Funny-Sounding English Words That Make Us Laugh

 

English has many words that sound funny when we say them. Some are old, some are new, but all of them can make us smile. Here are a few examples:

• Bamboozle – This word means to trick someone. (Ex: The clever salesman tried to bamboozle me into buying something I didn’t need.)

• Lollygag – If you lollygag, you are moving slowly or wasting time. (Ex: Don’t lollygag on the way to school—you’ll be late!)

• Wobble – When something moves side to side, like jelly, it wobbles.  (Ex: The chair began to wobble, so I tightened the screws.)

• Kerfuffle – A small argument or fuss. (Ex: There was a little kerfuffle at the store when two people grabbed the same shirt.)

• Flabbergasted – Very surprised or shocked. (Ex: I was flabbergasted when I saw how much the puppy had grown!)
  
  

Funny words like these make English more interesting. They may sound strange, but that’s part of the fun of learning a new language!

What funny English word have you heard lately?

Using new vocabulary

Learning new vocabulary is a never-ending goal. It may sound too easy, but one of the best ways to increase your vocabulary is by learning 1 to 5 new words each day. Whether you’re a beginner or an advanced speaker, you’re never too old or too fluent to learn new words. 

Overloading yourself with long lists of words to memorize is an overwhelming task. With languages, it’s more efficient to absorb and use new vocabulary slowly, so limiting yourself to an average of 5 words per day is ideal. After one week, that’s 35 new words, and 1,825 new words after one year!

You won’t struggle to form sentences and express your ideas, thoughts, emotions, and processes as your vocabulary increases daily. 

Reviewing old vocabulary and adding 1 to 5 new words each day will have you expressing yourself more accurately and confidently. You'll be amazed at how much you can accomplish!

How many words make you fluent in a language?

Have you ever wondered about how many words you need to know to reach fluency? Perhaps these numbers will motivate you.

From Helen Doron's Early English for Children "How many words to be fluent in English" (http://www.helendoron.com/arch_f…):

You can get by in most basic situations with about 500-1000 words, but fluency also has to do with how well you use what you know. Both quantity AND quality are important. Good pronunciation and proper grammar count for a lot, so a good basis in English language learning will carry you far.

A large vocabulary is important to be able to really enjoy a language. But how many words do you actually need to know?

- 'Crawl' level: 400-500 words, about 150 phrases. You can make yourself somewhat understood and understand slow speech.
- Mini level: 800-1000 words and 300 phrases. Now you can speak relatively well and unstrained, and can read newspapers and books with the aid of a dictionary.
- Midi level: 1500-2000 words and more than 300 phrases. What you need for day to day conversations. During the course of one day you need approximately this amount of vocabulary, and you can take part in serious discussions and understand what is being said at normal speed.
- 3000-4000 words: Sufficient for reading newspapers and magazines fluently.
- 8000 words: All you ever need. More words are not necessary in order to communicate freely and read all types of literature.