Knapsacks, backpacks and rucksacks

What’s the difference? I have no idea.

Knapsacks sound smaller. A rucksack sounds like a British word. A backpack to me is any type of bag with two straps that you carry on your back.

The English language is very strange. The American language is even stranger. When I first came to the United States, I was amazed at how much more relaxed Americans are with their language than, say, English people.

I once said “iron” with a very pronounced “r” to an Englishman, and he claimed to have no idea what I was talking about. The same man also claimed I pronounced “chair” wrong because I was too soft on the “ch” sound (it almost sounded like Cher, the singer).

Being a copy editor, I spend my nights fixing other people’s spelling, grammar and writing style. I have to say I’m pretty good at it. My main problem with this language is pronunciation (“It’s not called proNOUNciation, Viktoria – it’s proNUNciation,” my Writing for the Ear professor once lectured me).

First of all, I have trouble hearing the difference between certain words.

Invincible, for example, means that nobody can beat you. It sounds just the same to me as invisible, which means that nobody can see you. A 12-year-old boy taught me the difference while playing a game of Nintendo many years back.

And try saying these words to find the difference: Jell-O, cello (“ch”), Yellow, shallow

Then there are the words I flat out refuse to say. Some words may elicit hysterical laughter because it’s so wrong, others I just have trouble shaping with my tongue:

Racoon, Jacuzzi, vulnerable and Holocaust (“Holla-cost”)

Luckily, I rarely have to speak about raccoon holocausts, when they fall into the Jacuzzi and become vulnerable.