It’s time to do another top ten… and what better way to honour the ‘top ten’ genre than to list my favouritest non-English words, in no particular order… no wait a minute, in a very particular order – ten to one:
10. Xiao peng you (Little friend/s: Mandarin): I lived in China for a year with my family as a child, and attended a Chinese school, where me and my sis were the only non-Chinese people. They referred to us as the ‘foreign little friends’ – and that’s a phrase that’s stuck in my head.
9. Bustenhalter (Bra: German): One of the humour-inducing features of German is that it is just so ridiculously sensible in its choice of vocabulary: Like a glove is a hand-shoe… and a bra is a boobie-holder… Respect…
8. Maher Shallal Hashbaz (Hebrew – look it up in the Bible): Despite this being positively Germanic in its sensibleness as a baby name, my wife has refused to consider it as a choice, for two whole babies that we’ve had so far. I’m going to have to keep pushing for more babies until she relents and lets us give one this name… just like this guy.
7. Traum (Dream: German): Why do Germans have such a fixation with this word??? I cannot work it out. But because of that phenomenon, it’s made it into the top ten.
6. Petit chou / chou-chou (Cabbage: French): Why does my beloved not find this term of endearment endearing?? Possibly because I use it in English, and add “head” at the end of it, but come on, the idea is French – it’s romantic
5. Baumgartener (Tree-gardener, German): Okay, this one isn’t anything special in its normal form, but when I see it as a surname which has been transliterated over the generations to become Bumgardener, I just have to pause in quiet admiration… oh the images it conjures up…
4. Luo (I loose: Greek): This is the one word in New Testament Greek that it is absolutely 100% impossible for anyone who has done a course of any length to forget – try it out – ask anyone who has ever studied Greek, and even if they’ve forgotten every other word, they’ll know this one.
3. Dysgwch Cymraeg (Learn Welsh: Welsh): Could any language have a less inviting choice of words for encouraging you to learn it? WHAT’S SO BAD ABOUT VOWELS??? But seriously, if these two words tempt you, you can learn Welsh here.
2. Amigo (Friend: Spanish): The main reason this has hit the dizzy heights of number two is because it features in one of the best movies of all time… and check out the tagline: “They’re Down On Their Luck And Up To Their Necks In Senoritas, Margaritas, Banditos And Bullets”… admit it: you want to watch it right now.
1. And the best foreign word ever… a triple whammy in Greek: Kruptos Theos Logos
Let me know if there are any I’ve missed!
RSS - Posts
i’ve always been a fan of shitty – snow in arabic. bafacker – i know in arabic
bubi – not as (comparative) in mandarin
tote – dead in dutch…
there is some great stuff out there.. its just sad when you learn the language well enough to no longer think its funny when people say it…
p.s. where did you live in china as a kid… that sounds fascinating…
hehehe… wow you know some good words.
Dutch & German are quite similar: In my limited German, I’m alwyas talking about the Auferstehung of the Toten – the resurrection of the dead. I also try to incorporate the phrase, “ich brauche meinen sachen aus dem Auto” – which means “I need my things from the car”… I don’t actually have a car, so it’s never true – but it’s a phrase that’s tried and true, so I keep returning to it.
We lived in Guang Zhou, in the south of China, where my parents both worked at the Guang Zhou Institute of Foreign Languages – they are both linguists.
Is “favouritest” one of your most favourite “non english” words?? Do you (or any others competent in other languages) know if there are such english language bloopers? I mean, as we say innocuous things like “cheers!” or “pass the salt” is there a nation somewhere sniggering into their collective hands because we have just inadvertently said something about pants?
I was sure that Winston Churchill, in attempting to tell the French that he viewed his past as being in two halves, actually said that his bottom was in two halves… but I can’t find that quote anywhere – and Winston Churchill does have a heck of a lot of questionable quotes attributed to him: http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Unquotable:Winston_Churchill
Adults call my son, “xiao lao wai” meaning “little foreigner,” but his Chinese friends just call him “ge ge” or “di di” meaning “brother.”
ahhh… that’s bringing back the memories… I take it you live in China Ranger – otherwise it’s kinda weird that people are calling your son ‘xiao lao wai’… mind you, people call me names that I don’t understand, and then they snigger. I can only assume they’re paying me compliments
I’m just sad that Da Bizi has lost favor.