Weird phrases from real languages

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aardwolf
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Post by aardwolf »

The Irish for "high" as in "high in the sky" is go hard. :roll:

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insumaro
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Post by insumaro »

I've heard the name Kennedy comes from the Irish Gaelic meaning "ugly head."

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Noriega
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Post by Noriega »

Swedish syllable of the day: Ernstskts = ”of an Ernst-ian one”

This one, comparing Italian and Latin, is fabulous:
http://caelestis.info/sauvagenoble/2004/11/italian-linguists.html wrote:It. I vitelli dei romani sono belli.
The calves of the Romans are beautiful.

L Ī, Vitellī, deī Rōmānī sonō bellī.
Go, Vitellius, with the sound of the Roman god of war.

or ... of the beautiful Roman god.

or even
Ī vitellī deī Rōmānī sonō bellī
Go with the sound of the Roman god’s beautiful calf.
or ... of the beautiful Roman god’s calf.
or ... of the calf of the Roman god of war.

Etc. etc. Wow!
Perhaps eventually all languages will evolve so that they include some clicks among their consonants – Peter Ladefoged

Jahai: /kpotkpɛt/ ‘the feeling of waking up to the sound of munching’

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Varamannato
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Post by Varamannato »

One from Icelandic:
Aki á Á á á á Á. (Aki on farm Á has an ewe on Á.)

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Klaivas
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Post by Klaivas »

I take it Á is a river? IIRC it is.

rob n
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Post by rob n »

[quote="Matt"]Two tongue-twisters from Bella Coola of the Salishan Family:

[size=18]xɬp?χʷɬtɬpɬɬs kʷc?[/size] 'then he had in his possession a bunchberry plant'

[size=18]c?ktskʷc?[/size] 'he arrived'[/quote]

From another Amerindian language, Quiotepec Chinantec:
[m?1] 'ant'
[m:23] ‘sandal’
[hm?3] ‘tomato’
[?m:3m?4] ‘you pinch’
[m:42m?m24] ‘we (exc) pinch’

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Imralu
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Post by Imralu »

German

Bismarck biss Mark, bis Mark Bismarck biss.
/"bIsma:6k bIs "ma:6k bIs "ma:6k "bIsma:6k "bIs/
Bismarck (possible dog's name) bit Mark, until Mark bit Bismarck.

Wenn hinter Fliegen Fliegen fliegen, fliegen Fliegen Fliegen hinterher.
/vEn "hInt6 "fli:gn= "fli:gn= "fli:gn= "fli:gn= "fli:gn= "fli:gn= "hInt6"he:6/
When flies fly behind flies, flies fly after flies.
Glossing Abbreviations: COMP = comparative, C = complementiser, ACS / ICS = accessible / inaccessible, GDV = gerundive, SPEC / NSPC = specific / non-specific
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insumaro
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Post by insumaro »

This website wrote:


Buffalo.
"Engage in bamboozlement."

Buffalo buffalo.
"American bison are characteristically given to engaging in bambloozlement."

Buffalo buffalo buffalo.
"American bison are characteristically given to bamboozling other members of their species."

Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo.
"American bison habitually bamboozled by members of their own species (that is, buffalo whom other buffalo regularly buffalo) characteristically engage in bamboozlement."

Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo.
"American bison habitually bamboozled by members of their own species (that is, buffalo whom other buffalo regularly buffalo) tend to return the compliment by bamboozling in turn yet other members of the species."

Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo.
"American bison habitually bamboozled by members of their own species that have themselves been bamboozled by others of their ilk (that is, buffalo whom other buffalo who have themselves been buffaloed by buffalo regularly buffalo) tend to engage in bamboozlement."

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Klaivas
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Post by Klaivas »

Matt wrote:Two tongue-twisters from Bella Coola of the Salishan Family:

xɬp?χʷɬtɬpɬɬs kʷc? 'then he had in his possession a bunchberry plant'

c?ktskʷc? 'he arrived'
I know I'm quoting an old post here but...

Hell, I almost suffocated when trying to pronounce them.

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aardwolf
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Post by aardwolf »

Welcome to a world where the term "syllable" is meaningless. Ish.

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Post by Turtlehead »

Saethodd y saethwr y saith saeth. - The archer shot seven arrows.
I KEIM HEWE IN THE ΠVEΓININΓ TA LEAWN WELX, ΠVVT NAW THE ΠVWΠVΣE FVW ΠVEINΓ HEWE IΣ VNKLEAW. THAT IΣ WAIT I LIKE TA MAKE KAWNLANΓΣ AWN THE ΣΠAWT.
TVWTLEHEAΔ

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Whimemsz
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Post by Whimemsz »

-Klaivas- wrote:
Matt wrote:Two tongue-twisters from Bella Coola of the Salishan Family:

xɬp'χʷɬtɬpɬɬs kʷc' 'then he had in his possession a bunchberry plant'

cktskʷc 'he arrived'
I know I'm quoting an old post here but...

Hell, I almost suffocated when trying to pronounce them.
I tried to read those to my dad yesterday. It's insane. Also, how are you supposed to say those loudly? What if someone's far away from you, but you need to tell them right now that he had in his possession a bunchberry plant? It's impossible to shout it!

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aardwolf
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Post by aardwolf »

Maybe they can have non-phonemic epenthetic schwas.

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Post by Kereb »

Pentekonter wrote:Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo.
"American bison habitually bamboozled by members of their own species that have themselves been bamboozled by others of their ilk (that is, buffalo whom other buffalo who have themselves been buffaloed by buffalo regularly buffalo) tend to engage in bamboozlement."
I've seen a longer one... if you replace "buffalo" where it refers to "American bison" with "Buffalo buffalo" (ie, a buffalo from Buffalo, N.Y.), you get:

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

M

Think of it like "Buffalo-buffalo (that) Buffalo-buffalo buffalo (in turn) buffalo (other) Buffalo-buffalo.
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Post by FTF »

Circ?us wrote:
Trebor wrote:
garrett wrote:I always that that this french form of the verb "louer" was crazy: loueait.
orthographically, yes, but not phonetically. not sure how to pronounce it, though...
An impossible form: it'd had to be "louerait" (conditional) or (louait)

You can have all 5 vowels with less letters: oiseau (/wazo/, bird)
For all five in a row though, louaient works...

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Ancenande
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Post by Ancenande »

Spanish:
-¿Cómo comes?
-¿Cómo cómo como? ¡Como como como!
/"komo "komes/
/"komo "komo "komo/ /"komo "komo "komo/

-How do you eat?
-How "how do I eat"? I eat as I eat!

Also Farmacéutico and Murciélago have all five vowels.
[quote="linguoboy"][quote="Ollock"][quote="linguoboy"]I believe you mean "Poilsh"[/quote]/failed joke or dilexia, linguo?[/quote]And I've never heard of "dilexia". Is that the state of knowing only two words of a language?[/quote]

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Jipí
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Post by Jipí »

The encoding of this page is seriously fucked up. I can see Georgian, I can see Cyrillic, I can see IPA, but not á, é, í, ó, ú, ç, å, ä, ö, ü and ß for some reason.

Back on topic: The German word Herkunftswörterbuch is quite nifty as well (5 consonants in a row). So is Swedish Ernstkts (6 consonants in a row). The longest official word in German by the way is Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz according to Wikipedia. According to this page, some examples for German words with the most consonants in a row are Geschichtsschreiber ("historian", 8 letters, but only 5 phonemes), Glückwunschschreiben ("congratulations letter", 8 letters, but only 4 phonemes), Angstschweiß ("cold sweat", 8 letters, 5 phonemes) and Herbstpflanze ("autumn plant", 7 letters, 7 phonemes).
aardwolf wrote:Maybe they can have non-phonemic epenthetic schwas.
I have downloaded a recording of Bella Coola once, and no, they don't insert schwas. Bella Coola doesn't sound harsh actually when spoken and in context in my opinion. It's astonishingly 'fluid'.
Last edited by Jipí on Tue Sep 12, 2006 3:11 pm, edited 3 times in total.

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Nuntarin
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Post by Nuntarin »

Because the thread contains posts from before the board's server move.
[quote]Let us not look too closely at ourselves to see whether or not we have, in our untime, been successful. Turn your face from yourself; it is too late for that. I turn my face from you and I; let us look instead at how the ocean purrs.[/quote]

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Salmoneus
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Post by Salmoneus »

My least favourite German cluster: /nfstf/, as in "Zukunfstsphilogie"
Blog: [url]http://vacuouswastrel.wordpress.com/[/url]

But the river tripped on her by and by, lapping
as though her heart was brook: Why, why, why! Weh, O weh
I'se so silly to be flowing but I no canna stay!

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Nuntarin
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Post by Nuntarin »

I'm waiting for a native speaker to correct me, but if the first element is the word for "future", I think it's Zukunft without the /s/.
[quote]Let us not look too closely at ourselves to see whether or not we have, in our untime, been successful. Turn your face from yourself; it is too late for that. I turn my face from you and I; let us look instead at how the ocean purrs.[/quote]

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Post by Sander »

Dutch has:
angstschreeuw
cry of fear
[ "aNst.sx4e:w ]

...and used to have:
papegaaieëieren
parrot eggs
[ "pa.p@."Ga.j@.?E\.j@.4@n ]

until some dimwits decided there needed to be an -n- in there, so now it's papegaaieneieren.
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[b][url=http://benanne.net/misc/com.pdf]λemvrin eiδerial[/url][/b] (pdf)
[b][url=http://www.omniglot.com/writing/lembrin.htm]λemvrin eicrýs[/url][/b] (omniglot)

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Rui
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Post by Rui »

Nuntarin wrote:I'm waiting for a native speaker to correct me, but if the first element is the word for "future", I think it's Zukunft without the /s/.
True, Zunkunft is German for "future", but when combining words together, the first word generally gets an ending, such as -s or -n (if it ends in e), or something that I may have left out.

However, I am also not a native German speaker.

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Chengjiang
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Post by Chengjiang »

Chibi wrote:
Nuntarin wrote:I'm waiting for a native speaker to correct me, but if the first element is the word for "future", I think it's Zukunft without the /s/.
True, Zunkunft is German for "future", but when combining words together, the first word generally gets an ending, such as -s or -n (if it ends in e), or something that I may have left out.

However, I am also not a native German speaker.
I believe Nuntar was referring not to this <s>,
Zukunfstsphilogie
but to this one:
Zukunfstsphilogie
[ʈʂʰɤŋtɕjɑŋ], or whatever you can comfortably pronounce that's close to that

Formerly known as Primordial Soup

Supporter of use of [ȶ ȡ ȵ ȴ] in transcription

It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a 青.

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Post by Starsinger »

For contrast to the Salish and German - no consonants in the Hawaiian phrase:
E i ae oe iaia.
Speak thou to him there.

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Rui
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Post by Rui »

Primordial Soup wrote:I believe Nuntar was referring not to this <s>,
Zukunfstsphilogie
but to this one:
Zukunfstsphilogie
Wow, I definitely skipped over that s :oops:

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