Hundevad Productions

Homophones and Homonyms: Part 1. 

I was backstage for a one act festival a while ago and one of the plays that was going while we hung around the green room was called, The Boor, (Chekov). I sarcastically asked if it’s a boar like an animal or a boor like bourgeoisie. My buddy and I look at the title of the show, it was Boor. I nodded, thought so, and he goes, “isn’t it spelled b-o-r-e?” I smile at him. “That’s bore, like to bore a hole, with a drill or something.” And we both laugh and remark on the insanity that is the English language. Bore, Boor, Boar, – bear, bare, bain, bane, bases, basis, beet, beat- the list of homophones in the English lexicon is bonkers huge, and really puts a bane on learning it. So I thought I would cover some bases on the basis of English homophones, (and in the process homonyms). It may be quite difficult to read the paragraphs as I lead the sentences with such like terms, but the more you throw out the old laws of learning English, the more it will become simple and fun! 

I also just remembered bore can also mean to ‘be bored,’ like this show is such a bore, I am bored. Ha. 

The joy of English language keeps coming back to make me laugh. Homophones like two, too, and to become fun in sentences like, “In order for one to count to two, one must include one, too.” For a person to count up to three, they need to count one, two, three. Now which sentence was more fun to say 🙂 

The quick reiterations of homophones will also help cement the meaning of the word for your learning, and over time help you know which word to use in situations. For example, so many native english speakers still mistake there, their, and they’re, buy, by, and bye, your, and you’re, etc. I think having a fun mnemonic device with a tongue twister will help learn the words of homophones and cultivate joy in language. And help make English fun to speak. 

I think the joy in language, any language, is to expand on it and really use words drastically. Poetry captures emotions, novels capture stories, and articles capture news, talking with your friends is different to how you take to strangers; the culture of humanity is in their language. Using language is a dance, an art form with your mind and mouth, your speech and heart, it can move armies, and garner a tear, relish a moment, or explain the heartache. Language is culture, and art, and love. 

So back to the lesson, time to focus ‘less on’ anecdotes, and more on semantics. Today’s episode is brought to you by the letter “B.”

The difference between bye and by is a goodbye. You can only wave bye to someone who is passing by. If they stop to sell you something, do not buy into them, and just pass them by. Beet and Beat sound the same but you can tell them apart from their rhythm. You can walk a beat, or keep a beat, or take a beat, but you grow a beet, eat a beet, and cook a beet. Bears are animals like boars, but all creatures have bare necessities. Humans are the only animals to cover their naked bare bodies with clothes while bears have fur. 

You can run bases in baseball, but the basis of baseball is to get runs, by running over home plate, which is the final base but it’s not called a base, it’s called a plate, like the thing you eat off of in the dining room at dinner. 

Boar is an animal, like a wild boar, and can be used to describe someone’s behavior, like “that man is such a boar.” It will be mistaken by the other person thinking it’s bore and reply, “You think he is boring?’’ 

“No, like he is an animal, like boar-ish.” 

“Oh, I did not know he was aristocracy, if you mean he is a boor.” 

“No, I mean he is acting like a pig.” 

To bore something is to dig a hole with a bore bit with a drill, or like I said before, to literally bore someone, to make them bored. Same spelling, different meaning. Homonyms. 

A boar is a wild pig, specifically male. Homophone. And finally, a boor is usually a rude or uncouth person. Also homophone, sounds the same, different spelling. 

I’ll admit that I first thought the etymology of this word derived from the French word Bourgeoisie, from the two syllable pronunciation boor-zhwa, and shortened to “you boor” as an insult to upper class. Upon further research I was wrong. First, bourgeoisie is a French word, but it denotes to the entirety of the middle class, not aristocracy. So bourgeoisie could be considered blue collared. Second, it derives from the Dutch or Low German word Boer, which meant farmer, or peasant. Since the peasants were often looked at with bias as lowly, I could see Boor becoming synonyms with dirty, sickly, poor, etc. (thanks to the aristocracy) Then throughout the centuries boor turns more and more into an insult, to now we have a boor, defined as an ill-mannered person. 

Ah – the emotions of English, the lavishness of language, and the abundance of anecdotes and endless discovery of new words, phrases, and ways to mix them all up again. 

It’s fun. 

Cheers.