Foreign Words That Look Like English, But Don’t Mean The Same

[Svejk_1]

@scifisam2009

I thought the stress was on the ‘n,’ but it could well be that I was just hearing people dropping the ‘a’ altogether.

Stress can only ever be on a syllable, I don’t know what ‘stress on the ‘n’’ means. At any rate, stress in Czech is invariably on the first syllable.

@PookahMacPhellimey

In Dutch I can only think of “Joke”, which is a somewhat old-fashioned but perfectly normal name, but you wouldn’t want to be called that in an English speaking country.

How’s about ‘kok’, which means ‘cook’? We had a prime minister by that name for 8 years :eek: Also, ‘douche’, which means shower. Incidentally, duša (doo-sha) which means soul or spirit in most Slavic languages, can sound more or less exactly like ‘douche’…

@ok11

Гад …God…Can’t think of a good translation, but it’s an insult (masculine)

Гад means snake or serpent.

[Electric_Warrior]

@Floater

The word pule means to f*ck in Norwegian, but it beats me how anyone could make the connection between that word and puller as the pronunciations are totally different.

The pronunciations are totally different…unless movingfinger is British.

[Tom_Tildrum]

@pravnik

In Czech, “no” means “yes.”

In Greek, “yes” sounds like “no”, and “no” sounds like “OK”.

[Siam_Sam]

In Thai, men means “bad smell” or “stink.” (Newbie farang women over here really like that one.) Prick means “chillie.”

Oh, and any type of the vegetable squash is a fak, which sounds very close to “fuck” in actual pronunciation.

Pardon me if I’ve missed it, but in German, Gift means “poison.”

[SciFiSam]

@Svejk_1

Stress can only ever be on a syllable, I don’t know what ‘stress on the ‘n’’ means. At any rate, stress in Czech is invariably on the first syllable.

It was a typo for ‘no.’ And, yup, I’m aware of that. Not quite sure why you’re being so nitpicky.

[Floater]

@jjimm

I corrected myself in a subsequent post. Slutspurt.

Aha, the final stages of something. Only ambiguous in writing, not in pronunciation.

@Electric_Warrior

The pronunciations are totally different…unless movingfinger is British.

The same thing here. Even if talking with a heavy Scottish accent there is no way you would end up anywhere in the neighbourhood of pule when saying puller.

[lshaw]

In French, if you are en retard, it means you are late, not that you are a retard.

[Colophon]

@scifisam2009

My accent’s British RP, in which Rambo and mambo definitely do rhyme. I’m sure they would in quite a lot of accents.

I’m struggling to imagine an accent in which they wouldn’t rhyme.

How can they possibly be pronounced other than as the same word but with a different consonant at the beginning?

[pulykamell]

@Colophon

I’m struggling to imagine an accent in which they wouldn’t rhyme.

How can they possibly be pronounced other than as the same word but with a different consonant at the beginning?

Americans pronounce it as:

RAM-boe and MAHM-boe.

The difference is in the short “a” sound. “Rambo” takes the /æ/, and “mambo” takes /ɑ/.

[Frodo]

@Colophon

I’m struggling to imagine an accent in which they wouldn’t rhyme.

How can they possibly be pronounced other than as the same word but with a different consonant at the beginning?

I assume by this post that your first language was not English.

Now, dont get me wrong, I love English, I can’t remember the last book I read that was not in English, something by Perez Reverte probably.

But English pronunciation is an occult science, the letters in the word have just a very vague relationship with the sounds you must produce when reading that word aloud.

[jjimm]

@Frodo

I assume by this post that your first language was not English.

I believe Colophon is English, in England. Mambo and Rambo rhyme in an English accent. And I think in pretty much all British accents too.

[IvoryTowerDenizen]

@Alessan

As every English speaker learning Hebrew knows, who is he, he is she and dog is fish.

@ABBOTT & COSTELLO LEARN HEBREW

Characters: Abbott (Katy), Costello (Jack)

ABBOTT: I see you’re here for your Hebrew lesson.

COSTELLO: I’m ready to learn.

A: Now, the first thing you must understand is that Hebrew and English have many words which sound alike, but they do not mean the same thing.

C: Sure, I understand.

A: Now, don’t be too quick to say that.

C: How stupid do you think I am—don’t answer that. It’s simple—some words in Hebrew sound like words in English, but they don’t mean the same.

A: Precisely.

C: We have that word in English, too. What does it mean in Hebrew?

A: No, no. Precisely is an English word.

C: I didn’t come here to learn English, I came to learn Hebrew. So make with the Hebrew.

A: Fine. Let’s start with mee.

C: You.

A: No, mee.

C: Fine, we’ll start with you.

A: No, we’ll start with mee.

C: Okay, have it your way.

A: Now, mee is who.

C: You is Abbott.

A: No, no, no. Mee is who.

C: You is Abbott.

A: You don’t understand.

C: I don’t understand? Did you just say me is who?

A: Yes I did. Mee is who.

C: You is Abbott.

A: No, You misunderstand what I am saying. Tell me about mee.

C: Well, you’re a nice enough person.

A: No, no. Tell me about mee!

C: Who?

A: Precisely.

C: Precisely what?

A: Precisely who.

C: It’s precisely whom!

A: No, mee is who.

C: Don’t start that again—go on to something else.

A: All right. Hu is he.

C: Who is he?

A: Yes.

C: I don’t know. Who is he?

A: Sure you do. You just said it.

C: I just said what?

A: Hu is he.

C: Who is he?

A: Precisely.

C: Again with the precisely! Precisely who?

A: No, precisely he.

C: Precisely he? Who is he?

A: Precisely!

C:

It goes on from there.

My daughter and her friend do this skit every year at Purim. They’re rather good at it by now!

[Noone_Special]

I thought Who was on first…?

[IvoryTowerDenizen]

@Noone_Special

I thought Who was on first…?

(deadpans) I have no idea what you are talking about.

[Frodo]

@jjimm

I believe Colophon is English, in England. Mambo and Rambo rhyme in an English accent. And I think in pretty much all British accents too.

They dont speak English in England, they speak Englandish…