Breaking the rule

Really? Only one person could venture a guess as to what all the below words have in common?

And a few of my readers are teachers!

Well, give up? They all break the i before e except after c rule. And there are a lot more words that break that rule. So what's the point of the rule???

I've heard it said that English is the hardest language to learn. No wonder! We have rules that don't even apply.

This morning while we were watching the news, a picture of our state seal came up. Bill had to pause it so he could check it out. I guess he's never seen it. I see it every day, several times.

Anyway, he had several comments;

1. what is that animal?

2. what's with the guy by the trees?

3. is that a mountain? in Indiana?

To be fair, it wasn't a very good picture. It did sort of look like a cross between a lamb and a lion. It's a buffalo.

And the guy by the tree is holding an ax.

And, um, yeah, it does look like a mountain but it's supposed to be a hill.

It's not the dorkiest state seal out there. You can find them all here;

http://www.netstate.com/states/symb/seals/al_seal.htm

It was fun to look at.