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#language facts
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funny ways to say “in the middle of nowhere”
Collected funny ones under this post + contributions to this one (my selection). Most involve ass(holes), have god/the devil, (nonsense) names of villages…
🇩🇪German: in the ass of the world/ the pasture- am Arsch der Welt/der Weide; where Fox and Hare bid each other good night - Wo sich Fuchs und Hase Gute Nacht sagen (old-fashioned), where the dead dog lays - Da liegt der tote Hund, in Buxtehude/ (Kuh)kaff, in der Pampa, in Timbuktu
🇮🇹Italian: in assland - in culonia/culandia, in the wolves’ ass - in culo ai lupi, in the ass of the word - in culo al mondo; 🇫🇷 French in the asshole of the world - dans le trou du cul du monde
🇨🇿Czech: Where foxes bid good night to one another - Kde si lišky dávají dobrou noc
🇩🇰Danish: where the crows turn around - Hvor kragerne vender on Lars diarrheas field/on the field of Lars Shitpants - På lars tyndskids mark
🇳🇴Norwegian: far damn from violence - langt pokker i vold, “huttaheiti” (gibberish)
🇸🇪Swedish: out (there) in the spinach - ute i spenaten,“tjotaheiti” (see above, maybe originally from Tahiti)
🇪🇸in Spain: in the fifth hell/pine tree - En el quinto infierno/pino, where Christ lost the sandal/hat/lighter - Donde Cristo perdió la alpargata/gorra/mechero;
🇲🇽 Mexico: Where the devil farts - Donde el diablo se echa un pedo, and sometimes someone answers: “Y nadie lo escucha” And no one hears
🇹🇼in Taiwan: where birds don't lay eggs and dogs don't shit - 鳥不生蛋狗不拉屎的地方 
🇵🇱Polish - where crows turn around -  Gdzie wrony zawracają, where dogs bark from their ass - gdzie psy dupami szczekają 🐶; Where the devil says goodnight - Gdzie diabeł mówi dobranoc, where (black) pepper grows - gdzie pieprz rośnie, (mostly in the context of running as far away as possible or chasing someone away)
🇦🇺Australia: woop woop or "in the middle of woop woop' 🇳🇿 NZ: wop wops
🇻🇳Vietnamese: holy forests, poisonous waters - rừng thiêng nước độc / where mountain passes are windy/cloudy and winds swirl in vortexes - đèo heo hút gió or đèo mây hút gió (rarely used)
🇨🇦🇫🇷 Québéc: Saint clin clin des meuhs meuhs (actual village name…)
🇸🇦 Arabic (Saudi dialect): in the castle of wadren في مقلاع وادرين (an old castle in the middle of desert)
🇮🇱 in Israel: Israel: at the end of the world, take a turn left - סוף העולם שמאלה
🇫🇮Finnish: behind God’s back - jumalan selän takana, in the devil’s ass - helvetin perseessä;
🇬🇷 Greek: at the devil’s horn - Στου διαόλου το κέρατο;
🇧🇬 Bulgarian: on the ass of geography - На гъза на географията
🇮🇸 Icelandic Out in an asshole - úti í rassgati;
🇧🇷 in Brazil: in cock’s house - na casa do caralho;
🇦🇷 in Argentina: in the pussy of the parrot- en la concha de la lora 🦜;
🇪🇪 Estonian: in the bear's ass - karuperses 🐻
🇺🇸 USA: bumfuck Egypt
🇧🇪 in Belgium (Dutch): in a farmer’s asscrack - in een boerengat
🇺🇦 Ukrainian: in the devil's swamps в чорта на кулічках,  where the crow won't carry bones куди ворон кісток не заносить
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londonlingo · 8 months
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History of @
Did you know that...
"The @ symbol, which we call "at" and which integrates the electronic address of any person on the planet, has its origin in Latin.
It appeared in the Middle Ages, when monks who copied texts and documents created symbols to replace letters, words and proper nouns, making their work easier. For instance, to replace the Latin word et, they created another symbol, interlacing the two letters: the ampersand (&).
Using the same interlacing resource, they replaced the Latin preposition ad (in house of) with the symbol @. Often used in accounting, the @ moved to the typewriter keyboard. And in 1972, American programmer Ray Tomlinson took advantage of the symbol to create the first electronic mail system."
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SOURCE: Museu da Língua Portuguesa (São Paulo, Brazil)
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factoidfactory · 1 year
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Random Fact #6,370
Native English speakers have trouble remembering the difference between there, they’re, and their.
Native Portuguese speakers have a similar struggle of their own: porque, por que, por quê, and porquê.
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Porque – Because
Por que – ‘Why’ when used in the start of a question (Why weren’t you at school?)
Por quê – ‘Why’ when used at the end of a sentence (e.g. Atrasaram por quê? [Why are you late?])
Porquê – Used as a noun and appears accompanied by a determiner (an article, for example). (e.g. “Queria saber o porquê de sua tristeza para poder ajudá-lo” => "I wanted to know the reason for his sadness so I could help him”)
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The longest word in Finnish, Lentokonesuihkuturbiinimoottoriapumekaanikkoaliupseerioppilas is 61 letters
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zivazivc · 2 years
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i just found out about this and i know we like to make fun of the german language but can we all appreciate the fact that their word for bangs/fringe is "pony" because horses' manes usually look like they have bangs
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mibkid · 2 months
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Cool language fact
Did you know:
in portuguese especially in brasil you use "né" to express agreement or ask if someone agrees, it's english word would mean something like "Right?" or "Right". So to show or ask for agreement.
A sentence example is Oi, você viu isso também né? (You saw that too, right?" Or you you can just use né.
AND
In japanese there exists ne "ね"(in hiragana) and THAT ALSO MEANS THE SAME THING AND WOULD BE USED IN THE SAME CONTEXT: despite being totally different languages and writing systems.
YET, they are not connected in anyway.
I know that brasil has one of the largest japanese populations(outside of japan), that is not why tho.
Because the portuguese(brasil) né is grown out of the two words "não" and "é" (together forming, "não é" (Eng meaning: "is it not/isn't it/it is not" being shortened and smushed together.
They are just two languages who happen to share the same meaning of a word.
This is a language fact i will never let go off.
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scriptrix-eclectica · 2 years
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Okay serious question (for research purposes):
Multilingual folk: if you were heavily medicated, say on some serious pain meds or anesthesia, would you revert to your first language? Would it be more difficult to understand your second, third language, etc. from other people?
Apologies if this is worded poorly...
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gemsofgreece · 1 year
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https://www.ratpack.gr/buzz/story/18721/lythike-i-aporia-posos-kosmos-ston-planiti-milaei-ellinika
This article says that according to researchers, there estimated 25 million people that speak the Greek language
I always assumed that it was 15 million, but if the experts are correct then i am glab that more globally speak our language. I hope in the future though we manage to promote it even more
The link is in Greek so I will just summarise that the link mentions the Greek diaspora of USA, Australia, Canada, UK, South Africa, Germany, Russia etc. It also mentions that Greek is an official minority language in Italy, Turkey, Ukraine, Albania, Hungary, Romania and Armenia.
Wikipedia says around 15 million though. I am actually optimistic about the future of the Greek language. I thought the overall Greek speaking population may be around 20 mil but I can see 25+ be or become the case in the future. Here’s why:
The link and Wikipedia refer to first or second language. However, we should start including the number of people who learn the language for fun or studies or their career. We should also count those who learn Ancient Greek as a bonus addition, as they can potentially be more literate in Modern Greek and eventually pursue it more easily than people with no exposure at all. Lately, more and more foreign universities offer Modern Greek lessons as a side course in classical studies.
Internet is an ally for all obscure languages. While it exists, the academic prejudice against Modern Greek and Modern Greeks is decreasing. It was easy some decades ago to frown upon Modern Greek and claim it’s unworthy of studying it and nobody would know but nowadays Internet can help anybody see the similarities between ancient and modern Greek as well as explore the modern language on its own right and develop a liking for it. Internet might also help in the refutation of the misconception that Greek is supposedly so monstrously hard.
The brain drain of Greece, while catastrophic for the finances and academics of the country, maintains the influx of Greek speakers in foreign countries. Moreover, most of the Greek immigrants have high academic qualifications so it’s the universities and high-end careers that will see a rise in Greek speaking staff. These people will also have a family there most likely and teach their children the language.
Tourism plus hopefully a needed improvement in the accessibility of Greek media does and will also help.
One little known fact is that the Greek Orthodox Church has some considerable presence in some African countries. The church has built several Greek schools, Christian study camps and health centres. Kids there learn Greek to some extent.
The harmers of the Greek language are, you guessed it, the Greeks. Better and extroverted business strategies are needed. Better politicians so we don’t end up being the butt of the joke worldwide for another decade. And of course young Greeks who butcher the language beyond belief… This is the biggest problem. But this is a global phenomenon unfortunately.
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bor0wik · 1 year
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Poland language is so weird...
In Poland, we don't have two different names for sky and heaven.
This is the same...
Niebo.
Literally no difference in pronouncing and writing it.
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decomposingpoet · 1 year
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The Russian language (which I speak) is pretty harsh, but it has a word that I love a lot. "Чудик" (pronounced chew-deek) translates to weirdo (affectionate)
Usually, an adult would call a child this word when they are being dumb but lovable and I think that's cute.
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jordanphillips-art · 1 year
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Peachtober 2022 Day 2 - Dandelion. I really love language, including learning about etymology. I always assumed the "lion" part was descriptive of the flower... but no! The name comes from French for "lion's teeth", because of the jagged leaves. Interestingly, in French, they're called something entirely different: "pissenlit", meaning "wet the bed", due to their diuretic properties. 😅
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Love how in Dutch “verb” is werkwoord (work-word) and in West Frisian it is tiidwurd (time-word)
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croaken-the-oaken · 2 years
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Slightly Amusing Fact: "New egg" in Spanish is "huevo nuevo." So in Super Mario Galaxy, the New Egg Galaxy is called "Galaxia de Huevo Nuevo" in Spanish.
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factoidfactory · 1 year
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Random Fact #6,462
There is no real distinction in Portuguese between fingers and toes – they are both dedos.
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So how does one know if someone is talking about fingers or toes?
One way is that the speaker can tell you whether they are talking about “fingers of the hand” (dedos da mão) or “fingers of the foot” (dedos do pé).
The other is whether they just said dedos (which is universally understood to mean “fingers”) or if they clarified that they were talking about their "fingers of the feet".
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Arabic is the official language of 25 countries
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critterbitter · 3 months
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Language divides and building bridges.
Elesa’s feeling homesick. Emmet, bless his heart, tries to help by infodumping while Ingo frantically runs off to find water (crying is a very dehydrating experience).
((Would you look at that! The kids are picking up kantonese and galarian from each other!))
BONUS:
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Heh. Callback.
Want to see more? Here’s the masterpost for submas!
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