# What amuses you about different languages? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 17, 2009, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-amuses-you-about-different-languages/496692 "2009-05-17T00:37:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-amuses-you-about-different-languages/496692/41 "2009-05-19T18:59:16Z")
> [@Lo-Slung\_Denim](#): > > I was away on holiday with my wonderful Lithuanian friend. She has quite a silly sense of humour, and decided to hide around a corner and jump out and surprise me. So one would expect she would shout ‘Surprise!’… > > I loved that she in fact shouted ‘Ah, you didn’t \*expect \*me!’ I can’t not hear that in Borat’s voice. Then I can’t not giggle maniacally. ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-amuses-you-about-different-languages/496692/42 "2009-05-19T19:36:17Z")
We read a story in my high school Spanish class where a character was “refunfuñando,” or grumbling. I loved that word because it sounded so much like what it described. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-amuses-you-about-different-languages/496692/43 "2009-05-19T20:17:06Z")
I love this joke: Three guys are debating about which of their languages is the most pleasing to the ear. The Spaniard says, "Consider the word for ‘butterfly’. In Spanish, this is Mariposa, a beautiful sounding word."The French guy says, “True, but Papillon is even more beautiful”. “What’s wrong with Schmetterling?”, says the German… ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-amuses-you-about-different-languages/496692/44 "2009-05-19T20:26:30Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > “Hai”? (That’s a common word for yes – others sound even less like names of states). Are you thinking of “Ohayo”, which means “Good morning”? Um… Hai. Never had a single lesson! ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-amuses-you-about-different-languages/496692/45 "2009-05-19T20:28:46Z")
> [@schnuckiputzi](#): > > And if you say “I am hot” _Ich bin heiss_, you are saying you are hot and horny. It’s the same in Spanish. You can describe something else as _caliente_, but if you make the mistake of saying _estoy caliente_ be prepared for giggles. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-amuses-you-about-different-languages/496692/46 "2009-05-19T20:40:09Z")
I remember reading a tourist guide to Greenland which contained a short study of West Greenlandic (about the only possible thing which could be short about West Greenlandic). I don’t remember any of the actual words, but I do remember that the guide claimed that West Greenlandic speakers had to use Danish words for numbers over twelve, because the only native term for a number greater than twelve was “many.” I understand why the West Greenlanders might not have had much use for numbers greater than 12. Sometimes, when I look at the _mer de nombres_ which passes for the statistical analysis I’m working on, I envy the West Greenlanders. “ **Duke** , how many donors did we have last month?” “Many.” “How many donors did we have this month?” “Many.” ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-amuses-you-about-different-languages/496692/47 "2009-05-19T22:42:42Z")
I like that “w” is a vowel in Welsh. And “dd” makes a “th” sound. ---
**Author:** ![Lama\_Pacos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Lama\_Pacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lama_Pacos)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-amuses-you-about-different-languages/496692/48 "2009-05-20T03:01:22Z")
I find Irish orthography really fun. It’s for the most part consistent in actuality, but for those unaccustomed to it it can seem completely bizarre. For example, the word for winter, **geimhreadh** , is pronounced something like ‘yeera’. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-amuses-you-about-different-languages/496692/49 "2009-05-20T03:15:52Z")
My favorite German word when I was learning it was _handschuh_ (glove). I thought it was hilarious that leather things that you put on your hands were literally “hand shoes.” ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-amuses-you-about-different-languages/496692/50 "2009-05-20T05:35:01Z")
> [@Lama\_Pacos](#): > > I find Irish orthography really fun. It’s for the most part consistent in actuality, but for those unaccustomed to it it can seem completely bizarre. For example, the word for winter, **geimhreadh** , is pronounced something like ‘yeera’. I’d pronounce it “givira”, but it may well be “geera” in some dialect. It would only be “yeera” when used in such a way as to require an h to be inserted after the g (another, erm, “fun” 😕 aspect of Irish orthography). ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-amuses-you-about-different-languages/496692/51 "2009-05-20T07:02:06Z")
> [@ruadh](#): > > It’s the same in Spanish. You can describe something else as _caliente_, but if you make the mistake of saying _estoy caliente_ be prepared for giggles. Dialectal varieties can be a hoot, too. We’ve already mentioned several times in this board that any Spanish verb meaning “to grab” means “to have sex” in at least one country; this can complicate international meetings a lot. We had a Mexican consultant working out of a factory in Spain for about a month. Every time he wanted to “run a test” he’d say it as “vamos a echarnos una corridita” (“let’s take ourselves for a run”) and every Spaniard in the room would get the giggles, except for the one who blushed redder than the angry smiley. Yeah, in Spanish from Spain, “correrse” (“to run oneself”, reflexive) means “to cum”, “correr” (no -se) means “to run” as in athletics, “ejecutar” is “to run (a computer program or experiment)”, and “una corrida” or “una corridita” is supposed to involve your SO, not computers, unless you specify “de toros” (corrida de toros = bullfight). Methinks they don’t explain those things in bilingual dictionaries. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-amuses-you-about-different-languages/496692/52 "2009-05-20T07:18:09Z")
The slang discussion reminds me of the worst mistake I ever made in Bulgarian. One of my 6th graders kept turning around in his seat to talk to the girl behind him. I asked him to turn around. He would, for like a minute, and then he’d turn back. Repeat, repeat, repeat. I tried to mix it up and ask him to turn around in different ways because I was so tired of repeating myself. Then, I asked… “Petko, zashto si obratno?” _Petko, why are you backwards?_ My kids erupted into laughter. Petko turned bright red. Me: WTF? Turns out “backwards”? Slang for “gay”. I ARE AWESOME TEACHER. ---
**Author:** ![Martha\_Medea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@Martha\_Medea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha_Medea)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2009, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-amuses-you-about-different-languages/496692/53 "2009-05-22T01:16:38Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > My favorite word of Hebrew is: scharchoret. (Both of those "ch"s indicate that lovely guttural sound Hebrew has.) Means “dizzy” (feminine). I thought it meant something like brunette? ---
**Author:** ![Leiko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2009, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-amuses-you-about-different-languages/496692/54 "2009-05-22T06:48:34Z")
You know what I love about Japanese? My toes are “fingers of foot.” (足の指 to be exact) > [@Kyla](#): > > First thing everyone learns in Hebrew class: who is he, he is she, and dog is fish. Also, me is who. If the “dog is fish” line is not a joke I am not getting, could you explain it further? I laughed at it and then I wondered, “Wait, I don’t get this joke, maybe it is not a joke, maybe Hebrew is just that screwy?” ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2009, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-amuses-you-about-different-languages/496692/55 "2009-05-22T08:38:09Z")
> [@Leiko](#): > > You know what I love about Japanese? My toes are “fingers of foot.” (足の指 to be exact) Same as in Spanish or Catalan; I think in all Romance languages, actually. Learning that in English people don’t have “20 dedos”, they have “10 fingers and 10 toes” is a classical stumbling stone for students from Romance languages. You can bet if only one body part appears in an exam it will be one of those… Now that I think about it, do chimpanzees have toes? They have upper and lower hands but no feet, so do they have toes? These questions can’t even come up in Spanish! ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2009, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-amuses-you-about-different-languages/496692/56 "2009-05-22T14:12:42Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Same as in Spanish or Catalan; I think in all Romance languages, actually. In French, “doigt de pied” can be used, but “orteil” (toe) is much more common, in my dialect anyway. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2009, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-amuses-you-about-different-languages/496692/57 "2009-05-22T20:22:13Z")
To my amateur philologist way of thinking, a lot of English words are similarly odd, but because we’re far removed from their Germanic/Romantic sources, they no longer seem odd. So we would think nothing of strolling under a parasol on a sunny day, whereas someone familiar with the Romantic roots would giggle that you’re carrying a “for the sun”. ---
**Author:** ![Martha\_Medea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@Martha\_Medea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha_Medea)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2009, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-amuses-you-about-different-languages/496692/58 "2009-05-22T21:31:22Z")
> [@Leiko](#): > > If the “dog is fish” line is not a joke I am not getting, could you explain it further? I laughed at it and then I wondered, “Wait, I don’t get this joke, maybe it is not a joke, maybe Hebrew is just that screwy?” It only works with an American accent - “dag” is Hebrew for fish. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2009, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-amuses-you-about-different-languages/496692/59 "2009-05-22T21:43:19Z")
> [@Martha\_Medea](#): > > I thought it meant something like brunette? No, “brunette” (or, rather, “dark”) would be “Sh’charchoret” (שחרחורת) – the word mentioned before was “Scharchoret” (סחרחורת) which does in fact mean “dizziness” > [@Leiko](#): > > If the “dog is fish” line is not a joke I am not getting, could you explain it further? I laughed at it and then I wondered, “Wait, I don’t get this joke, maybe it is not a joke, maybe Hebrew is just that screwy?” > [@Martha\_Medea](#): > > It only works with an American accent - “dag” is Hebrew for fish. Not quite – This ditty probably originated with people who Hebrew in an “Ashkenazi” accent, borrowed from Yiddush, where many “ah” sounds get lengthened to “o.” So, in this accent, “dahg” becomes closer to “dog.” ---
**Author:** ![Leiko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2009, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-amuses-you-about-different-languages/496692/60 "2009-05-22T22:31:48Z")
> [@Martha\_Medea](#): > > It only works with an American accent - “dag” is Hebrew for fish. Ah ha! Thank you! Luckily I find most language jokes funny even after they’ve been dissected, as this one had to be. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-amuses-you-about-different-languages/496692.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-amuses-you-about-different-languages/496692.md?page=4)