What are some words that you've learned (recently or not) that you thought were really interesting, funny, or awesome?
Yesterday I learned the word for Spork in German, Göffel (combination of Gabel, fork; and Löffel, spoon).
Ein Flipper is a pinball machine.
I've always found it interesting how history and story are the same word in a lot of languages.
Denglisch is the constant mashing of German and English. Most of the time words mean the same in both languages, but sometimes German has an interesting innovation like Partnerlook (matching-outfits), Twen (twenty-something), Oldtimer (classic car), Handy (cellphone), hotten (to dance fast and furiously), and Dressman (male model).
Schadenfreude is the pleasure you take from someone else's pain.
Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz has the distinction of being the longest German word. Granted, you won't hear it many conversations but German is known for being very open to compound nouns. It's the name of a law, and it translates to "Beef labelling supervision duty assignment law"
wow - now the question is: Can you say "Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz" three times in a row?
Sometimes - words that are "okay" in one language are "rude", "impolite", or mean something entirely different. I know that I avoided a certain restaurant for years because I couldn't get past the meaning in my mother language.
Posted by jenniferhunter 8/1/12 (9 months ago)I can't say it one time fast >.<
Posted by Robodl95 8/1/12 (9 months ago)I really like the Chinese word for "imagine" or "imagination," 想像 (xiǎngxiàng), because the second character has the word "elephant" 象 (xiàng) as a component. 想 (xiǎng) by itself can mean "to think of," so the Chinese for "imagination" can be "to think of an elephant." :)
Posted by pingKL 8/17/12 (9 months ago)Apparently, the Afrikaans word for candy floss/cotton candy is 'spookasem', which means 'ghost breath'.
Posted by Azimuth 8/19/12 (9 months ago)