English -- Confusing and Crazy

Stumbled across this in a writing guide -- good points to ponder!

We take English for granted, but if we explore its paradoxes, we find:
- Quicksand can work slowly
- Boxing rings are square
- Guinea pigs aren't from Guinea, nor are they pigs
- You can polish the Polish furniture
- "They're there for their turn"
- There is no egg in eggplant
- There is no ham in hamburger
- There is no apple or pine in pineapple
- English muffins weren't invented in England
- French fries weren't invented in France
- Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat
- You recite and a play, and play at a recital
- You ship by truck and send cargo by ship
- You park on driveways and drive on parkways
- Houses burn up while they burn down
- An alarm clock goes off by turning on
- When the stars are out, they're visible, but when the lights are out,
they're not
- When you wind up your watch, you start it... but when I wind this up, I end it!