Weird phrases from real languages

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Salmoneus
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Post by Salmoneus »

garrett wrote:I always that that this french form of the verb "louer" was crazy: loueait.

It has five different vowels in a row; this would never fly in english!
Clearly you've never come across the perfectly legitimate (though most likely never actually used before) English word 'portmanteauoid'!
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Post by The Rt. Hon. Vlad Dracula »

Salmoneus wrote:
garrett wrote:I always that that this french form of the verb "louer" was crazy: loueait.

It has five different vowels in a row; this would never fly in english!
Clearly you've never come across the perfectly legitimate (though most likely never actually used before) English word 'portmanteauoid'!
What kind of word would fulfill the definition of 'portmanteauoid', though? A word that looks like a blend, but is etymologically a single morpheme, maybe.. anyone know any of those?
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Post by Nikura »

The Rt. Hon. Vlad Dracula wrote: What kind of word would fulfill the definition of 'portmanteauoid', though? A word that looks like a blend, but is etymologically a single morpheme, maybe.. anyone know any of those?
Never seen a word like this in French... "porte-manteau" exists but its a composed word, made of the verb "porter" (to wear/carry) and "manteau" (coat). It's just a thing to hang your coat on.
About the following of several vowels in French, just think sometimes you see 4 or 5 but we just pronounce 2, because we have combinations like "eau" or "au" [o]... So "louait" (without E) is just [lu'e].
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Post by Circeus »

Nikura wrote:
The Rt. Hon. Vlad Dracula wrote: What kind of word would fulfill the definition of 'portmanteauoid', though? A word that looks like a blend, but is etymologically a single morpheme, maybe.. anyone know any of those?
Never seen a word like this in French... "porte-manteau" exists but its a composed word, made of the verb "porter" (to wear/carry) and "manteau" (coat). It's just a thing to hang your coat on.
About the following of several vowels in French, just think sometimes you see 4 or 5 but we just pronounce 2, because we have combinations like "eau" or "au" [o]... So "louait" (without E) is just [lu'e].
They refer to the english concept of "portmanteau word", which is equivalent to the french "mot-valise".
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Post by Nikura »

Circ?us wrote: They refer to the english concept of "portmanteau word", which is equivalent to the french "mot-valise".
OK. I now understand better... I didn't know the use of that term in English... This Forum is a really good way to improve my knowledge of linguistic terms in English... :mrgreen:
[b]Nek vatar s-voli nasnap migi dmuxa k ti[/b]

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Post by Matt »

Tsumu wrote:
Matt wrote:
Trebor wrote:
Matt wrote:Two tongue-twisters from Bella Coola of the Salishan Family
anyone know how those would be pronounced? :D
Just a guess, but probably something like /xKp_>X_wKtKpKKs k_wc_>/ and /c_>ktsk_wc_>/.
That c is an affricate, so /ts)_>/, I guess. I've seen it elsewhere with t's and s'es.

Or did your notation mean that already?
I didn't know that, but I'm not surprised. Those wacky Americanists. :D

/xKp_>X_wKtKpKKs k_wts)_>/ and /ts)_>ktsk_wts)_>/ And there are no vowels of any sort in there, either (not even schwas), from what I've read.
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Post by Noriega »

In Scania, eels (ål) are a popular dish, and the ones caught in the stream that runs through the village of Råå (Råå-ån = The Råå stream) are therefore called Råå-å-ål. :D

Swedish pronunciation: /"ro:"o"o:l/
Scanian pronunciation: /"Reo"eo"eol/
Last edited by Noriega on Sun May 21, 2006 12:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Dauyn »

Two that always made us giggle in Welsh class:

Dy dy^ du Didi - Your black house, Didi /d@ di: di didi/

Byffu ddy Fampair Sleiyr

Buffy spelt Byffu just slayed us....

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Post by Gaspard »

In German I could think of:
Lesesessel
/"le:z@zEsl=/ reading armchair

or:
Rokokokokotte
/"ROkokokokOt@/ rococo call girl :wink:

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Post by Soap »

Dauyn wrote:Two that always made us giggle in Welsh class:

Dy dy^ du Didi - Your black house, Didi /d@ di: di didi/

Byffu ddy Fampair Sleiyr

Buffy spelt Byffu just slayed us....
"Welsh class"?????

Also, that Buffy one is incredibly cool.
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Post by Dauyn »

yeah, I have an MA in Celtic Lang and Lit. So, I had Welsh Class, as well as Irish class, Middle Welsh class, Old Irish class, old Norse class, PIE > Old Irish class, and PIE class (with Calvert watkins, no less!).

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Post by Nuntar »

Circ?us wrote:They refer to the english concept of "portmanteau word", which is equivalent to the french "mot-valise".
But "portmanteau word" is in turn derived from "portmanteau", meaning a suitcase such as one might carry one's coat in. This is an English coinage independent of the French porte-manteau which, as Nikura said, means a coathanger.

"Portmanteauoid" would therefore, of course, refer to something that is like a suitcase, or maybe something that could be used as a suitcase though not intended for that purpose.
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Post by Radagast »

xikittititi:n!

Modern Nahuatl for "go an show it to him!"

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Post by quentin »

Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.

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Post by Io »

Also: zooorchester

(now you probably know why I love Ducth)

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Post by finlay »

quentin wrote:Link
+ illlit (spelt that way by Joyce)

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Post by chris-gr »

the only word i could think of is romanian lalelele (the tulips).
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Post by Junes »

Io wrote:Also: zooorchester

(now you probably know why I love Ducth)
That's German, actually. Some Dutch examples of weird orthography:

koeieuier - 'cow's udder', 7 consecutive vowels. However, now you're supposed to spell it koeienuier. Oh well, there's still zaaiuien, 'sowing onions'.

slechtstschrijvende - 'worst writer', 9 consecutive consonants.

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Twpsyn Pentref
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Post by Twpsyn Pentref »

I know this thread is for natlangs, but I thought someone might get a kick out of this duo of Anas proverbs I worked out, and since this is a kind of word games thread it seemed the right place to put them:

Sēv cuab, sēv moāc.
Cāom vēs, bauc vēs.


If I were blind, I?d be wiser.
Laugh at misfortune, at the tendency for misfortune.

Isn't that nifty?
Last edited by Twpsyn Pentref on Sun May 22, 2005 8:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by zmeiat_joro »

Junes wrote: slechtstschrijvende - 'worst writer', 9 consecutive consonants.
Now many consonant phonemes?
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Post by Junes »

zmeiat_joro wrote:
Junes wrote: slechtstschrijvende - 'worst writer', 9 consecutive consonants.
Now many consonant phonemes?
Well the 'chtstschr' bit is something like /xtstsxR/ ('standard' western dialect). So that's still 7 consonant phonemes. However, I think with a word like that some of those would hardly be pronounced.

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Post by civman2000 »

Atatakakatta is Japanese for "was warm"...somehow that's always cracked me up...

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Post by Pie Man »

One from russian

Буду будить (budu budit')
I will wake up.
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Post by Io »

Err, the point was: me loves Dutch because all of the aa's, ee's, oo's, uu's, ij's

М/у другото мене slechtstschrijvende не ми изглежда никак трудно слехт-стхрейфъндъ и то при у-вие, че всичко се произнася.

The Georgian word gvbrdgvnit ("you tear us into pieces") has 8 consecutive consonants.

Here: http://members.aol.com/gulfhigh2/words8.html

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Post by Über Ren »

civman2000 wrote:Atatakakatta is Japanese for "was warm"...somehow that's always cracked me up...

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Hai, it did for me too until I found Atatakakunakatta (It wasn't warm.), or Atatakerebanaranai (It must?/should? have been warm.).
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