Why do we say more than one mouse is 'mice',
and yet more than one house is 'houses', not 'hice'?
The past tense of tell and sell end in '-old'.
So why is the same form of smell pronounced, 'smelled,' and not 'smold'?
And here is a twist:
We say 'baked', 'faked', and 'raked';
but it's a puzzle to me why 'took' is not 'taked';
and when we wake up, that we 'woke' and not 'waked';
and I'd rather not say that, 'I made,' but, 'I maked.'
High in the sky, we gaze at the geese,
but here on the ground, we see 'moose', and not 'meese'.
The chicks were all hatched, and the baseball was caught;
the sermon was preached, but the subject was taught.
The well-educated would dare not say, 'knowed,'
and even the dumbest would never say, 'growed.'
When the cards were all dealt,
our fate was all sealed;
How happy I felt,
that my illness was healed!
The battle was fought;
and the fire was lit;
with a touch of the sword,
he was knighted, not knit.
When I was a child, I had to wash dishes;
but my mother would wince if I ever said, 'fishes'.
No wonder the children in school feel like cryin'!
That it's all so confusing, there ain't no denyin'!