this post was submitted on 04 Dec 2024
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Microblog Memes

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[–] MudMan@fedia.io 34 points 2 months ago (1 children)

In Romanian, "prince charming" literally translates to "pretty fetus".

In my experience, Romanians tend to react to being confronted with this fact by going quiet for a while and then trying to tell you that this is not strictly incorrect but there's more to it, and then they try to explain it away and then they go quiet again.

[–] goldenbug@fedia.io 26 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Just did it to a Romanian friend and I could just see the writing dots on the screen for a while. Success

[–] MudMan@fedia.io 15 points 2 months ago

I swear, it's the exact same reaction every time. It's amazing, like a culture-wide Manchurian Candidate activation code.

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 22 points 2 months ago (2 children)

This says it's actually "tip-toe goose" which . . . also good.

[–] fibojoly@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

企业 seems to mean "business / company / corpo / firm" and my dictionary says 企 is also an abbreviation for it. So I guess that's how we get to the OP's joke. I'm guessing 鹅企 would be read "Goose Corp." then ?

[–] wal_kr@lemmy.world 14 points 2 months ago
[–] Bruncvik@lemmy.world 13 points 2 months ago (5 children)

"Hippo" in German translates as "The horse of the Nile". It's such a fun language, with its word combinations.

[–] PlexSheep@infosec.pub 16 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Got a thing without name? I present "-Zeug"!

  • Fly thing? Flugzeug
  • Fire thing? Feuerzeug
  • Thing you need for work? Werkzeug
  • The things that you punch to make sounds? Schlagzeug
  • Unidentified things? Zeug

I love German.

[–] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It sounds like an Orc saying “zug.”

“Me take TPS report zug to work zug.”

[–] PlexSheep@infosec.pub 1 points 2 months ago

No, a Zug ist a train. And it's probably late

[–] tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip 12 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Basically the same in English-- the etymology is PIE through Greek and Latin meaning river horse. Historians call horse/chariot stadiums from ancient Greece hippodromes.

[–] AreaSIX@lemm.ee 6 points 2 months ago

Still called river horse in Swedish (flodhäst), not exclusive to the Nile though.

[–] edgemaster72@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Lemmy told me that raccoon in German literally translates as "washing bear" and I still think about that at least once a week

[–] undefinedValue@programming.dev 3 points 2 months ago

Wash Rat in French

[–] EddoWagt@feddit.nl 2 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Its true for Dutch, so I'm sure it's true for German as well, in Dutch it's called a wasbeer

[–] AreaSIX@lemm.ee 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] Skullgrid@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

hurr hurr twat bear

[–] PlexSheep@infosec.pub 1 points 2 months ago

Can confirm, Waschbär in German.

[–] Skullgrid@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

de wasbeer im de kukstooel

[–] goldenbug@fedia.io 4 points 2 months ago

It's an amazing language. My favorite is the word for contraceptive pills: antibabypille!

[–] MacNCheezus@lemmy.today 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Wait till you learn what “airplane”, “lighter”, and “tool” are.

[–] shottymcb@lemm.ee 12 points 2 months ago

I have this with the Spanish translation of toes. Dedos de los pies. The literal translation would be fingers of the foot.

[–] FrozenHandle@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

In Japanese a thermos bottle is called 魔法瓶/Mahoubin, which literally translated means magic bottle.

[–] tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip 6 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

They love their magic stuff in Japan. They call velcro "magic tape".

One of my favorites from Japanese is that they call mons pubis the "shame/embarassed hill" (恥丘), because of course they have to be weird about it.

[–] Odd_so_Star_so_Odd@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

It's beyond weird, you see this in lots of places where the patriarchy influenced society and language to this point of control and inequality between the sexes. Only in recent years where i live have these terms been changed in favor of a more equal view on genders with language that reflects that to go with it.

[–] toynbee@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

It seems like tape is more magical than Velcro.

edit: s/that/than/