Screamed.

Yes, screamed

Scrum is a rugby term.

I hope that whatever made you scream is also in the past tense.

There may well be some screaming in the scrum.

screamed. But speaking of scrum

I had never seen a rugby game until a number of years when my kids were playing their Saturday morning soccer game next to a rugby game. A number of other parents hadn't seen a live one either and rather than watching our kids play soccer (which honestly can get a little tedious) we had all turned our backs to our kids and were watching the rugby game. Scrums were fascinating and watching them toss that ball (?) back and forth is something I still remember.

petalique, anyway, thanks for the memory.

I googled to make sure

I thought this was a trick question

Thanks for asking, petalique. Learning any language is a challenge and English can be a tough one. I thought that your choice was rather logical!

Learning any language is a challenge and English can be a tough one

Right? Especially since so many words are pronounced the same way but have 3 different spellings and 3 different meanings: "I went to the doctor too, for my two o'clock appointment". Huh?

Fortunately, scream is a regular verb. No weird past participles to learn.

P.s. yes, despite the shape it’s called a ball. Rugby is the only professional sport I’ve ever watched live.

It is an interesting question:

dream dreamed dreamt

but scream screamed but not screamt

but sleep and slept not sleeped

but seep and seeped, not sept

but deem deemed but not demt

but deal and dealt not dealed

And don't get me started with plurals like

roof and roofs not rooves

but shelf and shelves not shelfs

Man English IS confusing!

And then there's the pronunciation of rough, bough, height, weight, and ghost.

Thanks so much, all of you. So many interesting, factual and crisp as well as entertaining responses.

I know nothing of rugby. Yes, English is confusing. I have holes in my grammar, pronunciation, and spelling. The spelling errors came after taking four semesters of Italian (after French). I also tried learning a bit of Spanish. Now, I have trouble remembering if a word has two consonants together, or just a single one. I use tricks sometimes.

Desert or dessert? The after dinner treat has lots of calories, so it has double ”s.” Deserts are dry and lean.

Accommodate — can ”accommodate” two c’s and two m’s

I try to avoid saying ”ain't got no” and ”seed.” I have to keep an eye on I and me.

I was having a stressful day a day or two ago. I am someone who seems to need more space and solitude than most people. And I have all sorts of work to get done. Some has gone untended to for so long and it’s difficult for me to do because I am pretty much always in physical pain. So the mechanics are difficult, but I have to spend a enormous amount of effort to try to overcome the distraction of the pain. It can be isolating as well. Isolation or loneliness are, as you know, not the same as solitude.

So, I had a mini meltdown with the confluence (maybe not the right term) of a number of issues atop the physical pain (three days ago, I stood at the kichen counter cooking and after just two hours, could no longer cope with the enormous pain in my back, so had to just crash horizontally, then fell asleep because I also have big fatigue).

Then, my sweet DH thinks he cleans things, but he just doesn’t get that there’s more than just moving coffee cups from the sink. ;) He does a lot of other things for our household. However, he has a heavy, noisy foot pound when he walks. He seems to spend lots of odometer points on going to ad fro. Forgets his glasses or hat or phone and has to mill around, back and forth, opening and closing doors with latches. Asking me where ______ is. Some of you know the sort of person (many times a fella) who cannot find the mayo or the vegetable peeler, extension cord or electric drill or snow shovel?

I usually excel at finding things — I like solving puzzels, I am resouceful and persistant and analytical. The latter can really p*ss people off, even though asking diagnostic questions is part of solving puzzles. [BTW, I’ve given thought to this issue of women being able to find the things that some men cannot locate — a lot of thought. Bet you folks have as well?]

Sometimes I am desperate to have HUGE blocks of hours to clean up a space, paint a room (ladder! yikes), or overhaul messy cupboards (that he refuses to do, say he will, but after a couple of years…). But he is not someone with an ecomony of motion, and he is always right smack n the physical spot where I need to be or am heading towards. I move quickly, he moves slowly (unless he’s on a squash court). I have wondered about posting a DH rant, but check myself for those here who, without any knowledge would come to his defense.

After a few years, I’ve helped him with his annoying habit of leaving empty containers in the sink or on the counter (we have trash, recycling bins and a dishwasher!). I resorted to a petty but effective operant conditioning technique — move the empty container to where he needs to work.

I’ve been working on trying to get him to never go from one room to another empty handed. There is always some item that needs to go with you to return to it’s proper space — eyeglasses, recycling, keys, laundry….

So a day or two ago, I was ready to refinance the house to send him to Australia. I vented, I paced back and forth knowing that I had only an hour of peace and quiet before he returned from errands. It’s like having only an hour’s space to do 4 weeks worth of work. what to do first and before I had to crash to a horizontal position again? Mothers of young children must feel this harried sense of pressure. I’ll admit I lost it. I scrum.

Thanks for helping.

Has anyone seen the standup comedy routine about “oxen” and ”boxen”.

That was a wonderful, vivid piece of writing, petalique.

Petalique, yes on everything you said. My DH goes grocery shopping at 5am. I am NOT vacuuming or making phone calls at 5 am. And when he does go out during reasonable hours, I am either also gone, or sick, like right now. He went to the drugstore and to pick up the car but I have no voice and no energy.

As to remembering double or single consonants and everything else you wrote, join the rest of native English speakers! Truly, some have spelling down pat, some don’t. It’s just how it goes. All that said, I like ”scrum”, and if I were to bring it up in my facebook group that talks about language, I know there would be several members who would want to start saying it, too.

Rugby: the only time I saw rugby, it was going with a friend to watch her boyfriend play. He was a Marine at the US consular agency in Geneva Swtizerland. Marines playing rugby is a frightening, awe-inspiring, and painful-looking sight.

Petalique, all I can say is your DH and mine must be cousins!

I too use mental cues to keep words straight such as:

Stationery has an e like letter vs. stationary has an a like standing

Principal is your pal so it refers to the human vs. principle

And desserts is stressed spelled backward!

But there are those that won't stick for whatever reason. I can't tell you how many times I've looked up muntin vs. mullion. But like my old French teacher used to say, we'll, you can keep looking it up until you get tired enough to learn it!

Thanks. I think rugby shirts are neat, but that style doesn’t work well on me.

About 50 years ago, I went to some huge auditorium in Boston to watch World Cup Soccer with an soccer fanatic. I knew nothing about it, but was in awe of the athleticism and endurance and what seemed like physical poetry.

I’m sorry you’re sick, bpath.

Thanks for the compliment, Rhizo. ”Compliment” ”Complement”

Compliment makes me smile and so I remenber, has an ”i” in it.

Complement — part of what makes a whole complEte.

I always loved spelling, vocabulary and English. I used to like the vocabulary sections of magazines as well as books named things like ”Building Word Power.” I got As (A’s or As?)

We had an ahead of her time elementary school/Jr. high english teacher who diagrammed sentences with us. That was fun and some of it must have gotten through. But I think a lot of it was like algebra, calculus and physics. Only later in life could I appreciate the beauty in it. While in classes, I had too many other real life, “life and death,” Maslow’s heirarchy of needs issues distracting me. Life got in my way ;-) I know that some of you know what I am talking about.

Annie, I loved your conjugation verse.

I’m glad I didn’t have to learn English as an adult. I say that it isn’t my first language, but I have been playing, waiting for someone to ask what my first langage was. I’ll tell you, and this is pretty much almost the case.

Crustacen. 🦀🦞🦐