What I have learned today:

[puddingcat]

Splatnosti - Czech for Maturity.

Podpis = Polish for Signature.

Please, someone, tell me some English words are just as entertaining in other languages?

Comments

[whiskeylover.livejournal.com]

Oh yes

"Mist" for example is the German word for "manure"

"Foot" is a German (possibly regional?) slang term for "vagina" (which is probably why our female English teacher in Germany tried to teach it as "foooooot", until I corrected her...)

"Vixen" sounds just like the German for "wanking"


Those are just a couple I can think of off the top of my head, but I'm sure there are plenty more, and then there are, no doubt, dozens of English words that just sound funny.

[puddingcat.livejournal.com]

Fabulous :)

[daegaer.livejournal.com]

Don't forget the Splat toothpaste!

In WK, Aya's screams of "Shi-ne!" are funny because they sound like he's saying the equivalent of "That's how it goes" in Irish . . .

Also, "Mist" has very different meanings in English and German, so "Irish Mist" would not be a very appetising drink to a German speaker :-)

[puddingcat.livejournal.com]

Splat! Of course!

[ulaidhan.livejournal.com]

Not really answering the question, but... having been reading a little Chinese mythology, I've been struggling at times with how much some of it clashes with English slang.

There are a lot of alien notions in it anyway, but I kept finding myself broken out of my consideration of what on Earth a bird with the face of a sparrow, the body of a goose, and the back of a turtle might possibly look like (let alone fly!) by the unintentional double entrendres.

Some of it just sounds odd - Gonggong, the prince of princes, sounds a little silly to Western ears. But he can't hope to compete with people called Dong, or kings rejoicing in the tile of Wang.

The most startling figure I've encountered thus far is unfortunately one of the most august of all: the Dragon King - Long Wang.

[puddingcat.livejournal.com]

Hee, yes! I discovered the Long Wangs while reading around the Journey to the West :)

[cabd.livejournal.com]

The Welsh word for carrot is 'moron'. Which I think is quite harsh on carrots.

[puddingcat.livejournal.com]

Have you ever met a carrot that wasn't?

[moonriddler-mim.livejournal.com]

yes, for example: the English kiss means pee in Swedish. the English as means carcass in Swedish. English fart means speed in Swedish. English fan means 'the devil' in Swedish. the English word slut means end in Swedish. the pronunciations are a bit different, but reading them 'wrong' makes for a good laugh. ^^

which reminds me, I should go link to that youtube clip.

[puddingcat.livejournal.com]

Awesome!