Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Izzard jokes that the word ant is spelled correctly because the letters appear in the alphabet.
In plain terms
He claims ant is in the alphabet because it uses existing letters.
What can you take from it?
Literal interpretations can create absurd logic.

Where it applies

  • spelling bee
  • language learning
  • comedy

Putting it to work

  • defending bad answers
  • playing with words

Questions to consider

  • How do we define correct answers?
  • When is literalism useful?

Another view

The logic is nonsensical and ignores actual spelling rules.

More from Eddie Izzard

  1. Agatha Christie? We go back years, me and Ag. She's a : she's just a : she's dead, isn't she?

    Permalink to quote #68
  2. And we're going 'Oh, Captain Clever! Whoahoho! Rattle it and if it doesn't go off, it can't be a bomb!'

    Permalink to quote #70
  3. Religion and philosophy, philosophy and religion - they're two words which are both : different. In spelling.

    Permalink to quote #67

Related quotes

  1. In a riddle whose answer is chess, what is the only prohibited word?

    Jorge Luis BorgesJorge Luis Borges quote #77
  2. 'Being born, no? Being conceived maybe? Does the i in conceived come before the e? It looks wrong. I know that it's supposed to be i before e except after c, b…

    Jade PugetJade Puget quote #105
  3. I cannot get from the nature of the proposition to the individual logical operations!!! That is, I cannot bring out how far the proposition is the picture of t…

    Ludwig WittgensteinLudwig Wittgenstein quote #2