Weird Translation Game

[SleepyWitch]

give a LITERAL translation of a word or sentence from your mother tongue/ a foreign language you know.
let the others guess what it means if you think it's easy enough, or just explain it yourself.

here's some examples:

"Well, I know yes not what this shall" = I don't know what this is supposed to mean (German: Also, ich weiss ja nicht was das soll)
[mean not as in the meaning of a word but as in why somebody is doing something etc]

"place-before-stander" (Ortsvorsteher), the mayor of a little town or village that is part of a bigger administrative unit...

"bag-animal"; "lazy-animal" ---> can you guess???

[SleepyWitch]

I've got another one, which Mark Twain mentions in "The Awful German Language" (the translation is mine though):

"Age-dom's-know-creations" well, yeah, that's something like Classics or Archeology....

[Pendragon]

"bag-animal"; "lazy-animal" ---> can you guess??? Let's see. Well, Sleepy, (believe it or not, that was my grandfather's nickname, Sleepy!), I'm guessing a possum since they have a pouch (bag) and tend to "play dead" (lazy). Just a guess.

Redneck-- in this country means someone who is very backwoods, living a simple life, unused to technology, unsophistocated.

With that in mind, what would a poleaxe be?

[Pensive]

Adaab, Tumhara kiya haal hai? (Urdu in English letters)

Hello, How are you? (translation)

[Mililalil XXIV]

From the Hebrew Scriptures:

Wayyo`mer `ELOHIM, yehi `or; wayhi `or. [And_said ELOHIM be light and_was light.]
Often translated: "And GOD said, 'Let there be light', and there was light."

W`elleh, shemoth beney Yisra`el, haba`im, Mitsraymah: `eth Ya'aqov, `ish uveytho ba`u. [And_these, names (of)_sons (of)_Israel, the_going_ones, (into)_Egypt: with Jacob, each and_house went_he.]
Often translated: "Now these are the names of the sons of Israel, who came into Egypt with Jacob; every man came with his household."

[Mililalil XXIV]

The word "aura", which has something to do with light, consists of a stem virtually identical to Hebrew "`or", with a feminine suffix appended on. The stem is "aur-". Conversely, in a feminine form, Hebrew "`or" becomes "`orah".

The Hebrew term "haba`im" consists of the definite article, "ha", plus the stem "ba" (derived from a verb in which, depending upon dialect, the /B/ can sound as /V/, and it has a similar function to Italian "va"), plus the plural, masculine substantive ending, "_im".

[SleepyWitch]

Let's see. Well, Sleepy, (believe it or not, that was my grandfather's nickname, Sleepy!), I'm guessing a possum since they have a pouch (bag) and tend to "play dead" (lazy). Just a guess.

Redneck-- in this country means someone who is very backwoods, living a simple life, unused to technology, unsophistocated.

With that in mind, what would a poleaxe be?

neat guess :)
er, it's two different words actually, sorry if it wasn't clear.
yep "bag-animal" is something like a possum... it's a literal translation of the German word for marsupial, we call marsupials "bag-animal" because they have a pouch

what about the "lazy-animal" then?

[Taliesin]

Tree-sloth we would guess, since tree-sloth in Estonian is "laiskloom" which means "lazy-animal".


Horse-fly instrument. Can you guess what it is?

[Pendragon]

Horse-fly instrument. Can you guess what it is? Might it be a riding whip, used to flick away the pesky flies from horses? ;)

[emily655321]

Horse-fly instrument. Can you guess what it is?
Oh, what a strange one. (I like this game!) Perhaps it has something to do with the vibrations, like the sound a horsefly makes? If, of course, it means "musical instrument..." um..

...a kazoo? :lol: Oh no, I've completely lost my train of thought now. I think Pen's guess was better.

[SleepyWitch]

Tree-sloth we would guess, since tree-sloth in Estonian is "laiskloom" which means "lazy-animal".


Horse-fly instrument. Can you guess what it is?

yep, it's a sloth :) hehe, Estonian is just as funny a language as German :)


I've got another weird German word... I don't think anyone will be able to guess it (except people from the Netherlands maybe, coz i heard it's the same in Dutch)

"witch-shot" (it's a medical condition, German: Hexenschuss).

we've also got a funny expression that translates as "The oats are stinging me" which means you are in an exuberant and silly mood (possibly also up to manifold wickedness :) ), especially because it's spring...

[beer good]

Might a horse-fly instrument be a Jew's harp (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jew%27s_harp)?

I dare anyone to figure out what a Swede means when he tells someone "You've crapped in the blue cupboard".

[SleepyWitch]

er, do you have blue crapper booths like this is Sweden?
http://www.argeurlaub.de/rolli-wc1.jpg

nope, that would be too obvious.... give us a clue? what is a blue cupboard? an actual cupboard, or does the phrase stand for something else? at any rate, it seams to mean that you do something nonsensical of one sort or another....
???

[Xamonas Chegwe]

Here's a few I found when trying to learn Cantonese a few years back:

May-gwok (Beautiful country
Fa-gwok (Flower country)
Ying-gwok (Brave country)

[Pensive]

In Urdu (Urdu languge but in English alphabets)

Khub-soorat Mo-olk (Beautiful Country)

Phuloon ka Mo-olk - (Flower Country)

Baha-dar Mo-olk (Brave Country)

[beer good]

er, do you have blue crapper booths like this is Sweden?
We do, but that's not it. It's a complete non sequitur that really has nothing to do with cupboards. "You've crapped in the blue cupboard" (or, more exactly, "You've sh*t in the blue cupboard") means roughly "Alright, that's it, you've gone too far this time!" Example:

Woman: Remember when you told our son that he could under no circumstances borrow the car this weekend?
Man: Yeah?
Woman: Well, the good news is - seat belts really do save lives! The bad news is you need a new car.
Man: WHAT?!? Damnit, he's crapped in the blue cupboard now! Tomorrow he's getting a job!

Other favorite expressions are "there's no cow on the ice" meaning roughly "everything's OK, no need to worry", and "the boiled pork is fried" meaning "the sh*t has hit the fan".

(And any English speaker thinking this is silly is hereby asked to consider the phrase "It's raining cats and dogs".)

As for German, I remember when I was working in Germany and was told by my boss I didn't have to come in tomorrow since they were giving the computer system a complete overhaul. "Da kommt jemand um Ihre PCs upzudaten." I had no idea "updaten" was a German word - let alone a separable verb. "Ich date up, ich habe upgedatet"?

[SleepyWitch]

We do, but that's not it. It's a complete non sequitur that really has nothing to do with cupboards. "You've crapped in the blue cupboard" (or, more exactly, "You've sh*t in the blue cupboard") means roughly "Alright, that's it, you've gone too far this time!" Example:

Woman: Remember when you told our son that he could under no circumstances borrow the car this weekend?
Man: Yeah?
Woman: Well, the good news is - seat belts really do save lives! The bad news is you need a new car.
Man: WHAT?!? Damnit, he's crapped in the blue cupboard now! Tomorrow he's getting a job!

Other favorite expressions are "there's no cow on the ice" meaning roughly "everything's OK, no need to worry", and "the boiled pork is fried" meaning "the sh*t has hit the fan".

(And any English speaker thinking this is silly is hereby asked to consider the phrase "It's raining cats and dogs".)

As for German, I remember when I was working in Germany and was told by my boss I didn't have to come in tomorrow since they were giving the computer system a complete overhaul. "Da kommt jemand um Ihre PCs upzudaten." I had no idea "updaten" was a German word - let alone a separable verb. "Ich date up, ich habe upgedatet"?

heheh, Swedish is really funny :)
yep, we've got some English words in German that we stick German endings to... downloaden is another one :) You say "Ich werde das Programm downloaden" but "Ich habe es downGEloadet"... i think there's also some confusion as to which part of the verb goes where but right now i can't remember what it was...
don't you get this kind of thing in Swedish? in German we've also got "chatten" but it only refers to chatting on the internet, like on ICQ or IRC, not chatting in real life...
******************************
hum, nobody has tried to guess what a "which-shot" (medical condition) might be...
let me explain the rules of the game again: you give a LITERAL translation of an expression in your mother tongue/ a foreign language and the others have to guess what it could mean... it only makes sense if the translation will sound weird because the phrase actually used in English is NOT a literal translation.

[Pendragon]

hum, nobody has tried to guess what a "which-shot" (medical condition) might be...
.
Hiccups? Possibly? My grasp of other languages is not good, French is my second language, and I know enough to make a first class fool out of myself! :lol:

Here's a few odd American words:

Bindlestiff
croaker (you'd be surprised...)
riding the porcelain pony

:D

[SleepyWitch]

Hiccups? Possibly? My grasp of other languages is not good, French is my second language, and I know enough to make a first class fool out of myself! :lol:

Here's a few odd American words:

Bindlestiff
croaker (you'd be surprised...)
riding the porcelain pony

:D

nope, it's not hiccups, it's something that affects the back.... I'm not even sure there's a single word for it in English... keep guessing?
hm, riding the porcelain pony... sounds like taking risks or doing something foolish...

[Pendragon]

nope, it's not hiccups, it's something that affects the back.... I'm not even sure there's a single word for it in English... keep guessing?
hm, riding the porcelain pony... sounds like taking risks or doing something foolish... :lol: I really beg your pardon, Sleepy, dear, but that was a corker! To you I believe the letters WC might open the door to the "porcelain pony", and a pony sometimes "trots", which would be why you would have to ride this one. A corker is a good laugh, BTW. Affects the back..... Hummmm... Cricks in the back?

[emily655321]

Pen, even I've never heard of "bindlestiff" before. :p You're sure you're not making up your own language? ;)

SleepyWitch~ "downloaden" and "chatten" made me laugh. Logical, but very funny for some reason. I guess it reminds me of someone trying to immitate German by sticking German endings onto English words. Like a tourist in a German restaurant: "I... would like... die potato-en. Ja? Die... potato-en?"

[beer good]

I think most languages these days borrow a lot of words wholesale from English - just like everyone borrowed from French 150 years ago, or from Latin before that. It doesn't get really ridiculous until we start trying to change the spelling so it can be written the way it's pronounced. For instance, we've got the now perfectly acceptable Swedish words jos, mejl, sajt, rejv, tejp, tuff, stajling, okej and tajming rather than the much more difficult English words juice, mail, site, rave, tape, tough, styling, OK and timing.

I really admire the Icelanders. They supposedly make up new words rather than borrow from other languages - for instance, their word for "electricity" translates to "amber power". Then again, there's only 300,000 of them, so I guess it's a luxury they can afford...

(Oh and the Swedish word for "hexenschuss" literally translates to "shot in the back" - which has caused some concern for doctors treating Swedish tourists abroad.)

[SleepyWitch]

:lol: I really beg your pardon, Sleepy, dear, but that was a corker! To you I believe the letters WC might open the door to the "porcelain pony", and a pony sometimes "trots", which would be why you would have to ride this one. A corker is a good laugh, BTW. Affects the back..... Hummmm... Cricks in the back?

heheh :) I think i used up all my capacity for loo-related matters in my post to beer good when i posted that pick of a blue cr*pper booth :)

"cricks in the back" .. .yeah, I think the "witch-shot" (Hexenschuss) could be something like that... it's when you bend down and try to straigthen up again but can't because you strain your back while bending... then you have to hop around like a hunchback till you can find a doctor....
by the way, I disclaim any involvement in "witch-shots"

[Taliesin]

Vägivald - power-county

You will never get this one wothout a dictionary or unless the construction was loaned from another language. Honestly. It is very bizarre. It is a very, very old concept and a negative one.

[hera-on-earth]

Adaab, Tumhara kiya haal hai? (Urdu in English letters)

Hello, How are you? (translation)
I do not think that Urdu uses the word "tumhara". It is "aapka" in the chaste Urdu.

[hera-on-earth]

"Mane paani piwu chhe" in Gujarati literally means...."Me water drink-want is"....meaning "i want to drink water."

[SleepyWitch]

Vägivald - power-county

You will never get this one wothout a dictionary or unless the construction was loaned from another language. Honestly. It is very bizarre. It is a very, very old concept and a negative one.

give us a hint? what's it got to do with?

[emily655321]

Vägivald - power-county

You will never get this one wothout a dictionary or unless the construction was loaned from another language. Honestly. It is very bizarre. It is a very, very old concept and a negative one.Does it have to do with feudalism? Or monarchy, where one person owns all the land?

[RJbibliophil]

I think most languages these days borrow a lot of words wholesale from English - just like everyone borrowed from French 150 years ago, or from Latin before that. It doesn't get really ridiculous until we start trying to change the spelling so it can be written the way it's pronounced. For instance, we've got the now perfectly acceptable Swedish words jos, mejl, sajt, rejv, tejp, tuff, stajling, okej and tajming rather than the much more difficult English words juice, mail, site, rave, tape, tough, styling, OK and timing.

I really admire the Icelanders. They supposedly make up new words rather than borrow from other languages - for instance, their word for "electricity" translates to "amber power". Then again, there's only 300,000 of them, so I guess it's a luxury they can afford...

(Oh and the Swedish word for "hexenschuss" literally translates to "shot in the back" - which has caused some concern for doctors treating Swedish tourists abroad.)

Although svensk is quite similar to Norsk, there are a few ridiculous differences that can get confusing. I agree that there are too many words borrowed from english. Usually there's even a better word in our own tongue to start with. We stand a risk of losing our languages. In norway a lot of teenagers don't want to speak the dialects, causing many to be concerned. Islansk and færøyisk is great-gammel norsk-and I think they hold onto it well. The danes didn't do much. Then again, english has borrowed a lot of words from other languages...
Of course being norsk, I prefer it over svensk, but it's probably vice versa too. I think many nordmenn would rather that Finland win men's hockey in the olympics, just so the swedes wouldn't...

Here's a word: Rumpetroll- Directly translated it would mean rump troll.

[Pensive]

I do not think that Urdu uses the word "tumhara". It is "aapka" in the chaste Urdu.

Yes, you are right here. With "Adaab" there will certainly be "aap ka" but if there is no adaab and we are talking freely, then it is "tumhara"

[emily655321]

Here's a word: Rumpetroll- Directly translated it would mean rump troll.
A good example of English borrowing from other languages. :nod:

Haha. I hardly dare wager a guess on this one... too many fun possibilities. :p I think I know some, myself. :lol: Well... could it be a pig?

[RJbibliophil]

I'm curious-where is urdu spoken?

[RJbibliophil]

A good example of English borrowing from other languages.

Haha. I hardly dare wager a guess on this one... too many fun possibilities. I think I know some, myself. Well... could it be a pig?


No, it is not a pig, but it is an animal.
Keep in mind that english, norwegian, and german(etc...) are all related.

[SleepyWitch]

I'm curious-where is urdu spoken?

It's the official language of Pakistan. but I'm sure Pensive can tell you more about it...

hehe, I studied a bit of Norwegian :) it's a cool language :) it's like a funny mix of Old English and German :)
it's ages ago though and i don't remember much :( I'd love to take up norsk again some day...
Jeg snakker litt norsk.(spelling?) Hvor bur du? or something like that.. whatever.. i was trying to say "where (in Norway) do you live?"
our teacher told us this funny saying that means "It's better to have a "dram" an hour than to spend one hour in Drammen".. how do you say it in Norsk?

I've got no idea what a rumpentroll might be.. maybe a bear?


I've got another funny German expression:
it's literal translation would be "He/they/... can stay stolen to me!" (Der kann mir mal gestohlen bleiben).
any guesses?

[Pensive]

I'm curious-where is urdu spoken?


Urdu is spoken in Pakistan actually but it is a mixture of Turkish, Persian, Arabic and Hindi. So I think that people who know any of these languages, some of them will be able to understand Urdu to some extent. If not, then it is very easy for them to learn Urdu.

Urdu is a "lashkari zaban" Lashkari zaban means a language with a combination of other languages. When people from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran, Afghnaistan, etc came here, Urdu originated.

[Taliesin]

Does it have to do with feudalism? Or monarchy, where one person owns all the land?


It is a part of feudalism and monarchy, but not because of the land so don't think on the accounts of rulership.

It actually belongs to all forms of rulership and everything and we are absolutely certain that unfortunately all of you have experienced it.

[Pendragon]

It is a part of feudalism and monarchy, but not because of the land so don't think on the accounts of rulership.

It actually belongs to all forms of rulership and everything and we are absolutely certain that unfortunately all of you have experienced it.

Taking a educated guess, based on your last clue, taxation? :confused:

[emily655321]

I've got another funny German expression:
it's literal translation would be "He/they/... can stay stolen to me!" (Der kann mir mal gestohlen bleiben).
any guesses?Does it mean, "I don't mind if I never see them again"?

[SleepyWitch]

Does it mean, "I don't mind if I never see them again"?

not too bad, it's something along those lines but not in a literal sense... do you wanna guess again? I'll put the solution in orange below (highlight to read)

it's when someone gets on your nerves and you're angry with them and don't care about their opinion or wishes any longer

[RJbibliophil]

hehe, I studied a bit of Norwegian :) it's a cool language :) it's like a funny mix of Old English and German :)
it's ages ago though and i don't remember much :( I'd love to take up norsk again some day...
Jeg snakker litt norsk.(spelling?) Hvor bur du? or something like that.. whatever.. i was trying to say "where (in Norway) do you live?"
our teacher told us this funny saying that means "It's better to have a "dram" an hour than to spend one hour in Drammen".. how do you say it in Norsk?

I've got no idea what a rumpentroll might be.. maybe a bear?

Great spelling. Never heard that Drammen's horrible. I'm from Hallingdal, which is about half way between Oslo and Bergen and a little north. I actually don't live there most of the time, but I was there last Christmas. I live in the US (hint-land of 10,000 lakes).
No, it's not a bear, it's a lot smaller than a bear.

[emily655321]

A hedgehog?

Give us a hint: Is it a pet, or a farm animal, or a wild animal?

[Taliesin]

Taking a educated guess, based on your last clue, taxation? :confused:

Well, you could say that taxation is a form of it, but older. Way older.
Much more older than civilisation

[SleepyWitch]

wow, Taliesin's riddle is way too difficult for me...
I'll give the rumptroll another try... is it a vole?

[RJbibliophil]

Rumpetroll are quite small, usually live in the wild, although some children keep them as pets for a limited time. They are usually about 1 inch in length, though some are 4 inches long. Being a rumpetroll is a stage which lasts between 10 days to 2 years. During this stage, the animal slowly changes. When it enters it's third and final stage, it has another name. And no, it is not an insect. (can you tell I just referred to an encyclopedia?)

[emily655321]

RJbibliophil—are they tadpoles?

Tal—Taxation is a form of it, eh? Is it... murder? :D

[Mililalil XXIV]

Question to Pensive - maybe more suited for the thread about how many languages we speak, but:
can you understand bits of Arabic, Turkish, and Parsee? You obviously can figure out a lot of what is said in Hindi!

[Pensive]

I might be able to understand a few words of all these languages. My own real name is Persian.

[Mililalil XXIV]

Is it Miss KatAyoun of Nine Tales?

[Pensive]

Is it Miss KatAyoun of Nine Tales?


:lol: :lol: :lol:

[RJbibliophil]

RJbibliophil—are they tadpoles?

Great guess... I think the name might have something to do with their tails... Now I have think of another word to try stumping you with....

[RJbibliophil]

Okay, here's a word.
Eivind beinlaus-noun - Eivind is a boy name and beinlaus means boneless.
This is the name of a thing. It will probably surprise you.

[Taliesin]

RJbibliophil—are they tadpoles?

Tal—Taxation is a form of it, eh? Is it... murder? :D

Well, murder is a form of it too.

[RJbibliophil]

Tal- what language is vågivald?

[SleepyWitch]

due to popular demand (from RJ) I've come up with another weird expression from German. it's comparatively easy to guess i think. the literal translation would be "What does that bring me?" (Was bringt mir das).. There's also "That doesn't bring me anything." (Das bringt mir nichts).
guesses?

[RJbibliophil]

Why should I do it?

[Taliesin]

Vägivald is an Estonian word

[RJbibliophil]

Tal-oppresion, sort of?
It looks as though your crow has evolved into some strange new creature.

[SleepyWitch]

Why should I do it?

yep, roughly... it means something like "What's in it for me?", "Why should I do it etc"... hm, you should be banned from answering the German riddles :) Norwegian and German are just too similar... :D

give me some time to think of a new one

[Bianca Fransen]

Cool.. what an interesting thread!! :banana:

I think I have a nice question: what does a Dutch person mean if he of she says "I am doing this for bacon and beans"??

The other questions are still a bit too difficult for me (I have to adjust myself to the English language first and speak no other languages.. not even a bit German ;) . But I will crack my head trying to figure them out :mad: .. the ones that have not been explained :brow: .

[AimusSage]

Voor spek en bonen! Don't worry, I wont spoil it. :D

As for 'was bringt mir das', I'm guessing it means that the person saying it doesn't do it for free, or more precisely, what is the added value of whatever 'das' (that) happens to be.

:lol: I didn't see the answer was already there

[SleepyWitch]

hehe, Aimus, never mind :)
hm, bacon and beens.. I've got an inkling but I'm not gonna spoil it either right now...

[RJbibliophil]

Okay, here's a word.
Eivind beinlaus-noun - Eivind is a boy name and beinlaus means boneless.
This is the name of a thing. It will probably surprise you.


This is probably really tough, but any guesses yet?

[RJbibliophil]

Oh, Bianca, I'm doing it to survive?

can you give it in dutch?

[SleepyWitch]

Bianca, maybe something like when you do work or something that should earn you a lot of money or respect but you do it for very little in return because you just do it for fun or you do it as a favour?

RJ what kind of 'thing'? something that's man-made or something organic?

[Taliesin]

RJ - Death?

Vägivald doesn't mean oppression, but it is close. Oppression is a form of it.

Giving out some easier puzzles:

Long-eye
Lightnings' Mihkel (a male name)

[AimusSage]

Bianca, maybe something like when you do work or something that should earn you a lot of money or respect but you do it for very little in return because you just do it for fun or you do it as a favour?

Alas, this is incorrect! It is a tricky one. Do try again!

[RJbibliophil]

Sleepy, Tal- I would have to say it is organic, it is a name for a thing in nature. I define thing as a noun that is not a person(or animal) or place. It can be physically felt. It would also be safe to say it belongs in the mountains of Norway.

Bianca- bacon and beans would be considered a higher standard of living than, say, bread and porridge. So, is doing something for bacon and beans saying you are doing it to advance in life or better your condition, sort of?

Tal- is it dictatorship? (to be quite frank)
or could it be a country that is so powerful it is a major and cruel world power, like germany in the last century?

[AimusSage]

Bianca- bacon and beans would be considered a higher standard of living than, say, bread and porridge. So, is doing something for bacon and beans saying you are doing it to advance in life or better your condition, sort of?


Again, this is incorrect, like I said, it's a tricky one. Sleepywitch was close though. :)

I case you didn't notice, I'm just filling in, since Bianca doesn't seem to be around so much.

[RJbibliophil]

Is it doing it for someone else's bacon and beans?

[SleepyWitch]

aaargh... RJ your riddle is so difficult... mountains and it doesn't have any bones? a glacier? a kind of tree? a kind of worm? but that's not a thing... grrrrrrrrrrr
what colour is it?

i have another German one
"to make dachshund eyes"
:)

[RJbibliophil]

I know, I know, Eivind beinlaus is tough...

It only happens once in a while. It is not like a plant in that it can always be found. It is not exactly something that can be seen. It involves the winter. If it has any color, it might be whitish.

I am guessing dachshund eyes would be making an expression like that of a dachshund. Unfortunately, I don't know what that is. :lol:

[cruciverbalist]

i have another German one
"to make dachshund eyes"

There's an English expression "to make eyes at someone" too, which means staring at somebody to attract their attention. Is this akin to that?

Or maybe, something like fluttering your eyelashes to ingratiate yourself with someone? :confused: :confused:


Urdu is a "lashkari zaban" Lashkari zaban means a language with a combination of other languages. When people from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran, Afghnaistan, etc came here, Urdu originated.

A bit late to be posting this but I just went through the old posts in this thread, so I thought I'd post this in case anyone's interested.
I did a project on origin & evolution of languages in the subcontinent, when I was in school.

'Urdu' is a word of Turkish origin which means 'army' or 'camp'. In fact, the English word 'horde' has the same roots and hence, sounds similar, and has the same meaning. The word 'Urdu' symbolizes its origin: it developed by the interaction of foreign army, merchants and immigrants with the local population of India. So, Urdu is quite simply the language of the camp. Scholars say it developed in the Punjab & neighbouring territories about 1000 years ago out of a mixture of local languages known & unknown, and of the Persian language spoken by invading armies from northern Persia, that incidentally, included many words borrowed from Arabic & Turkish. It also derives some matter from Sanskrit. Today, it is the national language of Pakistan and is quite similar to India's national language Hindi. In fact, the grammar of Urdu is quite similar to Hindi.

When Urdu gained patronage at Muslim courts in India and developed into a literary language, the variety used by the general population gradually replaced Sanskrit, literary Prakrits (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apabhramsha) and Apabhramshas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apabhramsha) as the literary language of the midlands. It is this variety that became known as Hindi. Thus, both Hindi and Urdu have their origins in the 'khari boli' speech of Delhi & its environs, although they are written in different scripts (Urdu in Perso-Arabic & Hindi in Devanagri). The two languages differ in minor ways in their sound system, morphology & syntax. Hindi & Urdu have a common form known as Hindustani, essentially a colloquial language.

*Sorry this ran on a bit too long!

[RJbibliophil]

how interesting

[Pendragon]

Piglet, are you speaking of icicles? :confused:

Do you know what the expresion "Do a Barney Oldfield!" means? ;)

And do any of you by chance wear "cheaters"? ;)

[cruciverbalist]

"Cheaters" refers to windcheaters or jackets, right?

No idea who Barney Oldfield is though! :confused:

[Taliesin]

Piglet:
Snow-blindness?
Northern lights?
Is it some kind of feeling? Like feeling a gust of coldness out of blue for a moment. Or some kind of desire to jump down a mountain?

Vägivald doesn't mean dictatorship but dictatorship involves a lot of it.

Still repeating
Long-eye
Lightnings' Mihkel (a male name)

[SleepyWitch]

I know, I know, Eivind beinlaus is tough...

It only happens once in a while. It is not like a plant in that it can always be found. It is not exactly something that can be seen. It involves the winter. If it has any color, it might be whitish.

I am guessing dachshund eyes would be making an expression like that of a dachshund. Unfortunately, I don't know what that is. :lol:
yep...
hehe, here's some pics of the kinds of expressions this saying refers to:
http://www.petsalley.com/photos/dachshund.jpg
http://www.hatchfarms.cwhatch.com/photos/dachshund/dapple_dachshund2.jpg
http://z.dspn.de/albums/album44/CIMG0310.sized.jpg

hum... Pen or somebody mentioned icicles.. is that correct?


Tal: Lightning's Mihkel.. a tree that's been struck by lightning?
Long-eye: a telescope????

[Madhuri]

Namashkar, aaiye baithye. Kya lenge aap, kuch thanda ya garam?? (Hindi)

Hello, please have a seat. What would you like to have, something cold or hot?? (English transaltion)

Bahar bahut ghaam ba. (Bhojpuri, a dialect spoken usually in Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar)

It is very sunny outside. (English translation)

[Taliesin]

Tal: Lightning's Mihkel.. a tree that's been struck by lightning?
Long-eye: a telescope????

Lightnings MIhkel - not even close. Smaller. Way smaller.
Long-eye - almost. Very almost.

[RJbibliophil]

Tal-Periscope?

Sleepy-Begging?

Eivind Beinlaus is not substantial like icicles.

I like your third thought Tal. It is amazingly close, but it depends how you interpret it. :p

[Pendragon]

"Cheaters" refers to windcheaters or jackets, right?

No idea who Barney Oldfield is though! :confused:In British slang that's a cheater. Not in American slang. In spite uv me accent, Guv, Oi be a Yank! :lol:

[Pendragon]

Piglet Eivind Beinlaus--A lost of depth perception brought on by the onset of hypothermia? :confused:

[SleepyWitch]

Lightnings MIhkel - not even close. Smaller. Way smaller.
Long-eye - almost. Very almost.

Lightings Mikhel.... er... a yellowish mushroom/fungus/lichen kind of thiny?

grrr I asked my Estonian friend Helje about "Long-eye" and she came up with a solution, but there seems to have been a misunderstanding if my guess was close...

RJ yep, "dachshund eyes" is a begging, faithful, don't-hit-me kind of expression :)

[RJbibliophil]

nope :p




and Sleepy, you may call me Piglet. :D

and Pen, you have my favorite avy again. :D

[Pendragon]

Since mine come from days gone by, before I was born, much less many of you, I will just tell you what my two mean:

Cheaters in old slang meant a pair of glasses :nod:

to do a Barney Oldfield was to drive a car as fast as it would go. Barney was a race car driver of some acclaim. :nod:


Here's one for the French speakers:

L'espirt de les escalier. The literal translation is not the meaning. So what is? ;)

[RJbibliophil]

Well, what is the literal translation?

[cruciverbalist]

L'esprit de l'escalier: to never have a ready answer, or to think of a witty comeback too late, like after a leaving a party (hence, 'staircase wit')

Reminds me of a particular Seinfeld episode where George keeps thinking of a comeback to answer one of his office colleagues with! :D

[SleepyWitch]

like Yiddish trepverter (sp?)
we've got "stair-case joke" (Treppenwitz) in German, but i'm not sure what it means myself....

[Pendragon]

L'esprit de l'escalier: to never have a ready answer, or to think of a witty comeback too late, like after a leaving a party (hence, 'staircase wit')

Reminds me of a particular Seinfeld episode where George keeps thinking of a comeback to answer one of his office colleagues with! :DQuite so! "Wit of the stairway" or "staircase wit" is the direct translation. The real one Cruci (you will pardon moi, if I shorten your name?), gave correctly. Interesting little phrase. Like: "If I was speeding, how come other drivers were PASSING me? THAT's what I SHOULD have told the policeman!" Too late! :lol:

Have any of you been on a "snipe hunt"?

[RJbibliophil]

Nope. I have an idea I should know what that means, but I don't. :p

[cruciverbalist]

A wild goose chase!!!

[Pendragon]

A wild goose chase!!!Oh, yeah! And how! The idea is to take someone who is from the city and visiting the country out on a dark night with a bag and flashlight. [NOTE: A flashlight is what British people refer to as a "torch".] Everyone else has sticks and flashlights, and the vic-, ah, (ahem) city person is told they are hunting snipe. The city person is then lead into the woods and told to wait by a path with the bag and the flashlight off. Sometimes, the flashlight gets switched so it no has no batteries. The others are going up to "beat the brush" and "flush out" the snipe for the city person to catch in the bag. Of course, there are NO snipe. The beating in the bushes just scares the city person, who by now has discovered his or her flashlight doesn't work. Everyone has slipped back to watch them panic. It's a rather mean trick. I have never played it on anyone, but came close to having it played on me! My dad-in-law used to pull it. :lol:

Can you think of a reason for the expression "Driving the porcelain bus"? ;)

[RJbibliophil]

wouldn't that be electric torch? (to be more specific)

[Pendragon]

wouldn't that be electric torch? (to be more specific)T'be sure, luv, doan mess up me British too much! :lol:

BTW, Piglet what was Eivind Beinlaus? Was I right on my last guess, that it was vertigo caused by hypothermia? :confused: