tc]

Sanskrit

[@aldecotan]

Well... There is Esperanto. Not very popular, like at all, but it could be perfect in the future, due to it's nature

[@wisealien]

I weap a little when the old heavy words disappear. But I get what you're diggin into.

[@The_Kea]

Listening to the amount of beef Paul has with the English language is so entertaining

[@Circ]

I love your videos ER and I had an idea that seemed like something you might do but idk if you take suggestions from comments. (And idk if it's any good) "Spit" cleaning, like using your thumb/hand to clean the viewer's face after simulating licking it with a prop or picture of a tongue/mouth. Idk, I thought it might make for some nice sounds and visual stuff.

[@young_gopnik]

Another great video. Keep up the amazing content ER. Quite new to the channel but i'm already in love with your videos. ✌❤

[@lalaizer2006]

English is not my native language (Swedish is), but I will study to become an English teacher in the foreseeable future. It's truly strange that symbols representing certain sounds can vary. I believe I once saw a video on the various pronunciations of the letter "A" and saw someone in the comments calling vowels "flexible." I would rather say that it potentially makes the language harder for non-native speakers to learn.

[@Jamm21-w5k]

luv ur content started watching about a year ago and I’ve watched u every day since

[@jdu2584]

Can you do a video using “consistent” pronunciation for the same letter combos? It would be funny.

[@Emperor_Emyr]

love your creative vids ER. keep it up!

[@martillodelajusticia7211]

I disagree in always fixing just due to phonectics, because the words contains information of the origin and that disconects english from other langueges, (i.e plumbler from plomb that is lead in french) But also words come from differect ramification of an root word, and modifying the word morfology is loose information on the etimology of the word and is suffic and prefix, and how adjectives, adverbs, verbs coming from that word related to each other. Edit: Probably there are words with different sound and same synonims just because confusion anyway, and also having extra simbols would be great for consistency

[@h.d.1624]

Dude I hope this doesn’t come out as rude. But you remind me of my grandfather he isn’t like some old dude that doesn’t understand stuff. Well he is older. But he is like super funny and still is in this generation and your creative nature reminds me of him. So it’s really cool!

[@Ahzealion]

chamois is pronounce "Sham-eee" its so bad. 31:40

[@elinknuckles]

Thank you for this! ❤

[@YankeeStacking]

You missed the very first line example: “crEEture” vs “creAtion” 😂

[@Tez_Tickle]

did anyone mention Arkansas vs. Kansas already?

[@cnicoj]

Great analysis of english Mr. Rift !

[@overlordnat]

To answer your question ‘bade’ can be pronounced ‘bad’ here in Britain (though saying it like ‘bayed’ is considered to be an acceptable alternative). ‘Mould’ is the standard British spelling of the American word ‘mold’ to this very day, it’s not archaic.

[@FourCogs]

Every language has its eccentric parts. Suppose English being cobbled together from so many other ones doesn't help pronunciation/spelling wise. Japanese has the Kanji alphabet which is a whole nother level of nonsense. Each character has a specific meaning and in theory together with another character (if the other character is a Kanji you use onyomi reading, CN origin or from the other 2 alphabets you use Kunyomi, JP origin) should have a specific reading and meaning that makes sense. But I'd say a good 30% have meanings at odds with character meanings, readings at odds with normal reading rules, or even both. You should see all the different things 生 can mean or how many different readings and especially meanings it has depending on context (short list: adjective meaning raw, verb meaning to give birth, half of many words denoting several different levels of student, half of a swear word, half of a word meaning you reached home plate in baseball). And that's not even getting into slang or jokes which are often hard to understand even using Google. One of my favorite words is mikata, you combine 味 (taste) with 方(way) and what do you get? Maybe you guessed the way something tastes? No... you get... friend..

[@Ben.N]

Wake up babe, new e rift pfp.

[@kermt6582]

Jesus, I had to learn it all by heart in my class - I'm from Poland. Extrodinary experience.

[@arthurarantesribeiro5809]

A great poem to do this with would be "dont go gentle into that good light" by Dylan thomas, i think it would do awesome for a video

[@scottgeraci5751]

Rift, you will see an un-nameable Eldritch Horror during the witching hour if you don’t release that “Hotdog with ketchup vs. hotdog with mustard” video you’ve been talking about!

[@zoebaggins90]

As a native Greek speaker, trust me, English is very easy.

[@this_data_is_expunged]

we da shadowwizzardmoneygang we LOVE casting spells and useing our abyssal necromancer packs

[@nellyc1066]

When is tabufala coming back???

[@purolover]

We all know that one maybe two million millennia away, the eldritch beings above will teach us their much more easy to understand language.

[@robink_gacha]

Which one of you spelled worse as wars too while reading the thumbnail?

[@overlordnat]

The poem is even more amusing and absurd in a posh English accent as ‘ranch’ is ‘rahnch’, ‘mauve’ is ‘mohv’ and topsails’ is ‘topsulls’ although having said that ‘missiles’ is less phonetic in American English than in British (we say the last syllable like the one in ‘reviles’, we don’t rhyme it with the word ‘missal’). I can’t say I support a standardised spelling system though as I like the quirky status quo and besides which we’d either have to standardise the pronunciation between all accents and dialects or have a huge number of vastly differing spelling systems.

[@BirdsfromHuntingdon]

It's a fantastic language, it's one of the most descriptive languages!

[@Vibe2vibe]

I think it’s to late to change the language they should have changed it like some point like 1800s but then again if it isn’t changed soon it will never be changed

[@WoodJD]

English is quite contradictory to the Homo sapiens common sense and thought process located in the mind. Intriguing, quite intriguing indeed.

[@mizzmusicthief]

😂 I love this video, I want to send it to all my non native English speaking friends

[@willum4629]

I like the new logo

[@Kayden.Bergeron0622]

The word Rendezvous fills me with hatred. Well, that and hors d’oeuvres

[@TomWhoASMR]

English is like the QWERTY keyboard of languages: designed to slow you down even though it's no longer necessary.

[@jameslove3860]

This is kinda like ur podcast but ASMR i like it I will say tho that maybe that can help us have the edge in communication. Lmao they dont know what we mean sometimes.

[@NobuxD]

It was pretty difficult to learn ASL as a second language. It amazes me how other languages talk “backwards” for example: I want to go to the park. ASL: Park me want to go.

[@madi_ss]

In two weeks I will be graduating with a degree in English. Uncle E, this shit does not make sense even when you devote your life to it. Can I write a good analytical essay on various pieces of literature? Absolutely. Can I spell? No, not at all.

[@Veneno_9112]

This is all I'm learning in English

[@jayros4269]

31:20 I think it's pronounced "Sha mee"... lol

[@AsianPersuation24x7]

Did you read this or have you read this?

[@christopherscott2011]

Liberty bell isn't fixed lol

[@KristijanH]

Ain't no way I never knew about this💀 why is this man's website not promoted more, it really gives u the giggles🙊

[@S3ou]

as a non english speaker the main problem with english is the spelling for example should, could and would why the Fuck there is L in these words. another example is the word example it self why is it written like this ? it should be like this ( egzampl ) english is full of weird words like this

[@ethantidwell1862]

Yep it’s a bunch of other languages just copied and pasted 4 times Danish, German, the old Norman dialect of French and A little bit of Latin to make it sound better

[@donovancurtis9381]

ER changed his logo again, bro.

[@PrincessTrunksBriefs]

Terpsichore is one of the 9 greek Muses

[@zoebaggins90]

Indeed. Must be very hard to pronounce for foreigners.

[@palameno]

english is such a weird language i have much respect for people who are learning it

[@Lunarearick118]

Hey 👋

[@MF-og1ct]

If you start removing vowels and adding consonents to english you will end up with french, like where the word corps comes from. Etymology is fascinating.

[@irvinbecarevic2965]

🇧🇦🇧🇦🇧🇦🇧🇦🇧🇦🇧🇦🇧🇦⚜⚜⚜⚜☪️☪️☪️☪️☪️🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🇧🇦🇧🇦🇧🇦🇧🇦🇧🇦🇧🇦🇽🇰🇽🇰🇦🇱🇽🇰🇽🇰🇦🇱🇦🇱🇽🇰 IMAL BOSANACA

[@Millzy0811]

Chaos in the rift is still normality

[@abilkasimovsayat6997]

Саламалейкум 👋

[@c.s215]

Uncle E!

[@user-nf9lps6t1y]

😢

[@TreeFrogOnATree]

completely fixable with a new alphabet and accent marks :D

[@Monolith446]

Я не уйду никуда я в сейфе ты такой умный сам опиши я ничего писать не хочу .

[@BD_painting118]

Your video is most oldest bro 🙂

[@cervidslayer]

English is a very confusing language.

[@rockr9270]

Im first yea

[@fickleness]

First again lol

[@averagejoe8358]

Four people claim to be first, its not you lol

[@christianege4989]

First 😅

[@Mayers598]

Я тебя поняла без коментарий.

[@simonholzer9068]

If you think the english language is a mess, you should give german a try 🥲 I promise you, you'll loose your mind