I am so glad I am not alone in this complaint...I have a T-shirt that reads; "English doesn't so much borrow from languages as it follows them down an alley, knocks them down and goes through their pockets for loose grammar"
I LIKE that T-Shirt, Renfield. I don't always use the language the way it should be used but I do appreciate its nuances and those who use it well.
Have you ever read -
Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure, and Preposterous Words. by Josefa Heifetz Byrne. You'll love it.
ghoom - (anglo-Indian) means to hunt in the dark
dzo - a hybrid between a Yak and a domestic cow
There are many, many more words - some even weirder and wilder.