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Anyone who has tried learning a second language has no doubt come to the independent realization that the way humans communicate can be pretty chaotic and absurd at times. Why do some languages insist that chairs have genders, while others have no qualms about stringing together multiple nouns into one long monstrosity?

The Lingwist” is a Facebook page dedicated to interesting and downright hilarious linguistics memes. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to add your own language-based memes and ideas in the comments section below.

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    While English doesn’t assign random genders to nouns, many languages across the globe do. If you have ever attempted to learn French or Spanish as a native English speaker, you will quickly ask questions like “why do I need to know if a table is a girl?” This is a very reasonable question and you often won’t hear a reasonable answer.

    Often, there is no logic behind it, besides the form the word happens to take. Most languages differentiate a noun’s gender with a suffix, and often have some other rules about pronunciation as well. Native speakers tend to not even notice how unintuitive this can be until it’s pointed out, these days, often in a meme.

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    #6

    Linguistic meme about English language differences in phrases at a funeral, shared by a Facebook page.

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    Lost Panda
    Community Member
    5 hours ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    As my drill instructor would say if someone said "I'm sorry" *ahem* "I know you are! I didn't ask for a character reference!"

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    #14

    Funny linguistic meme with a humorous definition of "synonym" as a word used when you can't spell another.

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    DE Ray
    Community Member
    6 hours ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    A: "This tastes like synonym!" B: "Are you trying to say 'cinnamon'?" A: "It's another word for the same thing, isn't it?" B: "..."

    #18

    A smug man in historical clothing, representing a linguistic meme about correcting grammar in an argument.

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    Pernille
    Community Member
    1 hour ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Especially on the internet as the person you are trying to correct could very well have English as their third or fourth language, and you only speak one, and badly at that.

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    #29

    Linguistic meme highlighting confusing English words like incapable, inflammable, and invaluable from Grammar YUNiversity.

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    Onion Cat
    Community Member
    5 hours ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The fact that worthless and priceless sound like they should mean the same thing but they're complete opposites.

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    #44

    Funny linguistic meme with confused green character wearing glasses, illustrating complex reading comprehension joke.

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    Rick Seiden
    Community Member
    5 hours ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Back in the 90's my college had a student magazine. It's motto was, "You read it, now work for it." I always thought it was cleaver, because they put it on the back cover. It could be "You 'red' it," or "You 'reed' it" and either would work.

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