talkpolitics | Entries tagged with language

Yeah, we all know about Faux Cyrillic. It's silly and it's fun. We've also heard of the funny Russian accent, Russians are so funny trying to speak English, with their soft accent and their proneness to skip the "the" article. But what about the other way around, English-speaking people trying to pronounce Russian words and names and basically slaughtering them?

Here's a look into the most common Russian words that ended up like minced meat after being pronounced in English. To anyone remotely familiar with Russian, the sound of these is like a bag of rusty iron nails being drawn through the back of your skull. Neither is Putin's name VLADemere, nor is Nikita's surname CRUST-choff. Sorry.

airiefairie

This tree beautifully captures the connections between groups of languages in Eurasia, and it shows that all those languages descend from a common ancestral proto-language. The size of the leaves on top of each branch approximates how many people speak each language. (click on image for large version)

( Big language tree behind cut )

airiefairie

Map of quotation marks in European languages.
Source.

nairiporter

The most common words that people don't know how to spell in every US state.

More accurately, this map shows the word that residents of each state Google along with the phrase "how to spell" most frequently, indicating that they're confused about how it's spelled.

asthfghl

Watch on YouTube

A few in my language:

Petar plet plete, po pet pleta preplita. Pleti, Petre, pleta, po pet pleta preplitai.
(Peter is weaving a fence, he weaves five fences at a time. Weave the fence, Peter, weave five fences at a time!)

Kralitsa Klara krala na kral Karl kradenite klarineti.
(Queen Clara stole king Carl's stolen clarinets).

Chichkovite chervenotikvenovcheta.
(Uncle's little red-noddled ones).

Shest shisheta se sushat na shest shoseta.
(Six bottles are drying up on six roads).

nairiporter.livejournal.com

This article about the most common bywords that we South Africans have adopted through the years, has reminded me to ask you guys about the bywords you're used to. Every culture and nation has their own, after all. Names that originally meant specific brands of products have become so commonplace that nowadays they denote the entire segment of products associated with that brand. In most cases, due to market domination of that brand in its relevant segment.

For example, in South Africa, the name Jik is colloquially used as a synonym to bleach, Sunlight for dishwashing liquid, Omo for washing powder, Band-Aid for plaster, Pritt for glue stick, etc. What about your bywords?

dreamville-bg.livejournal.com

Normally, I pay little or no interest in the 'new word' of the year, but this year's word, 'post-truth' seems particularly useful...

'Post-truth' declared word of the year by Oxford Dictionaries

Post-truth. The official definition says, "relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief". We could expand the meaning of the term to characterize the era in which hegemonic financial institutes, using media for manipulation, attempt to nihilize the electoral process. It is a negative effect of psychology and marketing used by a few people without ethics.

( Read more... )

ddstory.livejournal.com

( See infographic )

dreamville-bg.livejournal.com

Kthxbye. What a word.

It's shortening of "k thx bye". The K is short for OK, which is short for oll korrect, which is a facetious alteration of All Correct. thx is short for thanx which is a facetious alteration of thanks which is short for thank you. Bye is short for goodbye, which is an alteration of alteration of God be with you. "kthxbye" is the pinnacle of English's advancement, shortening "All correct, Thank you, God be with you." into seven lowercase letters. Humanity is doomed. Obviously, it is used to end a conversation *fast* that you don't want to be in anymore.

cypukambl.livejournal.com

Оригинал взят у

cypukambl в Sign language

A sign language (also signed language or simply signing) is a language which uses manual communication and body language to convey meaning, as opposed to acoustically conveyed sound patterns. This can involve simultaneously combining hand shapes, orientation and movement of the hands, arms or body, and facial expressions to fluidly express a speaker's thoughts. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sign_language )
Sign languages differ from country to country. Very often several countries share the same sing language, but sometimes there are more than one sign languages in single country. This can lead to some misunderstanding.
( Read more... )

There are few things that harm more than misunderstanding.

dreamville-bg.livejournal.com

How many languages do you speak? I would be interested to know.

When you answer the poll, please specify which languages you speak and which of them is your native language. How did you learn those other languages (if any)?

[Poll #2020906]

luzribeiro.livejournal.com

First off, Im'ma just toss two pieces here that I recently found interesting...

“That’s not racist, you idiot”: Jay Leno slams college kids for being too “politically correct”
...Leno also took umbrage at a former intern's suggestion that not liking Mexican food made him racist.

Student Blasts Her College’s ‘Thought Police’ and Political Correctness That’s ‘Reached the Level of Crazy’
...Weiss described the campus-wide initiative in which students are told to avoid using words “that are not inclusive”; the mandatory session that discouraged extending the wish of “Merry Christmas”; and a freshman seminar in which her friend was lambasted by the lecturer for being a white heterosexual man from Georgia.

That said, now let's put the shoe on the other foot just for the sake of a thought experiment, and see where this goes. So here's a suggestion.

"Pot calls the kettle black" - we've often heard that phrase. But, given the present-day perception of subtle racial overtones as detrimental to constructive discourse, inclusiveness, social harmony and equality, I have to ask, why black? If we're to remain true to the extant social mores and tendencies of the day, is it really OK that black should constantly be associated with something bad? I mean: economic black hole, herd's black ram, black pit of Hell, etc.

Shouldn't we now rephrase this to "Coffee cup calls salad plate greasy" or something? I say we wage a war on all well-known and long-established proverbs and sayings that are no longer OK and have become offensive to the modern sensitivities of our civilized society! What say you? Are you with me? And why not?

luzribeiro.livejournal.com

They say these are just typos. "I was typing in a hury, I dont usualy do that eror". But then you see they actually do usually do the same error.

Does that annoy the crap out of ya? Or do you just say "Meh, it can happen to anyone"? Is the cause of endemic grammar fail a bit deeper than mere haste in typing? Perhaps profound lack of literacy? What say you?

Anyway, back to the question. Which are the typos and spelling errors that you encounter the most often, and which are the ones that annoy you the most? Some examples...

- Restroom's / Restrooms
- To / Too / Two
- Then / Than
- There / Their; You're / Your; Our's / Ours; Its / It's
- Definately, Defiantley; Rediculous; Independant; Existance; Seperate; Chalange
- Loose / Lose
- Wierd / Weird; Hieght / Height
- Effect / Affect
- Dinning; Shiping; Shiting
- Bizare, Bizzarre, Bizzare
- Basicly, Basicaly
- Disapoint, Dissapoint, Dissappoint
- Moneys, Fishes, Sheeps, Deers

htpcl.livejournal.com

Bulgaria is a place where you cannot be farther than 500 km away from your family, no matter how hard you try. Families often live in the same area or, if they don't, one can always take a quick holiday to visit the folks "на село" (na selo, meaning "back in the village"). In fact, children often spend the summer months with one or the other set of grandparents somewhere in the country: in a village, a town or a small city. The "grandma institution" is really strong over here. As is the tradition of coming back from long holidays in the countryside with a car full of tomatoes, apples, peppers, you name it.

Anyway. The centuries-old family traditions and bonds are reflected in the Bulgarian language. Much like the proverbial Inuit and their many words for snow, there are five different words for "uncle" in Bulgarian, four for "aunt", three for "brother-in-law" and four for "sister-in-law".

( But let's start with the easy ones )

mahnmut.livejournal.com

Hey, my beloved procrastinators! It's been a while since we had our last installment of ridiculously over-simplified and unbearably polarized hypothetical situations, inspired by the NationStates online game - you know, that place where you're the benevolent ruler of your own fictional state, which you're completely free to shape as you please, based on the stupid choices you make in situations like the below presented. Last time when we delved into the depths of True Democracy(tm), the bulk of you guys sided with Ms Golfswinkel, TV studio exec who insisted that the idea of government-mandated quotas and government prizes for stimulating a bigger representation of minorities on television was, well, a pile of cowshit, and the market should be let to sort out these matters like the good invisible benevolent demiurge that it is.

Now the issue is again related to minority rights, but with a little twist into a different, linguistic direction.

The Issue
A group several thousands strong hailing from a remote, isolated corner of Insert Country Name is staging a massive demonstration on the front steps of your capitol. They demand that their local dialect be recognized as an official language.

( The debate & a poll )

anfalicious.livejournal.com

When I was in England close to ten years ago, I was walking through the streets with my friend; a local and very progressive type (she now has a PhD in ancient female sexuality, which says it all). I was telling her a story about something I can't even recall but it involved being around some of my ethnic friends. I said the line "well, then my Paki mate said...", she cut in with "you can't say that!". Dumbfounded I said "say what?" "Paki", she whispered "that's racist". This blew me away. In England the term "Paki" is apparently very offensive. In Australia, it's what Pakistanis call themselves (and obviously what everyone else calls them). English people are "Poms", Greeks and Italians are "Wogs", Indians are "Curries", red necked yobs are "Skips", upper middle class white people are "wankers" (iconic Australian band TISM have a song about the last two called "Whatareya".

( Culture under the cut (not of the yoghurt kind) )

htpcl.livejournal.com

Hi, fellow ~~procrastinators~~ smart, sophisticated folks! Now, there may be one word in my language which could substitute virtually anything, and express any sentiment in combination with another word - the word "takova" (this, that, it, such). But I ain't gonna occupy you with that right now - maybe another time. Here I'll rather focus on a combo of two other words, which are equally multifunctional.

"Eba" = to fuck
"Maika" = mother

So here we go!

"Mamka ti da eba" (literally: Fuck your mommy) = Now you really pissed me off!
"Eba li maika mu" (literally: Do I fuck its mother?) = The hell should I know?
"Ebal sam ti maikata" (literally: I've fucked your mother) = Don't waste my time with nonsense!
"`Bah ti mamata" (literally: I fucked your mom) = You're full of surprises!
"Eba li mama mu" (literally: Do I fuck its mommy?) = I have no idea.
"'Ba li ma`a mu" (literally: Do I fuck its mum?) = Don't know and don't care.
"Dali da ne ti eba maikata" (literally: I wonder if I shouldn't fuck your mother) = Dude, you've crossed a line.
"Da eba maika ti, da eba" (literally: I'd fuck your mother, I'll fuck her) = I'll get a revenge on you some day, but obviously not today.
"Ebah ti maikata" (literally: I fucked your mother) = I don't give a damn about you any more.
"Eeeeee, da ti eba maikata" (literally: Aaargh! I'd fuck your mother) = Damn, this is too unexpected!
"E, sega veche si eba maikata" (literally: Well, now it has fucked its mother) = What a complicated situation!
"Ti si si ebal maikata" (literally: You've fucked your mother) = Wow, dude, you're awesome!
"Maikata si e ebalo" (literally: It has fucked its mother) = This is a very unpleasant situation.
"I si eba maikata" (literally: And then it fucked its mother) = It's all over.

Once you've learned these phrases, I guarantee you'll have no problems around the bars in Sunny Beach.

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June 2025

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Talk politics.

A place to discuss politics without egomaniacal mods.

Entries tagged with language

Friday off-topic. Mincing Russian words

Friday offtopic. Magnificent linguistic family tree

Friday offtopic. Quotation marks

Friday oftopic. Amurkka's most mizpelt werds

Friday fun. Got some tongue-twisters?

Friday fun: Bywords!

After truthiness, we now have post-truth

Friday curious. Hardest languages to learn

The epitome of the genius of the English language

Sign language

Friday inquiry. Any polyglotes?

Pot calls kettle what, now?

Teh Friday gramm3r N@zi. Most annoying spelling errors?

WFTness: The weird world of relatives in Bulgarian

Minority Group Demands Language Recognition

Political Correctness, race and humour.

Friday lulz. The richness of the Bulgarian language

Credits & Style Info

Links

June 2025

Summary