The humour of similar-sounding words

[Skomakar'n]

Somebody needs to mention "un petit d'un petit, s'etonnent aux Halles" here.

Please do.

[Soap]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mots_d%27Heures is the Wikipedia article for it. also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holorime

and http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vers_holorimes if you can actaullly read French

[maıráí]

My Arabic class had lots of fun with mahbubi.

[jmcd]

What, no megapussi and minipussi yet?

Reminds me of Bimbo

And that reminds of Cock Block.

[Nannalu]

There's a canal near me called the "Fossdyke" and it just reminds me of big furry lesbians.

[Simmalti]

"Boss" in maltese is an imperative form meaning "Fart!"

And someone from this board who came to Malta this summer pointed out "titfix" to me, which means "Do not switch off"
(The plural of which is even worse - "titfux")

[Chuma]

When all the cities in Sweden started getting webpages, and they were not able to use åäö in the addresses, some of the cities were very unhappy about the result, including höör (originally means something like "stone altar", I'm guessing it might be related to "heap") and mönsterås ("pattern ridge"). There is a Swedish word as, pronounced like non-rhotic "arse", but is means "cadaver". Also not very pleasant.

[Shrdlu]

There was an radio-show called språket(the language), which had an webpage with, because of the åäö-restriction, the address spraket (the crackle)

[Skomakar'n]

When all the cities in Sweden started getting webpages, and they were not able to use åäö in the addresses, some of the cities were very unhappy about the result, including höör (originally means something like "stone altar", I'm guessing it might be related to "heap") and mönsterås ("pattern ridge"). There is a Swedish word as, pronounced like non-rhotic "arse", but is means "cadaver". Also not very pleasant.

Fucking stupid, stubborn Swedes. Why couldn't they just use <ae oe aa> like Denmark and Norway (and Germany, except, of course, for <aa>, but on the other hand, <ue>)? Having seen a few Swedish websites do this lately has made me very happy, at least. They're starting to get it.

[Ulrike Meinhof]

When all the cities in Sweden started getting webpages, and they were not able to use åäö in the addresses, some of the cities were very unhappy about the result, including höör (originally means something like "stone altar", I'm guessing it might be related to "heap") and mönsterås ("pattern ridge"). There is a Swedish word as, pronounced like non-rhotic "arse", but is means "cadaver". Also not very pleasant.

Fucking stupid, stubborn Swedes. Why couldn't they just use <ae oe aa> like Denmark and Norway (and Germany, except, of course, for <aa>, but on the other hand, <ue>)? Having seen a few Swedish websites do this lately has made me very happy, at least. They're starting to get it.

Because it looks fugly.

[Skomakar'n]

When all the cities in Sweden started getting webpages, and they were not able to use åäö in the addresses, some of the cities were very unhappy about the result, including höör (originally means something like "stone altar", I'm guessing it might be related to "heap") and mönsterås ("pattern ridge"). There is a Swedish word as, pronounced like non-rhotic "arse", but is means "cadaver". Also not very pleasant.

Fucking stupid, stubborn Swedes. Why couldn't they just use <ae oe aa> like Denmark and Norway (and Germany, except, of course, for <aa>, but on the other hand, <ue>)? Having seen a few Swedish websites do this lately has made me very happy, at least. They're starting to get it.

Because it looks fugly.

Noooo. So pretty.

Also helps avoid ambiguities and embarrassing situations, much like those mentioned above.

[Ulrike Meinhof]

Noooo. So pretty.

Also helps avoid ambiguities and embarrassing situations, much like those mentioned above.

It severely decreases readability. Compare:

Parlodlan at onskvard mangd ravkott, da tva skalar rackte bra at en sa entragen odla.
Paerloedlan aat oenskvaerd maengd raevkoett, daa tvaa skaalar raeckte bra aat en saa entraegen oedla.

The first one takes a tiny bit more concentration to read, the second one you need to consciously parse every word.

[Skomakar'n]

Noooo. So pretty.

Also helps avoid ambiguities and embarrassing situations, much like those mentioned above.

It severely decreases readability. Compare:

Parlodlan at onskvard mangd ravkott, da tva skalar rackte bra at en sa entragen odla.
Paerloedlan aat oenskvaerd maengd raevkoett, daa tvaa skaalar raeckte bra aat en saa entraegen oedla.

The first one takes a tiny bit more concentration to read, the second one you need to consciously parse every word.

I disagree. The latter is much more readable to me, because I instantly can interpret ‹aa oe a› (which are not common vowel clusters in Swedish orthography) as replacements for ‹å ä ö›, while just using ‹a a o› gives me the wrong pronunciation in my head, definitely helping me stumble on things. I couldn't even interpret ‹ravkott› at all; I had to read ‹raevkoett› to understand it. I also stop because I'm not sure what's going on when I see things like ‹skalar› and ‹odla›, which are two other words than ‹skålar› and ‹ödla›, and I just don't understand the sentence at all, and then, after a few seconds, I realise what they actually are. Reading the second version was as smooth as seeing the regular letters with their proper diacritics.

[Ulrike Meinhof]

I disagree. The latter is much more readable to me, because I instantly can interpret ‹aa oe a› (which are not common vowel clusters in Swedish orthography) as replacements for ‹å ä ö›, while just using ‹a a o› gives me the wrong pronunciation in my head, definitely helping me stumble on things.

Well, the second one gives me the pronunciation of a mongoloid right after dental surgery.

[Skomakar'n]

I disagree. The latter is much more readable to me, because I instantly can interpret ‹aa oe a› (which are not common vowel clusters in Swedish orthography) as replacements for ‹å ä ö›, while just using ‹a a o› gives me the wrong pronunciation in my head, definitely helping me stumble on things.

Well, the second one gives me the pronunciation of a mongoloid right after dental surgery.

My brain perfectly maps ‹aa ae oe› to ‹å ä ö›. I don't read them as though they actually were diphthongs or whatever. It doesn't take much practice at all, and should we start doing it regularly, people would quickly catch on and get used to it in no time. The next generation would grow up with it and sip it right in. I'd say it would have been very beneficial.

[finlay]

Noooo. So pretty.

Also helps avoid ambiguities and embarrassing situations, much like those mentioned above.

It severely decreases readability. Compare:

Parlodlan at onskvard mangd ravkott, da tva skalar rackte bra at en sa entragen odla.
Paerloedlan aat oenskvaerd maengd raevkoett, daa tvaa skaalar raeckte bra aat en saa entraegen oedla.

The first one takes a tiny bit more concentration to read, the second one you need to consciously parse every word.

Second one looks like Dutch. sort of...

[----]

Second one looks like Dutch. sort of...

See, it is ugly!

[Chuma]

Also, I don't think "Moensteraas" looks that great either, and "Hoeoer", seriously?

[Skomakar'n]

Also, I don't think "Moensteraas" looks that great either, and "Hoeoer", seriously?

It's only for the URL, or for typing without access to ‹å ä ö›. When possible, ‹å ä ö› are always used, of course.

[Terra]

What, no megapussi and minipussi yet?

Reminds me of Bimbo

And that reminds of Cock Block.

They're even shaped like a peni-- I mean rocket!

[Viktor77]

I used to listen to this CD of random Czech and Slovak songs from one of the Czech guys who lived with me and one lyric used to sound like "I like cheese." Or something. I'll never find it unfortunately to post here, but I always got a kick out of it.

[Skomakar'n]

I think it's pretty funny how German has the farewell 'tschüss', since Swedish and Norwegian have 'kyss' ('kiss') which can also be used as a farewell, but most probably as an affectionate one (even though I know people who started using it everywhere, jokingly, a few years ago, and now it's not even anything they think of anymore, so it's not in a joking manner; it's been watered down to just a regular farewell). It's usually reserved for phone calls and chats, I guess, though.

[Bristel]

I think it's pretty funny how German has the farewell 'tschüss', since Swedish and Norwegian have 'kyss' ('kiss') which can also be used as a farewell, but most probably as an affectionate one (even though I know people who started using it everywhere, jokingly, a few years ago, and now it's not even anything they think of anymore, so it's not in a joking manner; it's been watered down to just a regular farewell). It's usually reserved for phone calls and chats, I guess, though.

The two words are not cognates, as far as I know.

tschüss < Walloon adjüs which is cognate to French adieu

[Skomakar'n]

I think it's pretty funny how German has the farewell 'tschüss', since Swedish and Norwegian have 'kyss' ('kiss') which can also be used as a farewell, but most probably as an affectionate one (even though I know people who started using it everywhere, jokingly, a few years ago, and now it's not even anything they think of anymore, so it's not in a joking manner; it's been watered down to just a regular farewell). It's usually reserved for phone calls and chats, I guess, though.

The two words are not cognates, as far as I know.

tschüss < Walloon adjüs which is cognate to French adieu

Yeah, I checked that out before posting this message, and that's what I could find out too.

[Bristel]

I think it's pretty funny how German has the farewell 'tschüss', since Swedish and Norwegian have 'kyss' ('kiss') which can also be used as a farewell, but most probably as an affectionate one (even though I know people who started using it everywhere, jokingly, a few years ago, and now it's not even anything they think of anymore, so it's not in a joking manner; it's been watered down to just a regular farewell). It's usually reserved for phone calls and chats, I guess, though.

The two words are not cognates, as far as I know.

tschüss < Walloon adjüs which is cognate to French adieu

Yeah, I checked that out before posting this message, and that's what I could find out too.

And I completely missed the point of the thread.

I feel like a smart-ass now.