Showing posts with label language. Show all posts
Showing posts with label language. Show all posts
Monday, 22 July 2013
What German sounds like
I came across this via Facebook, here. It's quite amusing, if obvious, but what I found even funnier were the comments on Facebook about it.
Two common stereotypes about Germans are (a) they don't have a good sense of humour, and (b) they are angry. Cue hundreds of comments from indignant Germans saying "This is false! We don't sound like that!"
I'm not saying that this proves (a) and (b), but...
Monday, 5 November 2012
Monday, 11 June 2012
Things Asians are freakily good at, #214: Scrabble
Here's something you probably never thought or cared about: There are World Scrabble Championships. And national championships. And youth championships, and so on. Just like any other ... er, sport. And given that Scrabble is an English-language game, you would probably expect it to be dominated by nations where the English and their descendants live - the UK, the US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand.
And traditionally you would be right. Except in recent years, people from Asian countries are making serious pushes for the crown. And actually winning. Here are the winners of the world championships since the late 90s:
Doesn't convince you of anything? (Other that Asians seem to do better in Asia?) Take a look at last year's placings at the World Youth Scrabble Championships:
Count 'em: that's two Sri Lankans, two Thais, a Singaporean and a Filipino in the top ten. And yes, it was won by an Australian, but an Australian named Anand Bharadwaj. It's not just 2011 either; you can look at the last few years of the youth tournament and it's pretty much a story of unremitting Asian dominance. In fairness, most of the tournaments take place in Malaysia for some reason, so maybe that dissuades some northern hemisphere Scrabble aficionados from travelling. But 2006 took place in Australia, and even though it was won by an Australian, 8 out of the top 10 were from Asian countries that year.
It's not that surprising really. If you've seen the way kids of South Asian origin completely dominate the American national spelling bee championships, or the way that East Asian's seem to dominate any academic pursuit they apply themselves to, it stands to reason that some of them are going to take to Scrabble with a passion.
The other country that pops up in these lists which you might not have expected: Nigeria.
What is really surprising though is how Thailand has come to be one of the pre-eminent nations in world Scrabble. All the other countries on these lists have English as at least one of the official languages. Thailand does not. Thais do take to learning English with aplomb though, probably due to the huge tourist presence there, and apparently the popularity of Scrabble in Thailand comes from its usefulness as a tool for learning English.
And traditionally you would be right. Except in recent years, people from Asian countries are making serious pushes for the crown. And actually winning. Here are the winners of the world championships since the late 90s:
Doesn't convince you of anything? (Other that Asians seem to do better in Asia?) Take a look at last year's placings at the World Youth Scrabble Championships:
It's not that surprising really. If you've seen the way kids of South Asian origin completely dominate the American national spelling bee championships, or the way that East Asian's seem to dominate any academic pursuit they apply themselves to, it stands to reason that some of them are going to take to Scrabble with a passion.
The other country that pops up in these lists which you might not have expected: Nigeria.
What is really surprising though is how Thailand has come to be one of the pre-eminent nations in world Scrabble. All the other countries on these lists have English as at least one of the official languages. Thailand does not. Thais do take to learning English with aplomb though, probably due to the huge tourist presence there, and apparently the popularity of Scrabble in Thailand comes from its usefulness as a tool for learning English.
Sunday, 27 May 2012
A tip for putting on accents
In this funny clip, comedian Jimmy Carr demonstrates a common technique used for assuming an accent. He also makes the most of the opportunity to poke fun at Scousers (people from Liverpool).
As someone with a bit of a talent for accents myself, I have a few of my own phrases. They are useful because they encapsulate the things that make the accent distinctive. If you're not familiar with the accents I'm referring to here, this may be lost on you, but bear with me.
For example, for sounding like a Filipino, a phrase like "This burger has a nice flavour" is ideal, because it forces you to highlight the distinctive way Filipinos speak - heavy emphasis on the r sound, and f and v pronounced as p and b respectively.
For an Indonesian accent, the phrase I use is one that I heard while at a karaoke bar in Jakarta: "You are the sunshine of my life" (yes, it's the Stevie Wonder song). The r is rolled, the th becomes a d, "sunshine" becomes "sunsine", and "of" becomes either "off" or "op", according to your preference (a lot of Indonesians, like Filipinos, struggle with f and v).
For a Vietnamese accent, I like "This tastes very nice", which ends up sounding something like "This tay vey nai".
Know any other phrases that encapsulate a particular accent? Share them.
As someone with a bit of a talent for accents myself, I have a few of my own phrases. They are useful because they encapsulate the things that make the accent distinctive. If you're not familiar with the accents I'm referring to here, this may be lost on you, but bear with me.
For example, for sounding like a Filipino, a phrase like "This burger has a nice flavour" is ideal, because it forces you to highlight the distinctive way Filipinos speak - heavy emphasis on the r sound, and f and v pronounced as p and b respectively.
For an Indonesian accent, the phrase I use is one that I heard while at a karaoke bar in Jakarta: "You are the sunshine of my life" (yes, it's the Stevie Wonder song). The r is rolled, the th becomes a d, "sunshine" becomes "sunsine", and "of" becomes either "off" or "op", according to your preference (a lot of Indonesians, like Filipinos, struggle with f and v).
For a Vietnamese accent, I like "This tastes very nice", which ends up sounding something like "This tay vey nai".
Know any other phrases that encapsulate a particular accent? Share them.
Thursday, 5 January 2012
Why this Kolaveri Di song so popular?
CNN recently declared Why this Kolaveri Di? (meaning something like "Why this murderous rage, girl?") this its song of the year. Haven't heard of it? It was released in mid-November as promotion for the upcoming Tamil movie 3, and quickly became a viral sensation around the desi internets. Sung by actor Dhanush in a drunken "Tanglish" (that's a hybrid of Tamil and English), the original clip has swiftly racked up over 32 million views on Youtube, while various other spinoff, remix and parody versions in various languages (Malay, Punjabi, Arabic) have garnered another 20-odd million views. It's won a Youtube Gold Award for the greatest number of hits within a certain time frame.
Here is the song itself:
In a sense the song playfully references the way contemporary Tamil speech has co-opted numerous English words, even though the precise meaning of some of them might require translation to the average English speaker. A "soup boy", for example, refers to a guy who has lost out in love.
My first encounter with the song was at a Punjabi Sikh wedding reception, as members of the groom's family performed a choreographed dance to it; anyone who's been to an Indian wedding knows that sort of thing is not unusual. My second encounter was after seeing the CNN report and needing to figure out "why the fuss?" My initial reaction: meh. It's ok.
I then proceeded to sing it to myself on repeat for the next 3 hours.
Is that the key, then? Is it merely the song's catchiness, pure and simple, that has allowed it to win fans across linguistic and cultural barriers? Or is it something more? Because there are many songs that are extremely catchy that never cross into any sort of public consciousness. After talking to some Tamil peeps, this is what I can deduce:
* Dhanush is a popular Tamil movie star.
* Dhanush's father-in-law is the superstar Rajnikanth, who is sort of like the Tamil version of Tom Hanks, Robert De Niro and Jesus rolled into one. Anything even vaguely associated with Rajnikanth automatically gets the Midas touch in South India. Rajnikanth's daughter Aishwarya is also in this clip and she's hot.
* Indian media was plugging this Youtube clip like crazy, so its status as a "viral" hit was somewhat engineered.
* Dhanush's singing drunkenly about getting drunk appeals to a lot of young folks (think Afroman's Because I got high as an example) and the theme (guy getting rejected by a mean girl) is easy to identify with.
* The fact that it's in English, or at least a sort of English, means that Indians who aren't Tamil can also relate to it easily enough.
* The large number of English-speaking Indians and Sri Lankans around the world can be amused by this Indianized variant on the language.
I dunno. Just enjoy.
Here is the song itself:
In a sense the song playfully references the way contemporary Tamil speech has co-opted numerous English words, even though the precise meaning of some of them might require translation to the average English speaker. A "soup boy", for example, refers to a guy who has lost out in love.
My first encounter with the song was at a Punjabi Sikh wedding reception, as members of the groom's family performed a choreographed dance to it; anyone who's been to an Indian wedding knows that sort of thing is not unusual. My second encounter was after seeing the CNN report and needing to figure out "why the fuss?" My initial reaction: meh. It's ok.
I then proceeded to sing it to myself on repeat for the next 3 hours.
Is that the key, then? Is it merely the song's catchiness, pure and simple, that has allowed it to win fans across linguistic and cultural barriers? Or is it something more? Because there are many songs that are extremely catchy that never cross into any sort of public consciousness. After talking to some Tamil peeps, this is what I can deduce:
* Dhanush is a popular Tamil movie star.
* Dhanush's father-in-law is the superstar Rajnikanth, who is sort of like the Tamil version of Tom Hanks, Robert De Niro and Jesus rolled into one. Anything even vaguely associated with Rajnikanth automatically gets the Midas touch in South India. Rajnikanth's daughter Aishwarya is also in this clip and she's hot.
* Indian media was plugging this Youtube clip like crazy, so its status as a "viral" hit was somewhat engineered.
* Dhanush's singing drunkenly about getting drunk appeals to a lot of young folks (think Afroman's Because I got high as an example) and the theme (guy getting rejected by a mean girl) is easy to identify with.
* The fact that it's in English, or at least a sort of English, means that Indians who aren't Tamil can also relate to it easily enough.
* The large number of English-speaking Indians and Sri Lankans around the world can be amused by this Indianized variant on the language.
I dunno. Just enjoy.
Thursday, 20 October 2011
Wednesday, 13 July 2011
Some Engrish from Shanghai
My friend Raffi Koshayan travels to Asia a lot and has a good eye for spotting odd translations into English. These are from his favourite Manchurian restaurant in Shanghai.
With some of these, you can probably work out what they intended to mean. With others, it's a complete mystery... so if any of you out there read Chinese, you might be able to explain to the rest of us what the hell they actually are intending to say.
I also invite you to contribute your own captions for each.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
With some of these, you can probably work out what they intended to mean. With others, it's a complete mystery... so if any of you out there read Chinese, you might be able to explain to the rest of us what the hell they actually are intending to say.
I also invite you to contribute your own captions for each.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
Sunday, 3 July 2011
The racial politics of imitating someone's accent
FOX News reported - or concocted - a controversy last week when it accused Jon Stewart of racism for imitating Herman Cain, a black Republican presidential candidate.
FOX contributor Bernie Goldberg has this to say.
Now, surprisingly I actually think there's a lot of truth in what Goldberg says regarding the liberal-Left being way too quick on the trigger to cry racism. It is an annoying tendency of the Left which is often counter-productive in a "boy who cried wolf" kind of way. When someone somewhere is ready to accuse someone of racism over something that is only racist at a real stretch, then it allows the Right to decry political correctness yet again. Then when someone does actually say something racist, the Right find it easier to rebuff criticism by claiming to be victims of PC hegemony.
But Goldberg displays another classic trait of the American Right, which is to be completely ignorant of context when deciding what's racist or not. When he claims "Jon Stewart made that conservative black guy sound like a dumb character in a minstrel show"... did Stewart really do that? Did Stewart really put on "an exaggerated Amos 'n Andy 'black voice'", or did he imitate the way Cain speaks reasonably accurately? Does Herman Cain speak with an exaggerated Amos 'n Andy "black voice"? Where he says "Let's say he tries to make the black man sound downright stupid"... could it not be that Stewart tries to make politicians sound downright stupid every night on his show, and this one just happened to be black. So while Goldberg's broader point is a fair one, he has chosen a dumb example for his example of "liberals making racist comments".
Goldberg is not really saying that Stewart is racist, only that conservatives should cry racism about it in the way that liberals cry racism when Rush Limbaugh and his ilk make comments disrespectful of blacks and other minorities. Of course, in a racism-crying competition, conservatives would be blown out of the water, and it's not just because liberals are so much better and more practised at it. Primarily it's because most black people probably wouldn't find Stewart's dig at Cain to be racist; yet they'd more likely take greater umbrage at the comments of right-wingers like Limbaugh, Malkin and Hannity. Because Limbaugh, Malkin and Hannity are, if not racists, at least doing a good job of sounding racist from time to time. So if conservatives want to make out that they are less racist than liberals, surely the first step would be to, you know, stop conservatives from saying racist things.
Here's another conservative, James Hirsen, commenting on "liberal racial hypocrisy" who shows that knack for missing the point of jokes, not once but twice.
So, to one of the main issues of this whole business: Is it racist to imitate the accent of someone of a different nationality or ethnicity?
My answer: Hell no. Or at least, not necessarily. Depends how you do it.
I tend to think that if you can pull off the accent of a particular person or ethnicity properly, it's probably OK. If instead you resort to a dumb, uber-stereotypical accent, then you're starting to tread on more dangerous ground. Stewart gets away with his "Amos 'n Andy" "black voice" because Herman Cain actually sounds like that. On the other hand, when you hear people mocking accents in the most stupid and disrespectful ways - like Rush Limbaugh has done in the past - it's much more likely to be racist.
It's all about context, but unfortunately context is one of those things that a lot of stupid people don't really understand.
Now I'm obviously a fan of Stewart and The Daily Show, so perhaps I'm biased here. But it's hard to see the racism in the segment about Cain. As Stewart points out, he routinely imitates the accents of all kinds of people, and it never previously caused an uproar at FOX. The issue smacks of right-wing resentment that liberals so frequently play the race card, so the Right don't want to miss their chance to play it too.
FOX contributor Bernie Goldberg has this to say.
Let's say a white guy goes on television, puts on an exaggerated "Amos 'n Andy" "black voice" and proceeds to make fun of a black man whose politics the white guy doesn't like. Actually, let's say he goes beyond merely making fun of the black man. Let's say he tries to make the black man sound downright stupid. Does that make the white guy a racist?
The correct answer is ... it depends.
If the white guy is Rush Limbaugh and the black man is Barack Obama, then of course the white guy is a racist - according to liberals.
But if the white guy is Jon Stewart and the black man is Herman Cain, the conservative businessman seeking the Republican nomination for president, well, then, that's another story.
The other night Jon Stewart went on his show, and while he didn't put on blackface makeup and start tap dancing he did put on a "black voice" and proceeded to mock Mr. Cain in a way that would never be tolerated if a conservative had done it.
Yet liberals didn't scream "racist" the way they do when they see a tea party rally or when a conservative so much as looks askance at Barack Obama. Instead, they laughed. They thought it was a regular riot that a genius like Jon Stewart made that conservative black guy sound like a dumb character in a minstrel show.
But why isn't Jon Stewart a bigot, when Limbaugh and Hannity and O'Reilly would be tagged as racists if they had done the very same thing? That's easy. Because Jon Stewart is a liberal and liberals aren't racists. Only conservatives are.
Now, surprisingly I actually think there's a lot of truth in what Goldberg says regarding the liberal-Left being way too quick on the trigger to cry racism. It is an annoying tendency of the Left which is often counter-productive in a "boy who cried wolf" kind of way. When someone somewhere is ready to accuse someone of racism over something that is only racist at a real stretch, then it allows the Right to decry political correctness yet again. Then when someone does actually say something racist, the Right find it easier to rebuff criticism by claiming to be victims of PC hegemony.
But Goldberg displays another classic trait of the American Right, which is to be completely ignorant of context when deciding what's racist or not. When he claims "Jon Stewart made that conservative black guy sound like a dumb character in a minstrel show"... did Stewart really do that? Did Stewart really put on "an exaggerated Amos 'n Andy 'black voice'", or did he imitate the way Cain speaks reasonably accurately? Does Herman Cain speak with an exaggerated Amos 'n Andy "black voice"? Where he says "Let's say he tries to make the black man sound downright stupid"... could it not be that Stewart tries to make politicians sound downright stupid every night on his show, and this one just happened to be black. So while Goldberg's broader point is a fair one, he has chosen a dumb example for his example of "liberals making racist comments".
Goldberg is not really saying that Stewart is racist, only that conservatives should cry racism about it in the way that liberals cry racism when Rush Limbaugh and his ilk make comments disrespectful of blacks and other minorities. Of course, in a racism-crying competition, conservatives would be blown out of the water, and it's not just because liberals are so much better and more practised at it. Primarily it's because most black people probably wouldn't find Stewart's dig at Cain to be racist; yet they'd more likely take greater umbrage at the comments of right-wingers like Limbaugh, Malkin and Hannity. Because Limbaugh, Malkin and Hannity are, if not racists, at least doing a good job of sounding racist from time to time. So if conservatives want to make out that they are less racist than liberals, surely the first step would be to, you know, stop conservatives from saying racist things.
Here's another conservative, James Hirsen, commenting on "liberal racial hypocrisy" who shows that knack for missing the point of jokes, not once but twice.
After showing the footage, the Comedy Central star displayed a billboard that read: “Herman Cain 2012 — I Don’t Like to Read.”See, no. The "I Don't Like to Read" thing comes straight from Cain's statements of not wanting to read long bills. It's nothing to do with the idea that black people lack intelligence - that exists only in the mind of some viewing who would already think that. The implication of what Hirsen is saying is that no one can ever mock anything an individual black person says as being stupid without it being a de facto attack on the intelligence of black people as a whole. To be fair, had a right-winger made a similar comment, I'm sure liberals would probably use the same faulty logic to accuse him of racism too. Hirsen continues:
The racist threads woven into this comedic sketch are that the black man has difficulty reading and lacks intelligence. Neither Jesse Jackson nor Al Sharpton saw fit to call a press conference.
Bill Maher also used Cain as comedy fodder for the “New Rules” segment of his HBO show. While giving mock advice to GOP candidate Newt Gingrich, Maher said, “Let me put your unpopularity in context for you — you're a Republican and you're polling behind a black guy.”.. and again, totally misses the joke. What Maher seems to be implying is that Republican voters don't like black people, and thus for Gingrich to be less popular than a black candidate (Cain) with Republicans must be a grave indictment.
The not-so-coded racism in Maher’s skit is that Republicans are hated, but if the Republican individual is also black, he or she deserves even more scorn because of his or her skin color.
So, to one of the main issues of this whole business: Is it racist to imitate the accent of someone of a different nationality or ethnicity?
My answer: Hell no. Or at least, not necessarily. Depends how you do it.
I tend to think that if you can pull off the accent of a particular person or ethnicity properly, it's probably OK. If instead you resort to a dumb, uber-stereotypical accent, then you're starting to tread on more dangerous ground. Stewart gets away with his "Amos 'n Andy" "black voice" because Herman Cain actually sounds like that. On the other hand, when you hear people mocking accents in the most stupid and disrespectful ways - like Rush Limbaugh has done in the past - it's much more likely to be racist.
It's all about context, but unfortunately context is one of those things that a lot of stupid people don't really understand.
Friday, 29 April 2011
Don't be a kiki
(Hat tip: Yuey)
I really, really hate this sort of fuss-making over nothing.
Now, I'm no spokesman for the Filipino-Australian community (I'm not Filipino for a start), but I'm going to take it upon myself to speak for them here. Do you know how many people of Filipino origin there are in Australia? Something like 160,000. But how many of those would actually be offended by seeing "KIKI" on a license plate, and would think it such an important matter that they would lodge a complaint about it?
But all it takes is one busybody to spur the RTA into action. Thank goodness common sense prevailed. Although with the number of people dying from crashes on our roads, I'm rather concerned that anyone at the RTA has the time and resources to moonlight as the Tagalog manners police as well.
This sort of story inevitably gets into the papers, and witness the responses it engenders:
Other examples:
So by all means, fight for your rights, people. But when it comes to the insignificant stuff, just get a life and move on. You're making us all look bad.
And to the companies and government departments that indulge this nonsense - you're part of the problem. Grow some balls.
What should be a source of mild amusement becomes a gigantic facepalm due to one person's ridiculous oversensitivity and an over-zealous bureacracy's strange need to indulge a busybody. From The Daily Telegraph:
A NSW woman says she is being relentlessly pursued by state road authorities because her personalized number plate means "vagina" in another language, news.com.au reported Wednesday.
The Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) says the number plate bearing the name - "Kiki" - is the same word used for vagina in the Filipino language, Tagalog, and wanted them removed.
Kristen Perry, a lawyer from Newcastle, said she was informed of her "offensive" nickname after first receiving her personalized plates five years ago as a gift from her husband, the Newcastle Herald reports.
"At first I thought it was a joke, but then I realized it was actually quite serious and that my number plates would be taken off me if I didn't respond appropriately," Perry told ABC."Quite frankly it's a bit of a funny thing, but at the same time quite a bit scary that we've got people that can just report a number plate that seems quite inoffensive to 99 percent of us out there, but one percent have an issue with it."
The RTA has said it received a complaint from a Tagalog speaker who found the number plate offensive. The Tagalog people is an ethnic group in the Philippines, making up 28.1 per cent of the Filipino population.
Perry said that Kiki has been her nickname since childhood. ''I rang my father last night and said, 'Do you know you have been calling me vagina all my life?'''
This afternoon the RTA relented.
"The RTA has a responsibility to investigate complaints about personalised plate content, but we recognise that in doing this we must take a common sense approach,’’ a spokeswoman said today. "We recognise in this case a common sense approach was not adopted and Ms Perry will retain the content of her plates."
A handful at most. The vast, vast majority would probably just chuckle to themselves about it.
Think about it - just say you were in, say, Iran and saw the personalised license plate of someone with the unfortunate name of Mr C**t. Would you ring up the Iranian traffic authority and complain? No, you'd laugh, and take a picture to show your friends back home.
In fact, years ago, I was watching TV with my girlfriend of the time, who was Filipino, and she started laughing at a cat food ad that featured a cat named "Pookie", which also sounds like puki, another Tagalog word for vagina. (It strikes me that Filipinos have a lot of words for vagina.) She certainly didn't ring the TV station to complain, and I'm sure no one else did either.
In fact, years ago, I was watching TV with my girlfriend of the time, who was Filipino, and she started laughing at a cat food ad that featured a cat named "Pookie", which also sounds like puki, another Tagalog word for vagina. (It strikes me that Filipinos have a lot of words for vagina.) She certainly didn't ring the TV station to complain, and I'm sure no one else did either.
But all it takes is one busybody to spur the RTA into action. Thank goodness common sense prevailed. Although with the number of people dying from crashes on our roads, I'm rather concerned that anyone at the RTA has the time and resources to moonlight as the Tagalog manners police as well.
But aside from being a waste of everyone's time and a poor reflection upon the sole Tagalog-speaker who was so terminally lame as to lodge the complaint, there's another reason why we need to make sure this sort of thing doesn't happen.
This sort of story inevitably gets into the papers, and witness the responses it engenders:
Jim diGris of Dungog Posted at 6:01 PM April 20, 2011
1 person complains and causes a stink. This country has gone mad with political correctness and pandering to minorities
Comment 2 of 21
MB of Cairns Posted at 7:24 PM April 20, 2011
Another case of the minority trying to dictate to the generally silent and sensible majority. So relieved Kiki took the mindless bureaucrats to task over this.
Comment 7 of 21
TCK Posted at 8:05 PM April 20, 2011
It might surprise them but this isn't the Philipines, it's Australia and Kiki is not offensive here. how many other cultures, nations etc are we expected to cowtow to? The old story, if you don't like something about Australia or Aussies...GO HOME, don't expect us to change to suit you.
Comment 10 of 21
RichardC Posted at 8:31 PM April 20, 2011
The RTA is staffed by arrogant fools. This is Australia, we speak English and KIKI is not an offensive word in Australia. In fact my daughter, whose name is Kristianne was called KIKI when she was small because that's how her brother pronounced it. If some foreigner doesn't like life in Australia then they are welcome to go somewhere else. SOON!
Comment 11 of 21
And so on. You'll notice how the complaint of a single easily-offended Filipino-Australian has suddenly become "Another case of the minority trying to dictate to the generally silent and sensible majority." One person = a whole section of society? And the reality is that the above comments reflect a pretty widespread view. Their perception is that the ethnic lobby and the politically correct brigade are out to interfere in the most mundane aspects of the average Australian's life over some petty bullshit.
The above commenters seem fairly douchey, and while I don't really care what they think, all that is achieved by stupid cases like this is that more regular folk begin to acquire those sorts of attitudes. It's unfortunate, but when a member of an ethnic minority does something objectionable, it ends up reflecting on all ethnic minorities, in the minds of a lot of people. That's not right, but it's reality, and it just feeds prejudices. And one day, when we have serious, real problems to raise a fuss about, we might be taken less seriously since we are perceived as a bunch of whingers.
Other examples:
Banks no longer giving piggy banks to kids for fear of offending Muslims. The vast majority of Muslims wouldn't be offended at all by piggy banks (it's not a real pig, therefore it's not unclean), but it just fuels the perception of Muslims not wanting to integrate and wanting to take away the freedoms of the majority.
The Korean-American woman who attempted to sue Miley Cyrus for $4 billion, after the teen starlet was photographed making the "chinky-eye" gesture at a party. Now, a lot of people were offended by that photo, and fair enough too, but to sue Cyrus for any amount of money, let alone $4 billion, is so ridiculous that it's beyond ridiculous. And it just encourages ignorant people to think that Asians are just too sensitive.
So by all means, fight for your rights, people. But when it comes to the insignificant stuff, just get a life and move on. You're making us all look bad.
And to the companies and government departments that indulge this nonsense - you're part of the problem. Grow some balls.
Monday, 18 April 2011
Fun with Google Translate
Woah, thanks to the awesome power of the interwebs I am totally fluent in Hindi now.
Block-select and right click to find Google Translate. And yes, I was bored.
मेरी गेंदों खुजली कर रहे हैं. मैं बेघर साथ यौन संबंध रखने रोक देना चाहिए.
मैं इसे नफरत है जब आपको लगता है कि कोई आस पास है, तो आप एक पादना बाहर जाने, लेकिन तब कोई कहीं से प्रकट होता है और सही आप के बगल में खड़ा है.
अगर एक लड़की तुम्हें पूछता है कि आप कॉफी के लिए में आना चाहते हैं, यह मतलब है कि वे यौन संबंध चाहते हैं, है ना? मैंने सुना है कि यह करता है. तो क्यों गया था मैं स्टारबक्स के बाहर निकाल दिया?
आज मैं एक नर्सरी के पास गया और बगीचे के लिए गाय खाद खरीदा है, लेकिन यह बकवास था.
Block-select and right click to find Google Translate. And yes, I was bored.
मेरी गेंदों खुजली कर रहे हैं. मैं बेघर साथ यौन संबंध रखने रोक देना चाहिए.
मैं इसे नफरत है जब आपको लगता है कि कोई आस पास है, तो आप एक पादना बाहर जाने, लेकिन तब कोई कहीं से प्रकट होता है और सही आप के बगल में खड़ा है.
अगर एक लड़की तुम्हें पूछता है कि आप कॉफी के लिए में आना चाहते हैं, यह मतलब है कि वे यौन संबंध चाहते हैं, है ना? मैंने सुना है कि यह करता है. तो क्यों गया था मैं स्टारबक्स के बाहर निकाल दिया?
आज मैं एक नर्सरी के पास गया और बगीचे के लिए गाय खाद खरीदा है, लेकिन यह बकवास था.
Tuesday, 8 February 2011
Viking influence on the English language
The language we now know as English is a product of the numerous invasions of warlike peoples into the British Isles. The Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians were all Germanic-speaking peoples whose original territories stretched from Holland to the Danish peninsula, and who took over England in the early 5th century AD. Frisian (spoken today only in coastal and island areas of the Netherlands) remains the closest living relative to English. What we now know as Old English is a hybrid of these tongues with traces of Latin, brought by the previous Roman rulers of Britain.
In the 8th century, Britain faced another invasion of an aggressive Germanic people - the Vikings. Some Norse raiders came from Sweden and Norway, but the vast majority who arrived in Britain were from Denmark. Soon, raiding was followed by settlement along the coasts and rivers, and overthrow of local rulers. By the late 9th century, Viking descendants controlled virtually the whole eastern half of England, an area which came to be known as the Danelaw.
Danish rule really only lasted until 954, yet this period would leave a lasting impact on the English language.
Many English words beginning with th originate from Old Norse, although the sound did already exist in Old English. Examples:
thrall (slave)
thrift
thwart
thrust
they
there
then
Likewise, most English words starting with sk are Norse in origin, such as:
skein
skirt
sky
skill
skate
ski
skull
skin
skid
skittle
Given the seagoing ways and cold northern homeland of the Vikings, it makes sense that they brought into English a number of words that reflected their lifestyle and origins. Aside from the aforementioned skate and ski, there is also:
shoal
roe
walrus
sled, sledge
sleet
wake (the nautical term)
tern
shingle
geyser
gill
gale
floe
fog
bilge
bulwark
Other Norse-derived words include anger, ugly, knife, troll, boulder, slang, tackle, whore, keg, husband, egg, bun, clown, cake, freckle, window, gate, and many more. There are some which are possibly Norse in origin but are more ambiguous; because Old Norse and Old English are Germanic in origin, they share many similar words, so it is not always easy to tell which was a Norse introduction and which is simply a similar word of Anglo-Saxon provenance.
NAMES
We owe many common English names to the Danish invaders. Eric descends from the common Norse name Erik or Eirik. Garth comes from the Old Norse word for a forest clearing. Howard appears to be a variation of the Scandinavian Havard.
Probably the most common Norse contribution to English names is the addition of the patronymic -son at the end of a word. A patronymic is a name component that indicates the person's paternal ancestry, and it is common in different forms throughout Europe. So Andersson is the son of Anders, Williamson is William's son, and so on. (Parallels are the Spanish -ez, Serbian -ic, Russian -ov, Ukrainian -enko, Scottish Mac- and Irish O'.)
Numerous place names are Norse in origin too.
The suffix -by means yard, farmstead or village. This is seen in place names such as Grimsby, Normanby, Rugby, Selby, Barnby and Sotheby. This is also the origin of the term by-law, meaning the law of a local area.
Thwaite means "meadow" in Old Norse and appears in place names such as Braithwaite and Langthwaite.
Thorpe is another Norse name for village, and is seen in place names like Winthorpe and Scunthorpe.
The names Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday are named after the Old Germanic gods that both the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings believed in - Tiw (Norse Tyr), Wodin (Odin) and Frige (Freyja) . But they are from Old English and thus predate Viking contact. However, Thursday does bear the stamp of Norse influence. In Old English it was called Thunorsdag, named after the god Thunor (meaning Thunder). It is very similar to the German equivalent, Donnerstag. However, the Danish referred to Thunor as Thor, and thus it became known as Thorsdag in Danelaw, which crept into the language of the rest of England. Over time Thorsdag became Thursday.
The Normans, who were later to conquer England and have an even more profound effect on its language, were of Viking stock (their name Norman means "north men"). The Normans were Vikings from Denmark and elsewhere who settled in Northern France and adopted the local language and culture, but they did contribute quite a few words into the vocabulary of Modern French, particularly nautical terms.
The Norse influence in England is more prominent in the Northeastern areas that were part of the old Danelaw. Yorkshire is the most obvious example, where Norse words live on in local slang; arse is the example of a Norse-derived word that was originally Yorkshire dialect slang, which has subsequently passed into the broader English vernacular. There are hundred of place names in Yorkshire with -by and -thorpe, and the accent bears a distinct Norse stamp as well. There's a good example of this here at the British Library's sound recordings. You can also check the next couple of clips for comparison. Don't worry about the content - the first is a interview with two footballers in Danish, the second is a caricature of the Sheffield accent (South Yorkshire). Maybe you can see some similarities.
See also:
English words of Indian origin
Cooties in your Poontang: Filipino words in the English language
How language tells the history of Malaysia and Indonesia
How Muslim names evolve across the world
Pilaf, paella and pulao - how a rice dish conquered the world
So, who really invented noodles? China or Italy?
Danish rule really only lasted until 954, yet this period would leave a lasting impact on the English language.
Many English words beginning with th originate from Old Norse, although the sound did already exist in Old English. Examples:
thrall (slave)
thrift
thwart
thrust
they
there
then
Likewise, most English words starting with sk are Norse in origin, such as:
skein
skirt
sky
skill
skate
ski
skull
skin
skid
skittle
Given the seagoing ways and cold northern homeland of the Vikings, it makes sense that they brought into English a number of words that reflected their lifestyle and origins. Aside from the aforementioned skate and ski, there is also:
shoal
roe
walrus
sled, sledge
sleet
wake (the nautical term)
tern
shingle
geyser
gill
gale
floe
fog
bilge
bulwark
Other Norse-derived words include anger, ugly, knife, troll, boulder, slang, tackle, whore, keg, husband, egg, bun, clown, cake, freckle, window, gate, and many more. There are some which are possibly Norse in origin but are more ambiguous; because Old Norse and Old English are Germanic in origin, they share many similar words, so it is not always easy to tell which was a Norse introduction and which is simply a similar word of Anglo-Saxon provenance.
NAMES
We owe many common English names to the Danish invaders. Eric descends from the common Norse name Erik or Eirik. Garth comes from the Old Norse word for a forest clearing. Howard appears to be a variation of the Scandinavian Havard.
Probably the most common Norse contribution to English names is the addition of the patronymic -son at the end of a word. A patronymic is a name component that indicates the person's paternal ancestry, and it is common in different forms throughout Europe. So Andersson is the son of Anders, Williamson is William's son, and so on. (Parallels are the Spanish -ez, Serbian -ic, Russian -ov, Ukrainian -enko, Scottish Mac- and Irish O'.)
Numerous place names are Norse in origin too.
The suffix -by means yard, farmstead or village. This is seen in place names such as Grimsby, Normanby, Rugby, Selby, Barnby and Sotheby. This is also the origin of the term by-law, meaning the law of a local area.
Thwaite means "meadow" in Old Norse and appears in place names such as Braithwaite and Langthwaite.
Thorpe is another Norse name for village, and is seen in place names like Winthorpe and Scunthorpe.
The names Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday are named after the Old Germanic gods that both the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings believed in - Tiw (Norse Tyr), Wodin (Odin) and Frige (Freyja) . But they are from Old English and thus predate Viking contact. However, Thursday does bear the stamp of Norse influence. In Old English it was called Thunorsdag, named after the god Thunor (meaning Thunder). It is very similar to the German equivalent, Donnerstag. However, the Danish referred to Thunor as Thor, and thus it became known as Thorsdag in Danelaw, which crept into the language of the rest of England. Over time Thorsdag became Thursday.
The Normans, who were later to conquer England and have an even more profound effect on its language, were of Viking stock (their name Norman means "north men"). The Normans were Vikings from Denmark and elsewhere who settled in Northern France and adopted the local language and culture, but they did contribute quite a few words into the vocabulary of Modern French, particularly nautical terms.
The Norse influence in England is more prominent in the Northeastern areas that were part of the old Danelaw. Yorkshire is the most obvious example, where Norse words live on in local slang; arse is the example of a Norse-derived word that was originally Yorkshire dialect slang, which has subsequently passed into the broader English vernacular. There are hundred of place names in Yorkshire with -by and -thorpe, and the accent bears a distinct Norse stamp as well. There's a good example of this here at the British Library's sound recordings. You can also check the next couple of clips for comparison. Don't worry about the content - the first is a interview with two footballers in Danish, the second is a caricature of the Sheffield accent (South Yorkshire). Maybe you can see some similarities.
See also:
English words of Indian origin
Cooties in your Poontang: Filipino words in the English language
How language tells the history of Malaysia and Indonesia
How Muslim names evolve across the world
Pilaf, paella and pulao - how a rice dish conquered the world
So, who really invented noodles? China or Italy?
Monday, 31 January 2011
Mistakes Indonesians make when trying to speak English
So, yesterday I am with my girlfriend and he want to buy a pair of earring, but I spend the money on some shirt for him instead.
Anyone who speaks a language that is not their first is going to make mistakes. It's a universal phenomenon. But if we look at particular cultural and linguistic groups, we can notice certain specific kinds of mistakes common to that group.
An obvious and well-known example is the Japanese difficulty in pronouncing the sound /l/, often rendering it as an /r/ instead. But these sorts of culturally-specific mistakes are not just in pronunciation. They may be in grammar, vocabulary, sentence structure, or even in concepts that differ from culture to culture.
I'm using the Indonesian language here as an example. By extension, this also includes Malay, of which Indonesian is really a dialect. (Although given that Malaysians are normally exposed to English earlier on than Indonesians are, they might not make the same mistakes.)
People who speak English as a mother tongue often take for granted what a damn complicated language it is. By contrast, Indonesian is a very simple language in many ways, and it is in this contrast in approaches that some of the most common mistakes are made.
- INDONESIAN GENDER CONFUSION. (Nothing to do with transexuals here.)
Indonesian does not distinguish between “he”, “she” and “it”. When it comes to third-person singular pronouns, Indonesians just use the same word (dia) no matter whether it's a male, female or an animal without any specific gender. While that may sound confusing, it's not, because the context is key.
Here's an example: If I start talking about “Mr Smith”, then I have established by my use of "Mr" that he is male. So subsequently when referring to Mr Smith, I can just refer to him as dia because whoever I'm talking to knows that it is a man. But if I then start talking about Mr Smith's daughter, or Mr Smith's dog, I also use dia.
But when Indonesians speak English, they commonly confuse "he", "she" and "it". Thus it is common to hear phrases like, "Yesterday I was talking to my father and she got a bit angry" or "Check out that girl, he has nice legs".
- TENSE CONFUSION.
Indonesian has no separate markers for tenses (as in the English “had”/”has”/”will have”/”is having”). Everything is said in the present tense.
If that sounds strange, it's not. Again, it’s all context – once I establish that I’m talking about something that happened yesterday, it is just assumed that I’m speaking in past tense, and I use the same verbs as I would if I was talking about the future or the present.
Obviously, when speaking English, Indonesians can forget to apply tense to their verbs, saying things like “yesterday I go to the shop”.
- PLURALS.
In English, the suffix "-s" on the end of a word indicates plurality. However, Indonesian doesn't really have plural suffixes. Sometimes, plurality is indicated by simply doubling the word. So teman means "friend", and teman-teman means "friends", which does not imply a specific number. But other times, a single teman is enough, accompanied by a contextual word to indicate whether it is plural or not. So if I add banyak ("many"), I have banyak teman ("many friends"). The use of "many" implies plurality, so it is not necessary to further indicate that there is more than one friend in this situation. Thus the use of the suffix "-s" in the English phrase "many friends" is redundant, as saying "many friend" would convey exactly the same message. Likewise, if I have 80 teman, the plurality is implied by the number.
Thus, many Indonesians when the speak English say things like “I own 2 house” or “We have enough player to make three team”, because it makes perfect sense in their own language.
Thus, comparison to a simple and utilitarian language like Indonesian reveals what an unneccesarily complicated language English is; it's full of grammar that doesn't really have to be there.
Take, for example, the phrase, "Yesterday I went to the cinema with Gary and he brought some friends."
The Indonesian equivalent translates as "Yesterday I go to cinema with Gary and he bring some friend." Which may sound strange and fobby to native English speakers, but it conveys all the same information, only stripping away all the fiddly grammar which makes English a hard language to learn.
It is worth bearing in mind that Indonesian is a lingua franca. It may be the official language of business, school and government, but less than half the country speak it as a first language. Instead at home they are more likely to speak their local language (Balinese, Acehnese, etc). Indonesia descends from the dialect of Malay that was spoken around the archipelago as a trade language. Perhaps one reason it was successful in this context, and thus able to spread all over the region, is because its simplicity made it easy to learn.
It is notable as well that "Manglish" (Malaysian English, basically a pidgin form of English spoken widely in Malaysia) is also far simpler than English in its sentence structure and grammar, and has taken on many of the characteristics of Malay/Indonesian. Here's an example:
A: "On the fan, can or cannot?"
B: "No, dowan [don't want]. Off it lah, it will blow my papers around."
A: "Ok lah. Aircon got, what?"
B: "Ya, got."
- PRONUNCATION
"Hep you pinis? I hep pinis. So now you won to go to de bits to kets de pis, or you won to wats the pilm instead?"
Certain sounds don't exist naturally in Indonesian, such as /sh/, which is usually mispronounced as /s/. /th/ is pronounced either as /d/ or /t/ depending on the word. /ch/ exists in Indonesian, but never at the end of the word; Indonesians struggle to pronounce this in that context, and it usually comes out as /ts/. Regarding vowels, /a/ as in the English "cat" doesn't exist in Indonesian and is pronounced /e/ as it "pet" instead.
Not all Indonesians can pronounce /f/ and /v/, pronouncing them as /p/ and /b/ instead. This is common but hardly universal, whereas it is ubiquitous next door in The Philippines.
So the phrase above would properly read, "Have you finished? I have finished. So now you want to go to the beach to catch the fish, or you want to watch the film instead?"
See also:
How language tells the history of Malaysia and Indonesia
Is English threatening the future of the Indonesian language?
Communication challenges in Malaysia
Koreans, you too can curse like an American
English words of Indian origin
"Pulp Fiction" in Italian, German, French, Turkish and Spanish
Anyone who speaks a language that is not their first is going to make mistakes. It's a universal phenomenon. But if we look at particular cultural and linguistic groups, we can notice certain specific kinds of mistakes common to that group.
An obvious and well-known example is the Japanese difficulty in pronouncing the sound /l/, often rendering it as an /r/ instead. But these sorts of culturally-specific mistakes are not just in pronunciation. They may be in grammar, vocabulary, sentence structure, or even in concepts that differ from culture to culture.
I'm using the Indonesian language here as an example. By extension, this also includes Malay, of which Indonesian is really a dialect. (Although given that Malaysians are normally exposed to English earlier on than Indonesians are, they might not make the same mistakes.)
People who speak English as a mother tongue often take for granted what a damn complicated language it is. By contrast, Indonesian is a very simple language in many ways, and it is in this contrast in approaches that some of the most common mistakes are made.
- INDONESIAN GENDER CONFUSION. (Nothing to do with transexuals here.)
Indonesian does not distinguish between “he”, “she” and “it”. When it comes to third-person singular pronouns, Indonesians just use the same word (dia) no matter whether it's a male, female or an animal without any specific gender. While that may sound confusing, it's not, because the context is key.
Here's an example: If I start talking about “Mr Smith”, then I have established by my use of "Mr" that he is male. So subsequently when referring to Mr Smith, I can just refer to him as dia because whoever I'm talking to knows that it is a man. But if I then start talking about Mr Smith's daughter, or Mr Smith's dog, I also use dia.
But when Indonesians speak English, they commonly confuse "he", "she" and "it". Thus it is common to hear phrases like, "Yesterday I was talking to my father and she got a bit angry" or "Check out that girl, he has nice legs".
- TENSE CONFUSION.
Indonesian has no separate markers for tenses (as in the English “had”/”has”/”will have”/”is having”). Everything is said in the present tense.
If that sounds strange, it's not. Again, it’s all context – once I establish that I’m talking about something that happened yesterday, it is just assumed that I’m speaking in past tense, and I use the same verbs as I would if I was talking about the future or the present.
Obviously, when speaking English, Indonesians can forget to apply tense to their verbs, saying things like “yesterday I go to the shop”.
- PLURALS.
In English, the suffix "-s" on the end of a word indicates plurality. However, Indonesian doesn't really have plural suffixes. Sometimes, plurality is indicated by simply doubling the word. So teman means "friend", and teman-teman means "friends", which does not imply a specific number. But other times, a single teman is enough, accompanied by a contextual word to indicate whether it is plural or not. So if I add banyak ("many"), I have banyak teman ("many friends"). The use of "many" implies plurality, so it is not necessary to further indicate that there is more than one friend in this situation. Thus the use of the suffix "-s" in the English phrase "many friends" is redundant, as saying "many friend" would convey exactly the same message. Likewise, if I have 80 teman, the plurality is implied by the number.
Thus, many Indonesians when the speak English say things like “I own 2 house” or “We have enough player to make three team”, because it makes perfect sense in their own language.
Thus, comparison to a simple and utilitarian language like Indonesian reveals what an unneccesarily complicated language English is; it's full of grammar that doesn't really have to be there.
Take, for example, the phrase, "Yesterday I went to the cinema with Gary and he brought some friends."
The Indonesian equivalent translates as "Yesterday I go to cinema with Gary and he bring some friend." Which may sound strange and fobby to native English speakers, but it conveys all the same information, only stripping away all the fiddly grammar which makes English a hard language to learn.
It is worth bearing in mind that Indonesian is a lingua franca. It may be the official language of business, school and government, but less than half the country speak it as a first language. Instead at home they are more likely to speak their local language (Balinese, Acehnese, etc). Indonesia descends from the dialect of Malay that was spoken around the archipelago as a trade language. Perhaps one reason it was successful in this context, and thus able to spread all over the region, is because its simplicity made it easy to learn.
It is notable as well that "Manglish" (Malaysian English, basically a pidgin form of English spoken widely in Malaysia) is also far simpler than English in its sentence structure and grammar, and has taken on many of the characteristics of Malay/Indonesian. Here's an example:
A: "On the fan, can or cannot?"
B: "No, dowan [don't want]. Off it lah, it will blow my papers around."
A: "Ok lah. Aircon got, what?"
B: "Ya, got."
- PRONUNCATION
"Hep you pinis? I hep pinis. So now you won to go to de bits to kets de pis, or you won to wats the pilm instead?"
Certain sounds don't exist naturally in Indonesian, such as /sh/, which is usually mispronounced as /s/. /th/ is pronounced either as /d/ or /t/ depending on the word. /ch/ exists in Indonesian, but never at the end of the word; Indonesians struggle to pronounce this in that context, and it usually comes out as /ts/. Regarding vowels, /a/ as in the English "cat" doesn't exist in Indonesian and is pronounced /e/ as it "pet" instead.
Not all Indonesians can pronounce /f/ and /v/, pronouncing them as /p/ and /b/ instead. This is common but hardly universal, whereas it is ubiquitous next door in The Philippines.
So the phrase above would properly read, "Have you finished? I have finished. So now you want to go to the beach to catch the fish, or you want to watch the film instead?"
See also:
How language tells the history of Malaysia and Indonesia
Is English threatening the future of the Indonesian language?
Communication challenges in Malaysia
Koreans, you too can curse like an American
English words of Indian origin
"Pulp Fiction" in Italian, German, French, Turkish and Spanish
Saturday, 29 January 2011
Quiz Time! (European names)
Ok, here's a bit of a test for you.
So you know how Paolo is the Portuguese version of Paul, Antonio is the Italian version of Anthony, and Juan is the Spanish version of John?
Well, there's a lot more where that came from. Below are some names from all over Europe and surrounding areas. All are local versions of male given names that are common in English.
Your task: to identify their common English variant. Some of them are quite easy, some a little harder, but all are guessable if you put your mind to it. It might be helpful to bear in mind the way sounds can change from region to region; for instance, a /p/ sound in one language might easily be replaced by a /f/ or /b/ in another language.
1. João (Portuguese)
2. Guillaume (French)
3. Bostjan (Slovene)
4. Thiago (Brazilian Portugese)
5. Hagop (Armenian)
6. Hristo (Bulgarian)
7. Djibril (Arabic)
8. Dawit (Amharic)
9. Sikander (Persian/Hindi/Urdu)
10. Duarte (Portuguese/Spanish)
11. Jerzy (Polish)
12. Carlito (Spanish)
13. Boutros (Arabic)
14. Klaas (Dutch)
15. Shmuley (Hebrew)
16. Giuseppe (Italian)
Bear in mind that each of the above is not necessarily the only variant of that name, in the same way that Rick, Richard and Dick are all variants of the same name in English.
I shall post the answers in the comments section (below).
_______________________________
You may also like:
Guess the ethnicity - Spot the Eurasian!
How Muslim names evolve around the world
Hong Kong names
The most awesome Thai names
So you know how Paolo is the Portuguese version of Paul, Antonio is the Italian version of Anthony, and Juan is the Spanish version of John?
Well, there's a lot more where that came from. Below are some names from all over Europe and surrounding areas. All are local versions of male given names that are common in English.
Your task: to identify their common English variant. Some of them are quite easy, some a little harder, but all are guessable if you put your mind to it. It might be helpful to bear in mind the way sounds can change from region to region; for instance, a /p/ sound in one language might easily be replaced by a /f/ or /b/ in another language.
1. João (Portuguese)
2. Guillaume (French)
3. Bostjan (Slovene)
4. Thiago (Brazilian Portugese)
5. Hagop (Armenian)
6. Hristo (Bulgarian)
7. Djibril (Arabic)
8. Dawit (Amharic)
9. Sikander (Persian/Hindi/Urdu)
10. Duarte (Portuguese/Spanish)
11. Jerzy (Polish)
12. Carlito (Spanish)
13. Boutros (Arabic)
14. Klaas (Dutch)
15. Shmuley (Hebrew)
16. Giuseppe (Italian)
Bear in mind that each of the above is not necessarily the only variant of that name, in the same way that Rick, Richard and Dick are all variants of the same name in English.
I shall post the answers in the comments section (below).
_______________________________
You may also like:
Guess the ethnicity - Spot the Eurasian!
How Muslim names evolve around the world
Hong Kong names
The most awesome Thai names
Wednesday, 19 January 2011
Rush Limbaugh mocks Chinese language
I'm sure those of you who are familiar with Rush Limbaugh's work will not need any more reasons to dislike him. But here you go anyway - an excerpt from his immensely popular radio show in which he makes fun of Chinese leader Hu Jintao... ok, no wait, he actually doesn't mock Hu Jintao at all. He mocks the Chinese language, and later (second clip) the Japanese one, claiming that he can't tell them apart. Of course, anyone who has ever listened to the two languages for more than one second would have no difficulty in telling them apart. But I guess since Asians look the same, their languages must be the same as well, right?
F***ing c***rag.
F***ing c***rag.
Tuesday, 23 November 2010
Commonly mispronounced foods
Perhaps I am too pedantic by nature, but as linguistically-aware foodie, I hear people mispronounce certain words over and over again, and it kinda irks me.
Some of them are quite understandable, particularly when they are recent introductions into English from other languages. With some, however, people should really know better.
The aim here is not to be pretentious. No one is gonna think worse of you if you don't do the distinctively French throat-gargling "r" in "ratatouille". Likewise, the proper emphasis on syllables is not really so important; even though I admit a little bit of me dies each time I hear "nasi goreng" pronounced like nassie (rhymes with the dog Lassie) go-RENG.
I imagine there will be some disagreements with me here, or others you wish to add to the list. Let the debate begin!
turmeric
WHAT IS IT? A root spice often seen in powdered form, adds yellow colour to many Asian cuisines.
WRONG: tue-meric
CORRECT: Exactly how it looks. You don't pronounce "turd" as "tude", so why ignore the "r" in "turmeric?
cardamom
WHAT IS IT? A spice used extensively in South Asian and Middle Eastern cuisine, in both sweet and savoury foods.
WRONG: car-da-mon
CORRECT: Exactly how it looks. That's an "m" at the end, people! The mispronunciation can almost get a pass because the English word is based on the ancient Greek word kardamon, which ends with an "n".
mascarpone
WHAT IS IT? An Italian cream cheese
WRONG: mar-sca-pone, ma-scar-pone, mar-sca-pony
CORRECT: ma-scar-po-nay
curaçao
WHAT IS IT? A liqueur named after the island in the Dutch Antilles which grows the particular variety of orange which the drink is based on.
WRONG: kyu-ra-kay-o, ku-ra-kay-o, ku-ra-kao
CORRECT: The island's name is Portuguese in origin. The exact pronunciation is hard to completely approximate in English, is between ku-ra-sow and ku-ra-so. The standard English pronunciation seems to be kyu-ra-so, which I don't think is authentically correct, but I guess it is good enough!
paella
WHAT IS IT? A Spanish rice dish coloured with saffron and usually featuring seafood and vegetables.
WRONG: pie-ella
CORRECT: pie-EY-a. Double L in Spanish signifies a "y" sound.
tortilla
WHAT IS IT? Either a Spanish omelette, or a Mexican flat bread.
WRONG: tor-tilla
CORRECT: tor-TEE-ya. See "paella" above.
bruschetta
WHAT IS IT? Italian toasted crusty bread with topping, typically diced tomatoes and basil.
WRONG: broo-shetta
CORRECT: broo-sketta. It's an easy mistake to make, but "ch" in Italian always signifies a hard "k" sound.
pide
WHAT IS IT?Turkish bread. Often filled with cheese, spinach, or meat.
WRONG: pie-d (as in, rhyming with ride)
CORRECT: pee-day.
Phở
WHAT IS IT? Vietnamese noodle soup, usually of beef or chicken, served with bean sprouts and herbs.
WRONG: foe, poe
CORRECT: Allegedly derives from the French word pot-au-feu, and is pronounced accordingly. An approximate pronunciation is like the English word "fur" (no "r" sound though). If you want to be really correct or pretentious, try to nail the falling tone of the proper Vietnamese term.
habanero
WHAT IS IT? One of the world's hottest chilies, named after Havana in Cuba (though it is not actually from there)
WRONG: haba-nyero.
CORRECT: Exactly as it sounds - haba-nero. The "a" is pronounced like in the word "car". If you want to be extra authentically Spanish you can even drop the h from the start.
It is commonly mis-pronounced as if there is a tilda over the n; possibly this is due to confusion with...
jalapeño
WHAT IS IT? A Mexican chili named for the city of Xalapa.
WRONG: jala-pee-no, hala-pee-no
CORRECT: ha-la-pen-yo. The "a" is pronounced like in the word "car". But to say it more like a Mexican, start it with a throat-clearing "kh", and the second last syllable is more like the English word "pain" than "pen".
chorizo
WHAT IS IT? Spanish spicy sausage
WRONG: cho-ritzo
CORRECT: cho-REE-zo. A lot of people seem to pronounce this as if it is an Italian word, but Spanish say it with a soft "z", no "t". Note that the Portuguese sausage chouriço is pronounced more like sho-ree-su.
worchestershire sauce
WHAT IS IT? A condiment named after a region of England.
WRONG: The way it looks like it would be pronounced (Wor-cest-er-shire)
CORRECT: wooss-ter-sheer. Weird, I know. Those English people should learn to talk proper English.
gnocchi
WHAT IS IT? Italian pasta/dumpling usually made from potatoes.
WRONG: nokki, nochi
CORRECT: nyok-ki
quinoa
WHAT IS IT? A millet-like grain originally from the Andes.
WRONG: ki-noah, kwi-noah
CORRECT: KEEN-wa
ratatouille
WHAT IS IT? A summer vegetable stew from the south of France
WRONG: rat-a-too-lee
CORRECT: rat-a-too-ee
gyro
WHAT IS IT? A Greek version of a kebab
WRONG: jai-row
CORRECT: yee-row
VARIATIONS AND REGIONAL ODDITIES
These are not incorrect, just acceptable variations which you may often come across:
cumin
VARIANTS: koo-min, kyoo-min, or come-in. The "i" is often pronounced as a schwa (as in, the "e" in "oven").
While my dictionary tells me that the latter is the most correct, I prefer kyoo-min. Because the sound of "cummin' in the food" is not all that pleasant, if you know what I mean.
filet, fillet
VARIANTS: as it looks, or FEE-lay
It is a French-derived word, so fee-lay is more correct, but fill-et is a perfectly acceptable English pronunciation. Anyway, I can't help but think that walking into McDonalds and asking for a fee-lay o fish just seems pretentious.
By the way, a fee-lay has nothing to do with prostitution, in case you were wondering.
herbs
STANDARD ENGLISH: exactly how it looks
AMERICAN ENGLISH: erbs
This is weird. In England, dropping the "h" is a sign of lower-class speech, and as far as I know, Americans do not drop the "h" when pronouncing any other standard English words. Of course, the word presumably derives from the French "herbes", in which the "h" is silent. So the American could even be more correct, in a way.
oregano
STANDARD ENGLISH: or-re-GAA-no
AMERICAN ENGLISH: o-REG-a-no
The former is consistent with the Italian pronunciation, while it is possible that the American word was influenced by the Spanish pronunciation.
basil
STANDARD ENGLISH: ba-zil
AMERICAN ENGLISH: bay-zil, or bay-sil.
Americans are weird.
Some of them are quite understandable, particularly when they are recent introductions into English from other languages. With some, however, people should really know better.
The aim here is not to be pretentious. No one is gonna think worse of you if you don't do the distinctively French throat-gargling "r" in "ratatouille". Likewise, the proper emphasis on syllables is not really so important; even though I admit a little bit of me dies each time I hear "nasi goreng" pronounced like nassie (rhymes with the dog Lassie) go-RENG.
I imagine there will be some disagreements with me here, or others you wish to add to the list. Let the debate begin!
turmeric
WHAT IS IT? A root spice often seen in powdered form, adds yellow colour to many Asian cuisines.
WRONG: tue-meric
CORRECT: Exactly how it looks. You don't pronounce "turd" as "tude", so why ignore the "r" in "turmeric?
cardamom
WHAT IS IT? A spice used extensively in South Asian and Middle Eastern cuisine, in both sweet and savoury foods.
WRONG: car-da-mon
CORRECT: Exactly how it looks. That's an "m" at the end, people! The mispronunciation can almost get a pass because the English word is based on the ancient Greek word kardamon, which ends with an "n".
mascarpone
WHAT IS IT? An Italian cream cheese
WRONG: mar-sca-pone, ma-scar-pone, mar-sca-pony
CORRECT: ma-scar-po-nay
curaçao
WHAT IS IT? A liqueur named after the island in the Dutch Antilles which grows the particular variety of orange which the drink is based on.
WRONG: kyu-ra-kay-o, ku-ra-kay-o, ku-ra-kao
CORRECT: The island's name is Portuguese in origin. The exact pronunciation is hard to completely approximate in English, is between ku-ra-sow and ku-ra-so. The standard English pronunciation seems to be kyu-ra-so, which I don't think is authentically correct, but I guess it is good enough!
paella
WHAT IS IT? A Spanish rice dish coloured with saffron and usually featuring seafood and vegetables.
WRONG: pie-ella
CORRECT: pie-EY-a. Double L in Spanish signifies a "y" sound.
tortilla
WHAT IS IT? Either a Spanish omelette, or a Mexican flat bread.
WRONG: tor-tilla
CORRECT: tor-TEE-ya. See "paella" above.
bruschetta
WHAT IS IT? Italian toasted crusty bread with topping, typically diced tomatoes and basil.
WRONG: broo-shetta
CORRECT: broo-sketta. It's an easy mistake to make, but "ch" in Italian always signifies a hard "k" sound.
pide
WHAT IS IT?Turkish bread. Often filled with cheese, spinach, or meat.
WRONG: pie-d (as in, rhyming with ride)
CORRECT: pee-day.
Phở
WHAT IS IT? Vietnamese noodle soup, usually of beef or chicken, served with bean sprouts and herbs.
WRONG: foe, poe
CORRECT: Allegedly derives from the French word pot-au-feu, and is pronounced accordingly. An approximate pronunciation is like the English word "fur" (no "r" sound though). If you want to be really correct or pretentious, try to nail the falling tone of the proper Vietnamese term.
habanero
WHAT IS IT? One of the world's hottest chilies, named after Havana in Cuba (though it is not actually from there)
WRONG: haba-nyero.
CORRECT: Exactly as it sounds - haba-nero. The "a" is pronounced like in the word "car". If you want to be extra authentically Spanish you can even drop the h from the start.
It is commonly mis-pronounced as if there is a tilda over the n; possibly this is due to confusion with...
jalapeño
WHAT IS IT? A Mexican chili named for the city of Xalapa.
WRONG: jala-pee-no, hala-pee-no
CORRECT: ha-la-pen-yo. The "a" is pronounced like in the word "car". But to say it more like a Mexican, start it with a throat-clearing "kh", and the second last syllable is more like the English word "pain" than "pen".
chorizo
WHAT IS IT? Spanish spicy sausage
WRONG: cho-ritzo
CORRECT: cho-REE-zo. A lot of people seem to pronounce this as if it is an Italian word, but Spanish say it with a soft "z", no "t". Note that the Portuguese sausage chouriço is pronounced more like sho-ree-su.
worchestershire sauce
WHAT IS IT? A condiment named after a region of England.
WRONG: The way it looks like it would be pronounced (Wor-cest-er-shire)
CORRECT: wooss-ter-sheer. Weird, I know. Those English people should learn to talk proper English.
gnocchi
WHAT IS IT? Italian pasta/dumpling usually made from potatoes.
WRONG: nokki, nochi
CORRECT: nyok-ki
quinoa
WHAT IS IT? A millet-like grain originally from the Andes.
WRONG: ki-noah, kwi-noah
CORRECT: KEEN-wa
ratatouille
WHAT IS IT? A summer vegetable stew from the south of France
WRONG: rat-a-too-lee
CORRECT: rat-a-too-ee
gyro
WHAT IS IT? A Greek version of a kebab
WRONG: jai-row
CORRECT: yee-row
VARIATIONS AND REGIONAL ODDITIES
These are not incorrect, just acceptable variations which you may often come across:
cumin
VARIANTS: koo-min, kyoo-min, or come-in. The "i" is often pronounced as a schwa (as in, the "e" in "oven").
While my dictionary tells me that the latter is the most correct, I prefer kyoo-min. Because the sound of "cummin' in the food" is not all that pleasant, if you know what I mean.
filet, fillet
VARIANTS: as it looks, or FEE-lay
It is a French-derived word, so fee-lay is more correct, but fill-et is a perfectly acceptable English pronunciation. Anyway, I can't help but think that walking into McDonalds and asking for a fee-lay o fish just seems pretentious.
By the way, a fee-lay has nothing to do with prostitution, in case you were wondering.
herbs
STANDARD ENGLISH: exactly how it looks
AMERICAN ENGLISH: erbs
This is weird. In England, dropping the "h" is a sign of lower-class speech, and as far as I know, Americans do not drop the "h" when pronouncing any other standard English words. Of course, the word presumably derives from the French "herbes", in which the "h" is silent. So the American could even be more correct, in a way.
oregano
STANDARD ENGLISH: or-re-GAA-no
AMERICAN ENGLISH: o-REG-a-no
The former is consistent with the Italian pronunciation, while it is possible that the American word was influenced by the Spanish pronunciation.
basil
STANDARD ENGLISH: ba-zil
AMERICAN ENGLISH: bay-zil, or bay-sil.
Americans are weird.
Friday, 19 November 2010
Goooooooooooooolllllll!!!!!
If you've ever had the pleasure of listening to football highlights from the non-English-speaking world, you'll be familiar with the extremely entertaining ways the commentators have of proclaiming the scoring of a goal.
This one's from Italy, a remarkable goal from Roma's Stefano Okaka leading to a frenzied outpouring from the announcer which sounds like an excited puppy.
This one from Spain demonstrates the correct pronunciation of "goal" as practiced by announcers all over the Spanish speaking world - aiming to stretch the one word out for as many syllables as possible. There are a lot of goals in this game, so you'll see it's not just a once off.
And finally, an Arabic commentator who sounds like he's weeping with joy at the quality of this goal.
This one's from Italy, a remarkable goal from Roma's Stefano Okaka leading to a frenzied outpouring from the announcer which sounds like an excited puppy.
This one from Spain demonstrates the correct pronunciation of "goal" as practiced by announcers all over the Spanish speaking world - aiming to stretch the one word out for as many syllables as possible. There are a lot of goals in this game, so you'll see it's not just a once off.
And finally, an Arabic commentator who sounds like he's weeping with joy at the quality of this goal.
Monday, 1 November 2010
The most awesome Thai names
Thai people have a wonderful culture with much to be proud of. They also have (at least to an English speaker with a puerile sense of humour) the funniest language in all of Asia. In spoken form, it doesn't actually sound all that funny, but when Thai names and words are transcribed into Roman script, it's hard not to crack a smile. I mean, who hasn't read the menu at a Thai restaurant and shared a giggle at dishes such as gang dang and phat prik?
And of course there are place names such as Bang Sue, Baan Sukchoke, Dong Rak and Ban Pornpis. If you don't find those things even a teeny bit funny, you are way too mature for this blog post.
Bear in mind that because Thais have their own alphabet, there is no standard way of spelling Thai words and names in Roman script, so you will have many variations - pad thai can also be written as phat thai, for example.
Of course, a lot of the humour to be derived from Thai names comes from how you think they would or could be pronounced, rather than how they actually sound in real life. Thus names like Pachrapa or Chumphorn can be funny when you read them but not especially so when you hear them said by a Thai.
Other names, like Poonlarp, might require a little bit of cultural and/or pop cultural knowledge to get why they are funny - larp (or laap, or larb) is a kind of salad made from ground meat, so larp made from poon is an interesting concept.
Certain sounds that frequently turn up in Thai names are innately amusing, at least to my infantile mind. One is "-sak", which corresponds nicely to the English word "sack" meaning both a bag to carry things in, and a scrotum. Thus you have names like Choosak, Damrongsak, and my personal favourite of all Thai names, Terdsak. All of which can conjure up some nice mental images.
The other one of course, is "-porn", which is sometimes written as the less amusing "-pon". Which gives rise to names like Jesdaporn and Pornthip. Sometimes there is a convergence of rude-sounding words such as Pornsak. The best of all, however, is undoubtedly Supaporn. You really can't get better than that.
Of course, plenty of Thai names are just awesome without being naughty-sounding. There's something about the name of (politician) Somkid Jatusripitak which I just love. While names like Lada Engchawadechasilp (a former Miss World contestant) or Kejmanee Pichaironnarongsongkram (actress and singer)are admirable just for being so damned difficult to pronounce without considerable practice.
But lest you think I'm singling out Thai names, you can find examples of this sort of thing in pretty much every language and country. India, for example, has wonderful names like Jayant Bhatt, Deepa Dikshit, and Priti Kanthi. And it should be pointed out that while Thai names can seem funny to the English speaker, English names can be just as funny to Thais, depending on how they are pronounced (Thai is a tonal language, so there can be various ways of pronouncing a word). For example, according to this article at least, the name "Jim" sounds a lot like Thai slang for "vagina", while "Johnson" sounds like the term for "small penis".
Got some more names to share? I'd love to hear them.
Above: Terdsak Jandaeng. I dare you to tell him why his name is funny.
See also: Interesting Asian restaurant names
And of course there are place names such as Bang Sue, Baan Sukchoke, Dong Rak and Ban Pornpis. If you don't find those things even a teeny bit funny, you are way too mature for this blog post.
Bear in mind that because Thais have their own alphabet, there is no standard way of spelling Thai words and names in Roman script, so you will have many variations - pad thai can also be written as phat thai, for example.
Of course, a lot of the humour to be derived from Thai names comes from how you think they would or could be pronounced, rather than how they actually sound in real life. Thus names like Pachrapa or Chumphorn can be funny when you read them but not especially so when you hear them said by a Thai.
Other names, like Poonlarp, might require a little bit of cultural and/or pop cultural knowledge to get why they are funny - larp (or laap, or larb) is a kind of salad made from ground meat, so larp made from poon is an interesting concept.
Certain sounds that frequently turn up in Thai names are innately amusing, at least to my infantile mind. One is "-sak", which corresponds nicely to the English word "sack" meaning both a bag to carry things in, and a scrotum. Thus you have names like Choosak, Damrongsak, and my personal favourite of all Thai names, Terdsak. All of which can conjure up some nice mental images.
The other one of course, is "-porn", which is sometimes written as the less amusing "-pon". Which gives rise to names like Jesdaporn and Pornthip. Sometimes there is a convergence of rude-sounding words such as Pornsak. The best of all, however, is undoubtedly Supaporn. You really can't get better than that.
Of course, plenty of Thai names are just awesome without being naughty-sounding. There's something about the name of (politician) Somkid Jatusripitak which I just love. While names like Lada Engchawadechasilp (a former Miss World contestant) or Kejmanee Pichaironnarongsongkram (actress and singer)are admirable just for being so damned difficult to pronounce without considerable practice.
But lest you think I'm singling out Thai names, you can find examples of this sort of thing in pretty much every language and country. India, for example, has wonderful names like Jayant Bhatt, Deepa Dikshit, and Priti Kanthi. And it should be pointed out that while Thai names can seem funny to the English speaker, English names can be just as funny to Thais, depending on how they are pronounced (Thai is a tonal language, so there can be various ways of pronouncing a word). For example, according to this article at least, the name "Jim" sounds a lot like Thai slang for "vagina", while "Johnson" sounds like the term for "small penis".
Got some more names to share? I'd love to hear them.
See also: Interesting Asian restaurant names
Saturday, 25 September 2010
Swearing in English for Koreans: The Remix
So you may have seen this extremely funny video circulating the webs a few months back. Well now someone's given it an electro makeover that just highlights the rudest bits. Good for a low-brow laugh.
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
Cooties in your poontang: Filipino words in the English language
Tagalog, the primary language of the Philippines, has not contributed a great many words to the English language, but those few that are derived from it are quite interesting.
Certain words may have entered the English language via the Spanish, who had first claimed the islands in 1521. In 1898, the USA annexed the Philippines following the Spanish-American war, and continued their colonial relationship until 1946. During this time American soldiers and sailors obviously picked up a few words and brought them back to the States, where they entered the popular vocabulary.
To live out in the boondocks, means in an out-of-the-way place, a remote brushy area. The term is of Tagalog origin, although it is not clear if it is derived from bundok, meaning mountain, or bunduk, meaning hinterland.
Yo-yo is a word apparently derived from the Tagalog or Ilocano languages, but there is possibly some doubt about this. Certainly the person who started the craze in the 1920s was a Filipino immigrant to the US named Pedro Flores. The yo-yo was not invented in the Philippines - it's origin goes back at least as far as ancient Greece. It was known in Britain and France as far back as the 18th century, but did not become a mass phenomenon. It was known under various names, such as "bandalore" or "quiz" in England, and "l'emigrette" or "jou-jou" in France. At some point it arrived in the Philippines (via China? Spain?) and became a popular toy there. There are at least two theories about the origin of the word "yo-yo". One is that it means "come-come" in Ilocano. There was apparently a traditional weapon used by Filipino hunters called a yo-yo, consisting of a rock attached to a long piece of rope. Very different to our modern yo-yo, but the similarity could have led to the same name being adopted. Alternatively, it could be derived from the French term "jou-jou."
Cooties is a term most commonly used by children, a reference to an imaginary infectious disease or parasite caught through contact with children of the opposite sex. Its origin is probably from Tagalog word kutu, meaning lice. There is some conjecture about this though, as kutu with the same meaning also occurs the related Malay language. White "cooties" is today a far more common term in US English than British English (which would point to a Filipino origin because of the US-Philippine connection) there are records of the word being used by British soldiers in WW1 (which opens the possibility of a Malay origin, as Malaysia was a British colony). A dual origin is possible, or even an origin in Polynesia, where the word also exists.
Ever store documents in a manila folder? Well, long before they were made out of thin cardboard, they were fashioned from the trunk fibres of the abaca (Musa textilis), a tree of the banana family. The Philippines capital city of Manila was a major producer of this fibre, known as "manila hemp".
Ylang-ylang is one of those fragrances you'll frequently come across in soaps and scented oils. It is the Tagalog name for a flowering tree (Cananga odorata) native to the Philippines and Indonesia.
Poontang is a slang word primarily used in American English, meaning "vagina". It derives from the Tagalog word putang, which can mean both "f*ck" and "whore". Putang is in turn obviously derived from the Spanish word puta ("whore"). There is an interesting similarity to the slang term punani, also meaning "vagina", which originates in either Hawaii or Jamaica. While the similarity is almost certainly coincidental, it is possible that knowledge of the term punani influenced the adding of the extra "n" to putang. Or possibly the extra "n" made it sound nicer because Americans didn't like the idea of lusting after something that sounded too much like "pooh-tang". Eww.
How language tells the history of Malaysia and Indonesia
Koreans, you too can curse like an American
English words of Indian origin
The risks of tonal languages
Communication challenges in Malaysia
"Pulp Fiction" in Italian, German, Turkish, Spanish and French
How Muslim names evolve across the world
Certain words may have entered the English language via the Spanish, who had first claimed the islands in 1521. In 1898, the USA annexed the Philippines following the Spanish-American war, and continued their colonial relationship until 1946. During this time American soldiers and sailors obviously picked up a few words and brought them back to the States, where they entered the popular vocabulary.
To live out in the boondocks, means in an out-of-the-way place, a remote brushy area. The term is of Tagalog origin, although it is not clear if it is derived from bundok, meaning mountain, or bunduk, meaning hinterland.
Yo-yo is a word apparently derived from the Tagalog or Ilocano languages, but there is possibly some doubt about this. Certainly the person who started the craze in the 1920s was a Filipino immigrant to the US named Pedro Flores. The yo-yo was not invented in the Philippines - it's origin goes back at least as far as ancient Greece. It was known in Britain and France as far back as the 18th century, but did not become a mass phenomenon. It was known under various names, such as "bandalore" or "quiz" in England, and "l'emigrette" or "jou-jou" in France. At some point it arrived in the Philippines (via China? Spain?) and became a popular toy there. There are at least two theories about the origin of the word "yo-yo". One is that it means "come-come" in Ilocano. There was apparently a traditional weapon used by Filipino hunters called a yo-yo, consisting of a rock attached to a long piece of rope. Very different to our modern yo-yo, but the similarity could have led to the same name being adopted. Alternatively, it could be derived from the French term "jou-jou."
Cooties is a term most commonly used by children, a reference to an imaginary infectious disease or parasite caught through contact with children of the opposite sex. Its origin is probably from Tagalog word kutu, meaning lice. There is some conjecture about this though, as kutu with the same meaning also occurs the related Malay language. White "cooties" is today a far more common term in US English than British English (which would point to a Filipino origin because of the US-Philippine connection) there are records of the word being used by British soldiers in WW1 (which opens the possibility of a Malay origin, as Malaysia was a British colony). A dual origin is possible, or even an origin in Polynesia, where the word also exists.
Ever store documents in a manila folder? Well, long before they were made out of thin cardboard, they were fashioned from the trunk fibres of the abaca (Musa textilis), a tree of the banana family. The Philippines capital city of Manila was a major producer of this fibre, known as "manila hemp".
Ylang-ylang is one of those fragrances you'll frequently come across in soaps and scented oils. It is the Tagalog name for a flowering tree (Cananga odorata) native to the Philippines and Indonesia.
Poontang is a slang word primarily used in American English, meaning "vagina". It derives from the Tagalog word putang, which can mean both "f*ck" and "whore". Putang is in turn obviously derived from the Spanish word puta ("whore"). There is an interesting similarity to the slang term punani, also meaning "vagina", which originates in either Hawaii or Jamaica. While the similarity is almost certainly coincidental, it is possible that knowledge of the term punani influenced the adding of the extra "n" to putang. Or possibly the extra "n" made it sound nicer because Americans didn't like the idea of lusting after something that sounded too much like "pooh-tang". Eww.
How language tells the history of Malaysia and Indonesia
Koreans, you too can curse like an American
English words of Indian origin
The risks of tonal languages
Communication challenges in Malaysia
"Pulp Fiction" in Italian, German, Turkish, Spanish and French
How Muslim names evolve across the world
Monday, 6 September 2010
"Do you speak English?"
From the British comedy series Big Train. Tells you a lot about the English perception of the French!
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