# 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:** 9\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2009, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-amuses-you-about-different-languages/496692/81 "2009-05-24T17:18:55Z")
I may be going over to Germany for a job interview sometime soon … I _really_ NEED to find wrapping paper that has the word _gift_ written gaily all over it 😃 ---
**Author:** ![lemac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f19dbf/32.png) [@lemac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lemac)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2009, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-amuses-you-about-different-languages/496692/82 "2009-05-24T17:35:52Z")
In the Netherlands, poep means “poo” and poepen means “to poo” In Belgium, poep means “ass” and poepen means “to fuck” ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2009, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-amuses-you-about-different-languages/496692/83 "2009-05-24T18:11:53Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > My mother likes to translate the English “milkman” literally as “el hombre de la leche,” “the man with the milk” or “the man of the milk.” Now take into account that in Spanish a man’s milk can be either his mood or his semen, add that something being “la leche” means “the best,” and you get roomfuls of sunday school teachers in their 60s giggling like tweens… Your mom doesn’t use _lechero_? 😕 Or is it not used in your region? ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2009, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-amuses-you-about-different-languages/496692/84 "2009-05-24T19:39:12Z")
French counting is deeply strange. Up to 69, everything is reasonably normal. After that it becomes…Seventy Plus. Why? This is the weirdest thing to me. Seventy Plus? They have some strange Base Seventy system of math? And a beelion years ago when Coke had an ad campaign “Coke Adds Life”, the Chinese characters meant “Coke Brings Your Ancestors Back from the Dead” ---
**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 25, 2009, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-amuses-you-about-different-languages/496692/85 "2009-05-25T02:27:55Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > French counting is deeply strange. Up to 69, everything is reasonably normal. After that it becomes…Seventy Plus. I’m not sure what you mean. “Seventy” in (most dialects of) French is “soixante-dix”, or “sixty-ten”. Nothing about plusses. Unless you’re Belgian or Swiss, in which case it’s “septante”, which makes more sense. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2009, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-amuses-you-about-different-languages/496692/86 "2009-05-25T08:19:48Z")
> [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > Do you know how to say [“twelve months” in Estonian](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T41ZRw45obs)? (YouTube Link) That is hilarious. I once met a woman from one of the Baltic countries whose name was Astrida Penis (pronounced like “astride a penis”). She said it was a fairly common name where she came from. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2009, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-amuses-you-about-different-languages/496692/87 "2009-05-25T08:32:03Z")
When I was in Spain last year, I kept seeing stores called “Ferreteria.” I thought they were cafeterias that served ferret meat. :eek: Nope, they were hardware stores (ferre = iron). ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2009, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-amuses-you-about-different-languages/496692/88 "2009-05-25T10:10:41Z")
> [@KarlGrenze](#): > > Your mom doesn’t use _lechero_? 😕 Or is it not used in your region? That’s why I said “literally.” The translation of the word “milkman” is lechero, yes: a perfectly respectable word, and not a particularly funny one. But translating “milk man” as two words yields “el hombre de la leche,” much more funny than for example… el hombre del correo (post man). ---
**Author:** ![Walpurgis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Walpurgis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walpurgis)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2009, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-amuses-you-about-different-languages/496692/89 "2009-05-25T10:44:10Z")
I’m Swedish and live with a Danish guy. There’s a ton of false cognates between Swedish and Danish. Since Swedish and Danish are mutually intelligible, I find myself saying hilarious and dirty things to Danish people. For example - _Knep_ means trick in Swedish, and fuck in Danish. (I don’t know how many times I’ve told Danes about a really good _knep_, or that something is _knepigt_ - “tricky” to me, but literally “fucky” to them) _Järn_ means iron or shot (of liquor) in Swedish, and erection in Danish. (I was once in a bus queue complaining about the cold in Copenhagen, saying that a _järn_ would really hit the spot right now. Suddenly everyone was very quiet.) _Bolla_ in Swedish is to juggle or toss something back and forth, also used when talking about bouncing ideas off each other. Of course in Danish \*bolle \* is slang for sex. So when I talk about wanting someone to _bolla_ with, I’ll have to make sure I’m in the right country. Other gems: _Taske_ means handbag in Danish but scrotum in Swedish. _Killing_ means kitten in Danish and baby goat in Swedish. Bringing a _killing_ in your _taske_ can mean very different things depending on where you are. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-amuses-you-about-different-languages/496692.md?page=4)