NationStates Jolt Archive

No, this isn't a rip-off of another thread, but a place to post all those cool words we should have in English. German has a ton!

For example,

Tingo - (from Easter Island), verb. "to borrow your neighbour's property one item at a time until you have everything"

Handschuhschneeballwerfer - (from Germany), noun meaning "coward", although literally being "someone who throws snowballs while wearing gloves"

L'esprit d'escalier - (from France), noun literally meaning "the sprit of the staircase" (ie. thinking of a witty comback to a put-down just too late)

Your turn!

Plus these two tongue-twisting gems:

"Barbara, reich mir bitte die Rhabarbermarmelade" - German for "Barbara, please pass me the rhubarb jam" (officially voted the coolest sentence in German by the Göthe Institute!)

"Ces six saucissons ici sont si chaud, qu'on ne sait si ces sont seches" - French ("These six sausages here are so hot, you don't know if they're dry")

Try saying them aloud!

Lagom. There is an entire Wikipage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagom) in English about this very Swedish word that lacks an English counterpart.

Lagom. There is an entire Wikipage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagom) in English about this very Swedish word that lacks an English counterpart.

Oh, I get it. As in...

"And then Goldilocks tried the third bowl of porridge, and that was lagom."

Aluminum That's a funny foreign word.

"Ces six saucissons ici sont si chaud, qu'on ne sait si ces sont seches" - French ("These six sausages here are so hot, you don't know if they're dry")

Another fun one is:

Gros gras grand grain d'orge, tout gros-gras-grand-grain-d'orgerisé, quand te dé-gros-gras-grand-grain-d'orgeriseras-tu? Je me dé-gros-gras-grand-grain-d'orgeriserai quand tous les gros gras grands grains d'orge se seront dé-gros-gras-grand-grain-d'orgerisés.

Try translating that one! ;)

Oooh, and: Un chasseur sachant chasser sait chasser sans son chien de chasse. (A hunter who knows how to hunt can hunt without his hunting dog.)

Aluminum That's a funny foreign word.
Hah! I don't know why our nation took out the "i", but whenever I'm doing science homework, I always spell it with that i at the end, since that's what it is on the official periodic table.

The numeral 5, in German... my German professor used to torture us with that.. whenever the clock would hit 5:55, as it would before class ended, she'd ask us all to tell her the time.. I just can't manage to pronounce it.. not many of us could, but she'd hammer away at it, every day.. :(

Nowadays, I check to see if I can pronounce the numerals 1-10 before I undertake to learn a new language. :)

Hah! I don't know why our nation took out the "i", but whenever I'm doing science homework, I always spell it with that i at the end, since that's what it is on the official periodic table.

The original spelling was without the I.. tradition is best, especially when it's simpler.

The numeral 5, in German... my German professor used to torture us with that.. whenever the clock would hit 5:55, as it would before class ended, she'd ask us all to tell her the time.. I just can't manage to pronounce it.. not many of us could, but she'd hammer away at it, every day.. :(

Nowadays, I check to see if I can pronounce the numerals 1-10 before I undertake to learn a new language. :)

WTF? Fünf? I've never had any problems with that. I may just be ignorant.

The Romanian numeral for "eighteen" is optsprezece (pron. optsprezeche, if this is any help).

Maipu.

It's a neigbourhood in Santiago, Chile, pronounced 'my poo'.

My husband's cousin lives in Maipu.

You see? You see why I can't possibly stop from laughing when that place is mentioned?

Maipu.

It's a neigbourhood in Santiago, Chile, pronounced 'my poo'.

My husband's cousin lives in Maipu.

You see? You see why I can't possibly stop from laughing when that place is mentioned?

lol

Please people, is it only crazy Pepe Domniisfsfdguez who can't say fünf?

Please people, is it only crazy Pepe Domniisfsfdguez who can't say fünf?
I think he meant he cannot say 5:55. I don't know what that is in German for shure, but I can picture the tongue-twisting.

fünf vor sechs?

My problem is this r trilling thing. I can't fudging to do it.

Maybe he's thinking of the schedule time, as in: fünf Uhr fünfundfünfzig. which, is still fairly hard to pronounce, but isn't close to impossible :-)

Saudade.

Courtesy of Ambrose Bierce:

WHANGDEPOOTENAWAH, n. In the Ojibwa tongue, disaster; an unexpected affliction that strikes hard.

If Fünf Uhr fünfundfünfzig is a problem, try this:

Wenn der Papst pupst, piepst der Probst: "Prost."

The quicker, the better.

Can anybody gues what BUREK is? :rolleyes:

Saudade.

Another word with an entire Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudade

Did you know...?
Chinese may have the same word for "crisis" as it does for "opportunity" (thanks to The Simpsons for that gem), but German has the same word for "failure" as it does for "diarrhoea" (which I can't spell).

fünf vor sechs?
Heh.

Btw, I thought Pepe was referring to having trouble pronouncing the Umlaut - those can be very hard for English speakers.


but German has the same word for "failure" as it does for "diarrhoea" (which I can't spell).

Um, no, it doesn't.
failure = Versagen, diarrhea = Durchfall

Oh wait - I know what you mean. To fail a test would be durchfallen. Literal translation: "to fall through". Has nothing to do with diarrhea, but you can see where both words come from. Um, yeah, not a nice mental image.

Utsukushii.

That and fünfhundert fünfundfünfzig.

http://llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.com/

can you say "most stupid research task for an english class" boys and girls? lucky i just ran inot this thread or my anger at this stupid own ould probably have killed me. now i can put it to some use after all. *still rolls eyes, though*

That and fünfhundert fünfundfünfzig.
The greatest number ever, I used to giggle just saying it.

Can anybody gues what BUREK is? :rolleyes:
The same as a Börek?

Now here's some more words that I really like hearing incorporated into the English language:

Kitsch
Fahrvergnügen

And check out this: http://germanenglishwords.com/
It's full of those words, sometimes they even mean something different in English :D

The original spelling was without the I.. tradition is best, especially when it's simpler.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium#Spelling

I can't see where you got that the original spelling was without the I. Even early US dictionaries used the spelling with the I.
It's just like colour and color, apparently people are too lazy in the US to use proper spelling... :D

Maybe he's thinking of the schedule time, as in: fünf Uhr fünfundfünfzig. which, is still fairly hard to pronounce, but isn't close to impossible :-)

Yes, I should've specified.. she wanted the full numeral.. schedule time. Eugh.

another word that has no english meaning is the korean word han
the closest translations is "a sadness so great that no tears will come, yet there is still hope" kind of like saudade

Lieblingsfußballmanschaftspielen.

Or Wagner's Gotterdämmerung. It just sounds so Power Metal to me.

Lieblingsfußballmanschaftspielen.

Or Wagner's Gotterdämmerung. It just sounds so Power Metal to me.
but Stratovarius's song by that title is fucking boring :D

Deutsch...teehee

Deutsch ist langweilig... ich sprechen deutsch


oh and hell in german means light teehee

ich sprechen deutsch Say after me: "Ich spreche Deutsch." Not SPRECHEN.

Hmm, now Sonne is going round my head… "Sie ist der hellste Stern von allen…"

Lieblingsfußballmanschaftspielen

huh?

huh? Favouritefootballteamplayer.

Say after me: "Ich spreche Deutsch." Not SPRECHEN.

Hmm, now Sonne is going round my head… "Sie ist der hellste Stern von allen…"


i'm sorry everyone i have forgot my german... it is Ich spreche Deutsch. because of the I......:(

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium#Spelling

I can't see where you got that the original spelling was without the I. Even early US dictionaries used the spelling with the I.
It's just like colour and color, apparently people are too lazy in the US to use proper spelling... :D

Dude.. your own article shows that it was Aluminum before it was Aluminium.. so... I ain't budgin' on that point, no sir.

Isn't Aluminum technically the name of the ore of Aluminium? (sorry if im wrong, i heard it somewhere)

Favouritefootballteamplayer.

technically, Lieblingsfußballmannschaftsspieler / Lieblingsfußballmannschaftsspielerin.

practically, you will not hear that to be said. people would go Spieler/Spielerin meiner/einer/whatever Lieblingsfußballmannschaft.

we all know we get the freedom to mush up a s many nouns as we like to..but that doesn't say it is any probable that anybody will ever use those..or that they sound right..

p.s. you english get to do that too. only that you may not use nouns (not to that extend, anyhow) but only get to stack up on affixes. too bad for you all that i'm still doing stuff for my english class, so here goes the latest example our prof provided us with:

proantidisestablishmentarianistically

so there. and if i felt like it, i could easily add some more. and/or do that to any other word (but establish is just the most common example everybody uses. google yourself a nice lists of english affixes and then start having fun miximg them all together.)

p.p.s. damn, this was foreign words, right? oh well, english is a foreign language to me..anyhow. so what about

murmuraron? i love it, the sound of it just kills me:) (oh, and it's "they murmured" in english).

oh, and two more that you can have a lot of fun with making native english/spanish speakers pronounce them are the german words "eichhörnchen" or "streichholzschächtelchen" :D (try it, you'll like it) (squirrel and matchbox, respectively)

Everyone knows "rrrrrrrrrr" is by far the coolest when spoken with a rolling r :p.

And as can be seen by my nick, I like to combine it with l and i :p. Though the r still rules :p.

Longest word in the English language: *deep breath in*

"Ornicopytheobibliopsychocrystarroscioaerogenethliometeoroaustrohieroanthropoichthyopyrosiderochpnomy oalectryoophiobotanopegohydrorhabdocrithoaleuroalphitohalomolybdoclerobeloaxinocoscinodactyliogeolit hopessopsephocatoptrotephraoneirochiroonychodactyloarithstichooxogeloscogastrogyrocerobletonooenosca puliniac"

heuurghh... 310 letters

Sprechen sie deutsh?- do you speak German in German. I love saying that, my friend told me it meant I have no quishe, but I learned it actually meant that.

Käse means cheese in German.

Sprechen sie deutsh?- do you speak German in German. I love saying that, my friend told me it meant I have no quishe, but I learned it actually meant that.
"Ich spreche kein Deutsch" is the best phrase in German.

Has anyone said wienerschnitzel yet?
Always cracked me up as a kid. :D

auspumpend means pooping in German. :D

The original spelling was without the I.. tradition is best, especially when it's simpler.

well if we're going with original spellings we should call it by it's original original name which was "alumium" :)

well if we're going with original spellings we should call it by it's original original name which was "alumium" :)

oh and aq quick google search revealed this article......1807 apparently...

http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/aluminium.htm

Lagom. There is an entire Wikipage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagom) in English about this very Swedish word that lacks an English counterpart.

Try "quite" as an English comparison.

quite

1. To the greatest extent; completely: quite alone; not quite finished.
2. Actually; really: I'm quite positive about it.
3. To a degree; rather: quite soon; quite tasty.

"Sammandhi" - Tamil word for the father/mother of your son-in-law or daughter-in-law.

Somebody told me that not many languages have a single word to describe such a relative.

If anybody's native language has a single word, then please post here.

A word that always makes me grin is:

Dackelkindmamihalsbandblechmarkennummer.

Meaning the number on the tag attached to the collar of the mum of the Dachshund-Cub.

Dudelsack (German)- bagpipe
Kumpel (German)- mate (ie friend, pal, or chum)

Dudelsack (German)- bagpipe
Kumpel (German)- mate (ie friend, companion, or buddy)

oh and hell in german means light teehee

yes, and I've always been a fan of "damit" which innocuously means "with it" and is innocuously pronounced "dah MIT" but just is begging to be pronounced in an english way and have an english meaning...

The Dutch, being a light-hearted people, have two really cool words:

Plimpplamppletteren - to skim stones (say it aloud and you'll know why!)
Veiraaten - (or it's spelt something like that) to walk in the wind for fun

Knootoss will correct me. And is a burek a type of food?

The Dutch, being a light-hearted people, have two really cool words:

Plimpplamppletteren - to skim stones (say it aloud and you'll know why!)
Veiraaten - (or it's spelt something like that) to walk in the wind for fun

Knootoss will correct me. And is a burek a type of food?
I have no idea what you are talking about :confused:

Best word is "zwaffelen". Not for the words, but for the meaning.

Slapping the penis in a non-sexual way into a person's face



English: zwaffeling
French: zwaffeler

The Dutch Gezelligheid (http://thecrown.ca/issues/21-12/clown/cbulk.html)
An ugly word for a beautiful concept, that I never experienced in Holland - I wonder how dutch people came to it :confused:

Водогразетофорафинолечный. Using water, mud, peat and paraffin as a medical treatment. (pronounced vodogryazetoforafeenolechnee) Actualy, you can make it one letter longer by sticking it into the genitive.

"ik ben Engelsman", "ik ben niet homo", "ben je een vaarken" and "ik spreek geen Nederlands" are some of my favourite things to say in Dutch.

that article about aluminium was interesting. maybe it should start another U.S. bashing thread.

"ik ben Engelsman", "ik ben niet homo", "ben je een vaarken" and "ik spreek geen Nederlands" are some of my favourite things to say in Dutch.And they translate to: 'I'm English', 'I'm not gay', 'Are you a pig?' and 'I don't speak Dutch'.

http://members.aol.com/gulfhigh2/words4.html

"At a dam, there is a flooddoor. The controls for the flooddoor are in the flooddoorroom. Let's say the the boss at the dam calls a meeting in the flooddoorroom. The people who go to this meeting are FLOODDOORROOMMEETINGGOERS. And James Lehmann suggests: In the flooddoorroom, there is a book, which explains how to use the controls for the flooddoor, a FLOODDOORROOMBOOK, in which all four double-O's are pronounced differently. " :eek:

I have no idea what you are talking about

Err, what bit in partocular don't you get? The thing about the burek is from a post a while back.

MC Eredivisie - what is the Dutch for "to walk in the wind for fun"? I'm pretty sure it's something like "veiraaten", but I can't remember.

Longest word in the English language: *deep breath in*

"Ornicopytheobibliopsychocrystarroscioaerogenethliometeoroaustrohieroanthropoichthyopyrosiderochpnomy oalectryoophiobotanopegohydrorhabdocrithoaleuroalphitohalomolybdoclerobeloaxinocoscinodactyliogeolit hopessopsephocatoptrotephraoneirochiroonychodactyloarithstichooxogeloscogastrogyrocerobletonooenosca puliniac"

heuurghh... 310 letters
yeah. but whats it mean?

MC Eredivisie - what is the Dutch for "to walk in the wind for fun"? I'm pretty sure it's something like "veiraaten", but I can't remember.
'voor je plezier in de wind lopen', I have no idea:confused: Let's ask Knoot:p

Longest word in the English language: *deep breath in*

"Ornicopytheobibliopsychocrystarroscioaerogenethliometeoroaustrohieroanthropoichthyopyrosiderochpnomy oalectryoophiobotanopegohydrorhabdocrithoaleuroalphitohalomolybdoclerobeloaxinocoscinodactyliogeolit hopessopsephocatoptrotephraoneirochiroonychodactyloarithstichooxogeloscogastrogyrocerobletonooenosca puliniac"

heuurghh... 310 letters

I'm almost certain that that is just a theoretical scientific word and that the actual word in usage is much shorter.

Got it! Apparently, the word is uitwaaien. I was miles off. But, did you know Albanians have 27 words for moustache?

Got it! Apparently, the word is uitwaaien. I was miles off.Why didn't you say so?:D

auspumpend means pooping in German

so very much not. i can see how it would relate, you know, meaning-wise..as somebody already said, the german word for diarrhea translates into "falling through" but...no.

[where the hell did you get that from?]

Приплывать [Preployvat]: "To have been arriving by ship whereupon a further event superceeded that"

Longest word in the English language: *deep breath in*

"Ornicopytheobibliopsychocrystarroscioaerogenethliometeoroaustrohieroanthropoichthyopyrosiderochpnomy oalectryoophiobotanopegohydrorhabdocrithoaleuroalphitohalomolybdoclerobeloaxinocoscinodactyliogeolit hopessopsephocatoptrotephraoneirochiroonychodactyloarithstichooxogeloscogastrogyrocerobletonooenosca puliniac"

heuurghh... 310 letters


Obviously, you are into hippopotomonstrosesquipedalianism... i.e. you enjoy saying long words...;)

How about some nice luxembourgish words?

-Dëckelsmouk = turtle
- Kaweechelchen = squirrel
- Päiperléck = Butterfly

Obviously, you are into hippopotomonstrosesquipedalianism... i.e. you enjoy saying long words...;)
Okay, so 'sesquipedalianism' means the use of longs words (literally, 'using a foot and a half'), but from where does the hippo monster bit come?

Okay, so 'sesquipedalianism' means the use of longs words (literally, 'using a foot and a half'), but from where does the hippo monster bit come?

*Screams*

Argh! This monster hippo will kill us all!

How about some nice luxembourgish words?

-Dëckelsmouk = turtle
- Kaweechelchen = squirrel
- Päiperléck = Butterfly

How about luxembourgish.
(it is the -ish at the end that really cracks me up, sort of Franglaise)
I've always wanted know why the major fast food chains haven't come up with a luxemburger and then the most obvious a deluxemburger (has herb bread and sundried tomato. (woo))

I believe that everyone in Luxembourg is an evil capitalist, because IIRC, the adjective is luxembourgeois.

I believe that everyone in Luxembourg is an evil capitalist, because IIRC, the adjective is luxembourgeois.


Boycott all Luxemborgeois products now they are an affront to upstanding socialists the world over.
new camapaign "Luxembourger? I'd rather not, unless tey are made with a capitalist pig"
subtle and to the point. (subtle by my standards (and they are pretty low I admit))

I believe that everyone in Luxembourg is an evil capitalist, because IIRC, the adjective is luxembourgeois.

what does IIRC mean?? I hope you do not mean that the english word for someone who lives in luxembourg is "luxembourgeois"? That would be French...

And why does everyone seem to think that we are capitalists??

superbum in Latin
Fukit also Latin

sunni - means penis in Tamil (my mother tongue). :D

It is really funny to see the news readers contorting the word to say it like "sunny" or "soonie", when referring to sunni muslims).

what does IIRC mean??

let me introduce you to a friend of mine. (http://www.acronymfinder.com)

Longest word in the English language: *deep breath in*

"Ornicopytheobibliopsychocrystarroscioaerogenethliometeoroaustrohieroanthropoichthyopyrosiderochpnomy oalectryoophiobotanopegohydrorhabdocrithoaleuroalphitohalomolybdoclerobeloaxinocoscinodactyliogeolit hopessopsephocatoptrotephraoneirochiroonychodactyloarithstichooxogeloscogastrogyrocerobletonooenosca puliniac"

heuurghh... 310 letters

wrong
there is a word over 1,900 letters long, but this one will do.
ACETYLSERYLTYROSYLSERYLISOLEUCYLTHREONYLSERYLPROLYLSERYLGLUTAMINYLPHENYLALANYLVALYLPHENYLALANYLLEUCY LSERYLSERYLVALYLTRYPTOPHYLALANYLASPARTYLPROLYLISOLEUCYLGLUTAMYLLEUCYLLEUCYLASPARAGINYLVALYLCYSTEINYL THREONYLSERYLSERYLLEUCYLGLYCYLASPARAGINYLGLUTAMINYLPHENYLALANYLGLUTAMINYLTHREONYLGLUTAMINYLGLUTAMINY LALANYLARGINYLTHREONYLTHREONYLGLUTAMINYLVALYLGLUTAMINYLGLUTAMINYLPHENYLALANYLSERYLGLUTAMINYLVALYLTRY PTOPHYLLYSYLPROLYLPHENYLALANYLPROLYLGLUTAMINYLSERYLTHREONYLVALYLARGINYLPHENYLALANYLPROLYLGLYCYLASPAR TYLVALYLTYROSYLLYSYLVALYLTYROSYLARGINYLTYROSYLASPARAGINYLALANYLVALYLLEUCYLASPARTYLPROLYLLEUCYLISOLEU CYLTHREONYLALANYLLEUCYLLEUCYLGLYCYLTHREONYLPHENYLALANYLASPARTYLTHREONYLARGINYLASPARAGINYLARGINYLISOL EUCYLISOLEUCYLGLUTAMYLVALYLGLUTAMYLASPARAGINYLGLUTAMINYLGLUTAMINYLSERYLPROLYLTHREONYLTHREONYLALANYLG LUTAMYLTHREONYLLEUCYLASPARTYLALANYLTHREONYLARGINYLARGINYLVALYLASPARTYLASPARTYLALANYLTHREONYLVALYLALA NYLISOLEUCYLARGINYLSERYLALANYLASPARAGINYLISOLEUCYLASPARAGINYLLEUCYLVALYLASPARAGINYLGLUTAMYLLEUCYLVAL YLARGINYLGLYCYLTHREONYLGLYCYLLEUCYLTYROSYLASPARAGINYLGLUTAMINYLASPARAGINYLTHREONYLPHENYLALANYLGLUTAM YLSERYLMETHIONYLSERYLGLYCYLLEUCYLVALYLTRYPTOPHYLTHREONYLSERYLALANYLPROLYLALANYLSERINE = Tobacco Mosaic Virus, Dahlemense Strain. (1,185 letters)

What about paracetamoxyfrusebendroneomycin (www.amateurtransplants.com)?

What about Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch?

Is is the longest place name in Britain. It is on the lsland of Angalsy In North Wales. It actually means something along the llines of "The church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel trees near the rapid whirlpool by St. Tysilio's of the red cave" in Welsh.

Oh and don't try to pronounce it unless you are Welsh or you know about the Welsh language because, belive me, you will get it wrong.

Eiapopeia - German
It's sort of like the English word "bunk!" which is a way to say bullshit.

Coco - commie (French)
Rippoux - corrupt cop (French Verlan)

I think French slang's quite cool.