Einar

There are so many examples for this. Some that come to mind:

• “He has 30 years” instead of “He is 30 years old” (Spanish “Tiene 30 años”)
• “How do you call this?” instead of “What do you call this?” (e.g., French: Comment ça s’appelle? I think German too)
• “I’m going in the bus” instead of “I’m going on the bus”
• “She is more nice” instead of “She is nicer”

Apart from that, try explaining to a learner why “Read” (present) and “Read” (past) is spelled the same but pronounced differently.

Or plural (or do I capitalize that here? 🤔) inconsistencies: one “mouse,” two “mice”; but one “house,” two “houses.” To be fair, other languages do that stuff too.

Personally I find that linking “making money” with “climbing the social ladder” is at the core of many of our issues.

Going even further, ranking each other based on factors like wealth, education, occupation, influence, etc. is degrading and leads to inequality, corruption and emotional/mental health problems, to name a few. The idea that success is measured almost exclusively by economic gain and social rank distorts human values.