Stumpt!
Okay, I know….the proper spelling is “stumped”. But I got to thinking….in other English-speaking countries outside the US, people have “learnt” many things. Here, we have “learned”. I suppose English teachers in the US might blow a gasket were someone to say they “learnt to conjugate ‘to learn’ in past tense!
So, the question to my UK readers (and Ian in Oz!) is this…..how many verbs can be spelled with the “t” as opposed to the “ed”? Now, I have noticed some UK bloggers using the term “learnt” while others “learned”. So….now I am totally confused!
Back to my stumps! I wrote about the seven I needed to cut earlier this spring, but failed to update! Actually, it is recently that I really worked on them.
The two (most annoying) were nearly in the center of the front of the house. They are now but a memory!
The five remaining stumps are a work in progress. Today, I cut three of the five. I had already cut one a few days ago, and I probably could have done the fifth had my arms not grown exceedingly weary under the weight of the saw. It seems because my arms got so tired, my saw kept “migrating” downward, causing the chain to get very dull. Although I am careful about not running the chain into dirt and rocks, sometimes little rocks and minerals inside the tree dull the chain.
I worked for an hour or so, then Michelle wanted to take an ATV ride. Mark and I went with her on trails on adjoining land. There are logging trails all throughout the woods and although they are mostly unkempt, the ATV’s make short work of getting where we want to go. In one area, we drove through a stand of awesome red pines. They were so tall and straight…it was almost a sacred event passing near them! We also saw a doe watching as we drove past her.
When we got back home, Ben wanted to go for a ride, so Mark and I went with him, taking some different paths. My biggest mistake was that I didn’t slip the Panasonic camera in a pocket. I hadn’t planned on riding, but when everyone coaxed me, I left without a camera in hand.
After the rides, Michelle washed all three bikes and they are so sparkling clean, I don’t want to take them out again! Don’t worry….we will!
The rain is pounding down outside now and the temperature is a wild contrast from yesterday’s summerlike highs! There is quite a chill in the air, but the rain and chill just makes it so much the better to snuggle up and read!
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Ah, now you are getting into the argument of whether a noun can be a verb!!
To stump – to confuse or baffle; to dismiss a batsman at cricket by touching his stumps with a ball whilst he is out of his crease.
A stump – the remnant of a tree remaining in the ground.
Only the verb can be converted to stumped – which is, of course, properly pronounced as stump’d, not a T sound at all.
BTW – I’m impressed by your hard work!
Thank you, kind sir! I don’t think I will be taking up chainsaw woodcarving any time soon, though….
Likewise I think that the learnt/learned thing is to do with verbs and adjectives and whathaveyou (this thought is brought to you by my logic and not by any proper knowledge though, so is probably worth what you just paid for it and I am happy to stand corrected!!). So if I picked up a behaviour in the past then I learnt it, but the behaviour itself was learned. I think.