Outstanding!

Words confound me. One word, multiple meanings. Two words, same meaning. One spelling, two pronunciations. Did the inventors of modern English got bored, lack creativity or were all possible letter/sound combinations used? Either way, homonyms, synonyms, homographs, homophones, heteronyms etc etc can be incredibly frustrating for those learning English as a second language, those TEACHING English as a second language, young people learning English period, or for people who just have a hard time learning the difference between ‘do’ and ‘due,’ or ‘polish’ and ‘Polish,’ or ‘outstanding’ and ‘OUTSTANDING!’. (Apparently I have difficulty with run-on sentences too……).

We all know so many words, it’s impossible to remember exactly when and where we learned them. I’m going to share a little anecdote about when I learned that ‘outstanding’ was not always referencing a job well done.

Grade 9. End of first term. I was in the tuck shop at school. I’d just received my first report card and I ran into my Biology teacher. Me, awkward, feeling the need to talk to her since there’s no one else around and I can’t pretend not to see her, “Thank you so much for saying I had an outstanding assignment!” My teacher, confused, unsure how to respond finally stammers “Outstanding means you never handed it in.”

Eye was totally phased. Awl eye I know, is eye gnawded in ascent and woked away. It was the WURST! What would ewe due???