Curiouser and yet more curious

In countries where English isn’t spoken, there is no such thing as a ‘spelling bee’ competition.

- and other fascinating not-so-trivia from John McWhorter, in Aeon magazine

But speaking of 'reads' / Only in English - 17

Only in English (literally) - GUEST ENTRY

"You know what happened last month, without anybody noticing? Webster's Dictionary expanded the definition of the word 'literally' to include the way it's commonly misused. So the thing is, we now no longer have a word in the English language that means 'literally'. 'Literally' doesn't have a synonym. So we're going to have the find a Latin word for it, and use it. But see, I don't know any Latin. So when I say that I am 'literally going to set fire to this building with you in it, before I hand over the keys to it', you don't know if I'm speaking figuratively or literally."

- The Newsroom

Only in English - 16

tracheotomy
tracheostomy

Two minutely differentiated words for two technically different things which are, in fact, basically the same thing. But not.

Only in English - 15

'All over it' = situation under control
'All over the place' = situation not in any way under control

Only in English - 14

moot
adjective
1. open to debate
2. not worth debating

Only in English - 13

still lifes
vs.
still lives

Only in English - 12

... the considerable difference between being 'into films' and 'into film'.

InDefinition - 45 / Only in English - 11

millenarian, n. one who spells millennium [sic.] with only one N.

Only in English - GUEST ENTRY

Solid effort at highlighting the madness of the English language (not to mention the trickiness of scansion).

Also, check out the vox twat comments below.

Only in English - 10

'Intuition' is what you have before the 'tuition' goes 'in'.

Only in English - 9

could 'prosody' not be the art of writing in prose. (Or even assonant with the word.)

Only in English - 8

The word 'godown' - notwithstanding its origin in the Malay 'godong', and its usually being found only in colonial novels about sweaty white men prowling around the docks of SE Asia - does not have anything to do with what you might think.

It simply means 'warehouse'.

(Which is also pretty close... but not the same.)

Only in English - 7

'Plate' and 'flat' owe everything to each other; but 'urgency' and 'emergency' have nothing in common.

Only in English - 6

Curious - isn't it? - that when we accuse someone of 'seeing things' we in fact mean the complete opposite.

Only in English - 5

Though I like fish, I do not like fish.

That which God hath joined together

unite
untie

Only in English - 3

can cool people be hot, and vice versa.

Only in English - 4

It actually makes sense that 'engrossed' and 'grossed out' mean more-or-less opposite things.

Only in English - 2

fresh - check
freshen - check
refresh - check

refreshen - n'existe pas