English is full of surprises! These five fun facts will show you just how strange, funny — and sometimes confusing — this language can be.
Let’s explore some weird and wonderful things about English that you probably didn’t learn in class.
🤹 1. The word “set” has over 400 meanings
Seriously! It’s one of the most flexible (and confusing) words in the English language.
📜 Fun fact: Set can be a verb, noun, or adjective. It can mean to place something, a group of objects, or even the sun going down.
Examples:
* “Please set the table.”
* “I bought a set of pencils.”
* “The sun set at 6:30.”
🧠 It all depends on context!
🧮 2. “Eleven” and “twelve” break the number pattern
We say thir-teen, four-teen, fif-teen… but not one-teen or two-teen! Why?
📜 Fun fact: Eleven and twelve come from old Germanic words meaning “one left” and “two left” — after counting to ten.
🤔 Mini challenge: Can you count from 11 to 19 in English? Can you do it backwards?
🧊 3. “Icy” and “icy” don’t always mean the same thing
Try saying these two sentences:
* “Be careful — the road is icy.”
* “He gave her an icy look.”
📜 Fun fact: In the first, icy means cold with ice.
In the second, it means cold with emotion — unfriendly or angry.
💬 Try it: Can you write your own sentence using icy in the emotional sense?
🛸 4. English has words that no longer have a “pair”
You’ve heard of reckless (無謀な／向こう見ずな), right? But where’s reckful?
📜 Fun fact: Some English words lost their opposites over time.
Others have roots that don’t exist anymore in modern English.
Other examples:
* Ruthless (無慈悲な／容赦ない) — but no ruthful
* Disgruntled (不満を持った／不機嫌な) — but no gruntled
👀 Just one of English’s many quirks!
🥸 5. “Colonel” is not pronounced how it’s spelled
You’d think colonel (大佐) should sound like koh-loh-nel … but no!
It’s pronounced /ˈkɝː.nəl/ — like kernel. Why?
📜 Fun fact: It came from French (coronel), and English changed the spelling to match Italian (colonnello) … but kept the French pronunciation. Confusing, isn’t it?
🗣️ Say it: “The colonel inspected the troops.”
🪄 Want more English like this?
This kind of knowledge helps you speak and write more naturally — and it’s fun, too!
🧠 Learn how English really works with BEP mini lessons.
📬 Check out our other lessons or 📩 contact us to book a trial session or get help with your writing.
📘 Vocabulary Box – Key Words from This Lesson
| English Word | Japanese Meaning | Notes |
| colonel | 大佐（たいさ） | 軍隊の階級。英語の発音は「カーネル」 |
| reckless | 無謀な、向こう見ずな | 危険や結果を考えずに行動すること |
| ruthless | 無慈悲な、容赦ない | 思いやりがなく、厳しい態度 |
| disgruntled | 不満を持った、不機嫌な | 扱いに不満がある時の感情 |
| inspect | 調べる、点検する、視察する | 公式・注意深く見て確認する行為（例：軍隊） |
| troops | 軍隊、兵士たち | 集団としての兵士。単数形でも複数的に使う |
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Bridge English Partner とパートナーになって：ご提供できるサービスのご紹介
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