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Linguistic Curiosities
இழை இடுபவர்: Paul Dixon
Jack Doughty
Jack Doughty  Identity Verified
யுனைடட் கிங்டம்
Local time: 03:33
ருஷ்ஷியன் - ஆங்கிலம்
+ ...
ஞாபகமாக
Russian word with five consonants in a row May 6, 2009

Бодрствовать (bodrstvovat)
Multitran definition:
be awake; wake; watch; keep vigil; sit up; keep awake; to be awake; to be up

Russian tongue-twister:

Он бодрствовал в Пскове (On bodrstvoval v Pskove); he kept vigil in Pskov.


 
foghorn
foghorn
ஆங்கிலம் - துர்கிஷ்
+ ...
Tongue twisters when translated (just a try) May 6, 2009

The story of grey headed, grey feathered, grubby vagrant badgers (boz ala boz başlı boz tüylü başıboş pis porsuk in Turkish)

A grey headed, grey feathered, grubby vagrant badger haunts an acre of cabbage. Another grey headed, grey feathered, grubby vagrant badger haunts another acre of cabbage. The grey headed, grey feathered, grubby vagrant badger haunting the acre of cabbage asks the other grey headed, grey feathered, grubby vagrant badger haunting the other acre of cabb
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The story of grey headed, grey feathered, grubby vagrant badgers (boz ala boz başlı boz tüylü başıboş pis porsuk in Turkish)

A grey headed, grey feathered, grubby vagrant badger haunts an acre of cabbage. Another grey headed, grey feathered, grubby vagrant badger haunts another acre of cabbage. The grey headed, grey feathered, grubby vagrant badger haunting the acre of cabbage asks the other grey headed, grey feathered, grubby vagrant badger haunting the other acre of cabbage: How long have you been the grey headed, grey feathered, grubby vagrant badger haunting the acre of cabbage? The other grey headed, grey feathered, grubby vagrant badger haunting the acre of cabbage tells the grey headed, grey feathered, grubby vagrant badger; I’ve been the grey headed, grey feathered, grubby vagrant badger haunting the acre of cabbage ever since you are the other grey headed, grey feathered, grubby vagrant badger haunting the acre of cabbage.
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John Jory
John Jory  Identity Verified
ஜெர்மணி
Local time: 04:33
ஆங்கிலம் - ஜெர்மன்
+ ...
German pangram May 6, 2009

There are quite a few German pangrams, most containing Bayern or Sylt for the 'y', but not all of them make sense.
AFAIK the most widely known pangram with a real sentence is:

Franz jagt im komplett verwahrlosten Taxi quer durch Bayern.


 
Tim Drayton
Tim Drayton  Identity Verified
சைப்ரூஸ்
Local time: 05:33
துர்கிஷ் - ஆங்கிலம்
+ ...
Correction May 6, 2009

Paul Dixon wrote:


Word with most umlauts: kääntäjää (Finnish for translator - I came across this one by chance the other day - could also be the word with most repeated letters)




I would have to correct you on that one. The combination of agglutination and vowel harmony in Turkish means that it is possible to make many words with more umlauts.

For example:

öldürücü - lethal
öldürücülük - lethalness
öldürücülüğü - its lethality
öldürücülüğünün - of its lethality


 
Paul Dixon
Paul Dixon  Identity Verified
பிரேசில்
Local time: 23:33
போர்சுகீஸ் - ஆங்கிலம்
+ ...
தலைப்பை ஆரம்பித்தல்
ஞாபகமாக
Longest place name in the world May 6, 2009

The longest place name in the world is:
LLANFAIRPWLLGWYNGYLLGOGERYCHWYNDROBWLLLLANTYSILIOGOGOGOCH.

It is a small village in Anglesey, Wales, on the main Crewe to Holyhead railway line.

The translation is:

"The church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel trees near the rapid whirlpool by St. Tysilio's of the red cave".

You can hear the w
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The longest place name in the world is:
LLANFAIRPWLLGWYNGYLLGOGERYCHWYNDROBWLLLLANTYSILIOGOGOGOCH.

It is a small village in Anglesey, Wales, on the main Crewe to Holyhead railway line.

The translation is:

"The church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel trees near the rapid whirlpool by St. Tysilio's of the red cave".

You can hear the word pronounced at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNN3Cpnur1k. Or you can say it yourself by using the step-by-step tutorial available at http://llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.co.uk/say.php

Thousands of visitors each year visit this small village, made internationally famous through its tongue-twister of a name. Be sure to visit the restored Victorian railway station which contains a huge selection of woollens and craft items for sale and be photographed beside the longest place name in the world.

It has been suggested that the correct pronunciation of the name should be used as a citizenship test for English people intending to move to Wales. (For further information see http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2001/sep/04/wales)


(Its official site, www.llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.co.uk, is also the longest domain name in the world).
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Lingua 5B
Lingua 5B  Identity Verified
போஸ்னியா மற்றும் ஹெசகோவீனா
Local time: 04:33
உறுப்பினர் (2009)
ஆங்கிலம் - குரோயேஷியன்
+ ...
A few examples May 6, 2009

I've always found the French word "cacahuète" ( peanut) extremely funny. Perhaps because it's peanut beginning with " ca ca " heh.


Apparently, the only English word that doesn't rhyme with anything is " orange".


 
Kathryn Sanderson
Kathryn Sanderson  Identity Verified
யுனைடட் ஸ்டேத்ஸ்
Local time: 22:33
ஃபிரன்ச் - ஆங்கிலம்
Fruit trees in French May 6, 2009

The words for most fruit trees are formed as below:
pommes(=apples) come from a pommier(=apple tree)
poires (=pears) come from a poirier (=pear tree)
citrons (=lemons) come from a citronnier (lemon tree)


but peuple(=people) doesn't come from a peuplier (poplar), and fromage(=cheese) doesn't come from a fromager (=kapok tree)


Kathryn


 
José Henrique Lamensdorf
José Henrique Lamensdorf  Identity Verified
பிரேசில்
Local time: 23:33
ஆங்கிலம் - போர்சுகீஸ்
+ ...
ஞாபகமாக
That theory gets worse in Portuguese May 6, 2009

Kathryn Sanderson wrote:
The words for most fruit trees are formed as below:
pommes(=apples) come from a pommier(=apple tree)
poires (=pears) come from a poirier (=pear tree)
citrons (=lemons) come from a citronnier (lemon tree)
but peuple(=people) doesn't come from a peuplier (poplar), and fromage(=cheese) doesn't come from a fromager (=kapok tree)


Who sells what in Portuguese (BR)?

peixes (fish) are sold by the peixeiro (fishmonger)
leite (milk) is sold by the leiteiro (milkman)

... but carne (meat) is not sold by the carneiro (lamb)
and banha (lard) is not sold by the banheiro (bathroom)!

(FYI banho is bath, and açougueiro is butcher)


 
David Moore (X)
David Moore (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 04:33
ஜெர்மன் - ஆங்கிலம்
+ ...
Cut & paste? May 7, 2009

[quote]Tim Drayton wrote:

[quote]Paul Dixon wrote: The longest place name in the world is:
LLANFAIRPWLLGWYNGYLLGOGERYCHWY* *NDROBWLLLLANTYSILIOGOGOGOCH.



Oh dear... the letter "r" is missing from your initial post - between the asterisks. See their site...

I once read that a place name in Maori was invented to snatch the title away from Wales, but I don't think it caught on, somehow.

Best wishes

David


 
Word_Wise
Word_Wise  Identity Verified
Local time: 03:33
ஆங்கிலம் - ரொமேனியன்
+ ...
plural for "blood" May 7, 2009

Romanian - no plural form for "blood" ?!?!?!

Does it have a plural form in your languages?


 
Ivette Camargo López
Ivette Camargo López  Identity Verified
ஸ்பெயின்
Local time: 04:33
ஆங்கிலம் - ஸ்பேனிஷ்
+ ...
Blood: in Spanish, plural in theory yes May 7, 2009

Alla Sion wrote:

Romanian - no plural form for "blood" ?!?!?!

Does it have a plural form in your languages?


Hi Alla,

I just checked my latest edition of grammar in Spanish and, although "blood" (sangre) is basically a "non-countable" noun, it says that you can actually apply the plural even to non-countable nouns, so in theory you could say "sangres" (see http://es.wiktionary.org/wiki/sangre ).

Furthermore, I tried to check if "sangre" is among the "singularia tantum" cases (meaning, nouns that can only be used in singular), and "sangre" was not one of the examples given.

Still, I can't remember having ever read any text containing "las sangres" (plural), but maybe it's just that me in particular never happened to find such an example.

On a more "stereotyping"/fun/literary note (just kidding...), I find it intriguing that there is no plural for "blood" in Romanian. Maybe it has to do with the old vampire tradition of blood and Romanian Count Dracula?

Cheers,

Ivette

P.S.: just editing to add that, as usual, you can always find examples of everything in Google. So I searched for "las sangres" and found:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=es&safe=active&q="las%20sangres"&btnG=Buscar&lr=



[Edited at 2009-05-07 10:32 GMT]


 
Alistair Gainey
Alistair Gainey  Identity Verified
யுனைடட் கிங்டம்
Local time: 03:33
ருஷ்ஷியன் - ஆங்கிலம்
Yep: wrong May 7, 2009

Jack Doughty wrote:

Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev's surname in Russian is Хрущев (six letters - the "e" is actually pronounced "o"), in English Khrushchev (10 letters), in German Khruschtschow (12 letters), and in French Khrouchtchov (12 letters) (If I'm wrong about the French or German, I'm sure someone will let me know).


The German has 13 letters


 
Krzysztof Łesyk
Krzysztof Łesyk  Identity Verified
ஜப்பான்
Local time: 11:33
ஜேபனீஸ் - ஆங்கிலம்
+ ...
Bangkok May 8, 2009

David Moore wrote:

I once read that a place name in Maori was invented to snatch the title away from Wales, but I don't think it caught on, somehow.

Best wishes

David

There's a short article that mentions the Maori name here http://www.thailandlife.com/ericshackle/placename.html

It also says (and there was a program about it on Japanese TV too some time ago - it's on TV so it has to be true, right?) that the official name of Bangkok, Thailand is actually the longest place name in the world.


 
lauraest
lauraest
Local time: 05:33
ஆங்கிலம் - ஈஸ்டோனியன்
Estonian word May 3, 2011

Spencer Allman wrote:

There is a word in Estonian that has four a's with two dots over them (umlauts) in a row

can't remember what it is, though


The word is "jäääär" or "jäääärne" - it means '(near) the edge of ice'.


 
José Henrique Lamensdorf
José Henrique Lamensdorf  Identity Verified
பிரேசில்
Local time: 23:33
ஆங்கிலம் - போர்சுகீஸ்
+ ...
ஞாபகமாக
Slipping? May 3, 2011

lauraest wrote:
The word is "jäääär" or "jäääärne" - it means '(near) the edge of ice'.


Near on which side of the ice?

From what I guess it may sound like, not speaking Estonian, I'd interpret this word as:
"Help! I'm slipping past the edge of the ice!"


 
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