Cool foreign words (part 2)

I've featured a 'cool foreign words' true or false quiz before on the Charles Fudfemuffin blog, but there are so many cool foreign words that I decided to create a follow up quiz!

Once again, take a look at the following eight words from eight different languages, and see if you can work out whether the alleged foreign words are real, or whether I've just made them up...

Iceland...

I don't have a photo of a hedgehog rat (because they
don't exist), so here's a photo of a hedgehog dog instead.

Editor's note: "Charles, hedgehog dogs don't exist either."
Charles: "Well clearly they must, otherwise how would I get the photo?"

1) Hedgehog = Spiky rat

In Iceland they apparently don't have a very high opinion of hedgehogs, because the Icelandic word for hedgehog is 'skitugrotta' which literally translates as spiky rat! I can obviously see where the spiky comes from, but in my opinion hedgehogs are far too nice to be compared with rats.

True or false?

Quirks of the English language (part 4)

English can be a strange and confusing language, with lots of weird and wonderful quirks. This week the Charles Fudgemuffin blog highlights a few more of those quirks.

A baseball player strikes the ball to avoid a strike.

1) Cucumber as a cool

The sentence, "Are you as cool as I am?", can be said backwards and still makes sense.

2) Contradictory language (part 1)

strike

Verb
1. To hit.
2. To miss in an attempt to hit (esp. baseball).

Five stupid sayings (part 6)

The English language has many cool sayings, but it also has quite a few silly sayings. This week the Charles Fudgemuffin blog takes a look at five more of those stupid sayings.

Donuts may be dumb, but they're also delicious!

1) As dumb as a day old donut

This was a saying that I first heard while watching Prison Break.

The obvious thought that comes to mind is why the need to specify that the donut is a day old? Is a fresh donut any more intelligent than a day old donut?

I'm pretty sure the donut was pretty dumb to begin with, even before it became a day old. If you were to conduct an IQ test on donuts of various ages, I'm pretty sure the relative intelligence levels would come out as equally stupid.

To be fair, I don't think I've heard anyone else say it, so perhaps it's just the character on Prison Break who was as dumb as a day old donut.

Old words that are dying out (part 2)

As I've mentioned before on the Charles Fudgemuffin blog, language changes and some old words eventually die out. According to a survey by Perspectus Global, many words which were common just a few decades ago are disappearing from the vocabularies of younger people.

Here are a few more words that people aged 18-30 have never heard of:

1) Boogie (28%)

Silhouettes boogieing.

I tend to associate the word 'boogie' with the generation before me, so perhaps that explains why some of the younger generation have never heard of it. Anyway, for the benefit of the 28% of 18-30 year olds who don't know what 'boogie' means, it means to dance, specifically to pop music.

I think it may have been quite a cool word back in the day, but obviously if you said 'boogie' nowadays you'd probably sound like you were old and unfashionable, unless you said it ironically for a joke.

Quirks of the English language (part 3)

I would imagine that English must be quite a tricky language to learn for foreign speakers, due to its many quirks and peculiarities. Here are a few more of those quirks...

A bomb about to go boom.

1) If tomb is pronounced 'toom', and womb is pronounced 'woom', then shouldn't bomb be pronounced 'boom'?



2) If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?



3) What is the only word in the English language that you can make shorter by adding two letters?
Short.

Learn 32 French words in seconds!

In a few days' time on July 14th it will be Bastille Day, also known as the National Day Of France, so to celebrate, this week the Charles Fudgemuffin blog features a quick French lesson teaching you how to say 32 words in French.

Le French fries.
(Not really. The correct translation is actually
'les frites'. French people don't bother
clarifying that French fries are French.)

Even if you're not very good at learning new languages, I guarantee you should have no problem memorising the following French words...

English     French

ambulance = l'ambulance
animal = l'animal
biscuit = le biscuit
bracelet = le bracelet
centre = le centre
certain = certain
chance = la chance
difference = la difference
direction = la direction

Five stupid sayings (part 5)

The English language has many silly expressions, and I've highlighted some of those expressions before on the Charles Fudgemuffin blog.

This swan is certainly having a good go
at trying to wrap its head around it!

This week I add five more stupid sayings to that ever growing list of silly expressions.

1) "I can't wrap my head around it."

This is a saying which is used to mean, 'I can't understand it,' but taken literally it's a rather bizarre saying.

Of course you can't wrap your head around something. The toughness of the human skull kind of makes that a bit tricky!

Old words that are dying out

A few years ago one of my work colleagues was feeling annoyed with her doctor, so I told her about a clueless doctor I had once seen called Dr Burke. I joked, "Burke by name, berk by nature!" The girl I worked with was confused by my comment and it turned out she had never heard of the word 'berk'.

An old typewriter for typing old words.

For the benefit of anyone else who has never heard of the word 'berk' it means an idiot, but anyway I was shocked to discover that apparently berk is a word that some younger people have never heard of.

As it turns out, my former work colleague isn't the only one to have never heard of some older words. According to a survey by Perspectus Global, here are a few more words that people aged 18-30 have never heard of:

1) Balderdash (27%)

When I discovered that 27% of 18-30 year olds have never heard of the word balderdash, my first reaction was, 'That's balderdash!"

For the benefit of anyone in the 27%, balderdash means nonsense. It's not a word I've ever personally used myself, but I think it would be cool if more people used it, because it has an amusing ring to it. It's the sort of word that just makes you smile by the sheer ridiculousness of it.

Balderdash!

I tend to associate the word 'balderdash' with posh people, so maybe it's not just a generational thing as to why so many younger people have never heard of it.

Quirks of the English language (part 2)

English is one of the most popular and commonly used languages in the world, but it's also a language with many quirks. Here are a few more of them...

Unfortunately, I didn't have a photo of my foreign neighbour Keith
receiving eight counterfeit beige sleighs from feisty caffeinated
weightlifters, so this photo of one genuine sleigh will have to do.

1) I before E.

Except when your foreign neighbour Keith receives eight counterfeit beige sleighs from feisty caffeinated weightlifters.

Weird.



2) Why does 'fridge' have a D in it but 'refrigerator' doesn't?

Surely it's a stupid idea to insert extra letters into an abbreviation!

Modern Japanese words (part 2)

As I've mentioned before on the Charles Fudgemuffin blog, many modern Japanese words sound very similar to their English equivalents. That's because Japanese 'loan' words (words which are imported from English) are translated using Japanese sounds to produce the nearest sounding equivalent to the original English word.

Mmm, ke-ki!

Here are some more cool modern Japanese words, and once again to someone who's never spoken any Japanese it may sound like I'm making these up, but I promise you these are actually real.

To start off with, here are a few random examples...

1) ke-ki = cake
2) miruku = milk
3) chokore-to = chocolate
4) resutoran = restaurant
5) su-pa-ma-ketto = supermarket
6) uirusu = virus
7) mo-ningu ko-ru = wake up call (morning call)
8) pe-pa- tesuto = written exam (paper test)
9) kurisumasu = Christmas
10) rabu reta- = Love letter

Five stupid sayings (part 4)

In general I'm a big fan of the English language, but it does have it's quirks. For example, from time to time on the Charles Fudgemuffin blog I like to highlight silly English expressions, and here are a few more...

1) "He knows which side his bread is buttered."

Intelligence Test: Can you work out which side this bread is buttered?

This is a strange compliment which is used to mean, 'He is clever enough to understand what is best for his own self-interests.'  But I have to say, you don't exactly need to be a genius to tell which side your bread is buttered!

It's not that hard to work out.  You just look at the bread, you see which side the butter is on, then hey presto ... that's the side your bread is buttered.  To be blunt, if you couldn't work out which side your bread was buttered, you'd have to be a bit of an idiot!

10 cool Japanese words and expressions (part 2)

As I've pointed out several times before on the Charles Fudgemuffin blog, I'm a big fan of the Swedish language, but another language I think is pretty cool is Japanese.

As the 2020 Summer Olympics were originally scheduled to take place in Japan next week, that's therefore as good an excuse as any to feature anopther round-up of some of my favourite Japanese words and expressions.

"Bah! I'm too early! He's a not yet dead person."

1) Not yet...

One Japenese word which I find amusing is the word for 'widow'. The kanji symbols for widow literally translate as 'not yet dead person'.

I suppose that technically it's true, but I still can't help thinking it's an unusual way to describe a widow!

Wise and silly African proverbs

From time to time on the Charles Fudgemuffin blog I like to feature cool sayings from around the world, so on that theme, this week's blog post features a collection of African proverbs.

Some of the following African proverbs are very wise and meaningful, while others aren't quite so wise, and are just a bit silly. But which are silly, and which are wise? I'll let you decide...

Editor's note: For the benefit of stupid people, this is
not the actual sun. Merely an artistic representation.

1) "The same sun that melts the wax, also hardens the clay."

This is a clever way of saying that people react differently to similar circumstances. One person might use a difficult challenge to spur them on and achieve greatness. Another person might react to the same challenge negatively and use it as an excuse for failure.

I really like this African proverb and can imagine it being used in motivational talks, so you can probably guess which category I would place this proverb into. But what do you think?

Silly or wise?

Modern Japanese words

If you've ever considered learning Japanese then you may be surprised to discover that many Japanese 'import' words sound very similar to their English equivalents.

Orenji ju-su!
(Orange juice.)

To give you an example, a mate of mine once heard that the Japanese word for orange juice was 'orenji ju-su', and at first he thought it was just a joke.

However, in actual fact you'll find that many Japanese words sound very similar to their English equivalents. This isn't the technical explanation, but to give a light-hearted explanation, you basically add a Japanese accent and that's pretty much it.

I've collected a few of my favourites below, and if you're naturally distrusting then you may think I've made some of these up, but I promise you these are all actual real Japanese words...

Cool Words From Around The World

I feature words on the Charles Fudgemuffin blog quite often ... every week in fact! Every blog post is filled with words and photos!

But what I mean is that from time to time I like to take a specific look at cool words from around the world, so this week it's time for another round-up of cool words from around the world...

Look at all those 'toes of the hand'!
Editor's note: "Charles, you've got it the wrong way round.
It's fingers of the foot, not toes of the hand."
Charles: "I know, I was just being stupid. Sorry."

1) Foot fingers

The Italian expression to describe a toe is 'dito del piede' which literally translates as 'finger of the foot' which is a very cool way to describe your toes!

2) Tartle

I'm very bad at forgetting people's names, so I tartle quite a lot. That's because 'tartle' is a Scottish word which means to hesitate when introducing someone because you’ve forgotten their name.

So just to make things absolutely clear, to tartle means to, er ... well, it means ... er, obviously tartle, er ... is a word, er ... and it's meaning is, er ... well...

10 cool Swedish words and expressions (part 4)

I love the Swedish language, so I've featured posts on Swedish words before on the Charles Fudgemuffin blog, and this week it's time for another round-up of some of my favourite cool Swedish words and expressions...

"Ribbit!"

1) Teenage mutant ninja shield toads!

As I've highlighted in previous blog posts, the Swedish language has quite a few words which describe something in a creative manner, and the Swedish word for turtle also follows that pattern.

In Swedish, a turtle is known as a 'sköldpadda' which literally translates as a 'shield toad'. If you're being creative, then I suppose a turtle does kind of look like a toad with a shield on its back.

Quirks of the English language

There are over 400 million people in the world who speak English as their first language, and it's the official language in 67 countries! So this week the Charles Fudgemuffin blog takes a look at some of the quirks of the English language.

Hair(s).

1) We say "hair" when referring to lots of it, but we say "hairs" when referring to a few.


2) The word 'queue' is the letter 'q' followed by four silent letters.


3) A colleague asked me, "Is it pronounced 'ee-ther' or 'eye-ther'?
I told them it was either.

10 words and phrases which sound like other words in a different accent

Apologies to any native speakers if I haven't got all of the following accents quite right, but here are a few words or phrases which when pronounced in a certain accent sound like a new phrase altogether...

Bacon sandwiches could cause confusion in Jamaica.

1) Beer Can

If you say 'beer can' in an English accent, it sounds like 'bacon' in a Jamaican accent.

2) Jam Ear Can Beer Can

Taking it one step further, if you say 'jam ear can beer can' in an English accent, it sounds like 'Jamaican bacon' in a Jamaican accent.

10 interesting Japanese words and expressions

From time to time on the Charles Fudgemuffin blog I take a look at interesting words and expressions from languages around the world, and this week it's the turn of Japanese...

"Hmm, who can I try out my new sword on?"

1) Swordsplay

An extremely worrying Japanese word is the word 'uji-giri' which means 'to try out a new sword on a random passer-by'!

Thankfully, 'uji-guri' isn't in common usage nowadays and dates back to ancient times, but I can only feel grateful that I didn't live in the ancient days of the samurai when such words were necessary!

An alternative phonetic alphabet

As a Geordie, when I speak to people on the phone they often confuse my 'A's with my 'E's, so when spelling words verbally I often have to use the phonetic alphabet. The offical phonetic alphabet is very formal and efficient, but it's also quite boring, so just to confuse people, it's fun to use alternative words that sound like letters themselves, and say things like...

Gnomes

E for Eye  (E for I)
Y for You  (Y for U)
S for See  (S for C)
A for Aye  (A for I)
E for Ewe  (E for U)

It's also fun to confuse people altogether with silent letters and unusual pronunciations such as...

P for Pterodactyl
K for Knowledge
W for Wrinkle
P for Phonetic
G for Gnome

Here's an alternative phonetic alphabet (featuring misleadingly pronounced words) that me and a few work colleagues came up with during one of our breaks (and definitely not when we were supposed to be working).