What is the FUNNIEST word in the ENGLISH LANGUAGE for ESL students?

(Photo Credit:  http://bit.ly/1N46T8L)

When I first introduced this word to my ESL class they were literally rolling around on the floor with laughter and some even later came up to me and asked me if it was really true that there were such a word. I took this as a great teaching opportunity and got them to not only use their dictionary skills to find the word in the dictionary but also got them to google it on their mobile phone, finding interesting images as well. The pictures that came up on images were very interesting! (…a lot of cats and rabbits!)

So what is this word?

Fluffy

When I got the students to google the meaning of fluffy the response was even more hilarious, the meaning of fluffy was described as:

• Of, like or covered with fluff
• Lacking substance, depth or seriousness

Then …of course…they had to look up ‘fluff’, and things got decidedly more serious until they hit the description of the verbal meaning of No. 2

‘…failing to perform or accomplish something well (used especially in a sporting or acting context)

The students were on the floor again.

Just thought I would mention this word as it does deserve a looking at in terms of creating some light-weight learning incorporating some valid search skills.

By the way, the second funniest word was…….’itchy’….

I’ll leave that one up to you! It worked with Arabs and Africans but not sure how it would go down with Asians!

Advertisements