Lost in translation

[LDunlop76]

I read this in today's paper and it made me smile so I thought I'd share:[b]Lost in translation [b][b]Monday October 9, 2006[b]The Guardian [b][b][b]English may be a flexible, expressive language, but it doesn't have a single word that captures the sense of: "so angry one feels like throwing up." Japanese does: mukamuka. Adam Jacot de Boinod trawled the world's dictionaries for other vivid examples. The following are some of the indispensable terms collected in his book The Meaning of Tingo (Penguin, £6.99).[b][b]Altjiranga mitjina (Aranda, Australia): the timeless dimensions of dreams[b][b][b]Areodjarekput (Inuit): to exchange wives for a few days only Oi! Steady! [:0][b][b][b]Cigerci (Turkish): a seller of liver and lungs[b]
Cooperar (Spanish, Central America): to go along willingly with someone else to one's own disadvantage

Gagrom[/b] (Boro, India): to search for a thing below water by trampling

Giomlaireachd [/b] (Scottish Gaelic): the habit of dropping in at mealtimes

Gumusservi[/b] (Turkish): moonlight shining on water

Guree[/b] (Somali): to make room for a person to sit on a loaded camel

Ichigo-ichie[/b] (Japan): the practice of treasuring each moment and trying to make it perfect
I like that one!

Ilunga[/b] (Tshiluba, Congo): someone who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time, to tolerate it a second time, but never a third time
Sounds about right to me!

Jeruhuk[/b] (Malay): the act of stumbling into a hole that is concealed by long grass [B)]

Marilopotes [/b] (Ancient Greek): a gulper of coal dust
Eh? [?]

Nakhur[/b] (Persian): a camel that won't give milk until her nostrils are tickled
I wonder who researched that one?

Pagezuar[/b] (Albanian): the state of dying before enjoying the happiness that comes with being married or seeing one's children married

Pana po'o[/b] (Hawaiian): to scratch your head in order to remember something

Pu'ukaula[/b] (Hawaiian): to set up one's wife as a stake in gambling
Liable to result in [B)] !

Razblyuto[/b] (Russian): the feeling for someone once but no longer loved

Seigneur-terrasse[/b] (French): a person who spends much time but little money in a cafe (literally: a terrace lord)

Torschlusspanik[/b] (German): the fear of diminishing opportunities as one gets older (literally: gate-closing panic; often applied to women worried about being too old to have children

Waterponie[/b] (Afrikaans): jet ski

[David]

L; I liked the waterponie ;-)

[muffers]

I dont know if you notice in the UK when watching US shows but the other night my husband wondered what giving someone a bell was. I had to explain that here in the US thats the same as giving someone a ring also while I was talking to my neice this morning she said her husband has bought a leaf hoover here its called a leaf blower mainly because people here don't normally suck up there leaves they blow them onto someone else's property. Well not all the time.

[David]

Probably the biggest eye popper would be those cute little Bum bags
that everone used to use....they were called Fanny packs over here.
Honest. Your Fanny is your Bum over here.

[anacortesdamp]

When we first arrived in the US, we stayed with British friends for a few days. At the end of our first day, with an 8-hour time difference and a 10-hour flight direct form Heathrow to Seattle, we were at our friends' house and the next door neighbors were visiting.

We announced that we were so tired that we ahould go to bed. Since we didn't want to miss out on the start of the next day, we said "why don't you knock us up around 7 o'clock?"

Deathly silence ensued. our ex-pat hosts understood perfectly, but to their US neighbors, to "knock up" meant to get someone pregnant.

A similarly embarassing incident occurred just after I started at Boeing. I had been writing a pencilled draft of a memo, and wasn't too happy how it was working out. I asked a female colleague if I could borrow her rubber. I wanted to erase some of my writing. After a shocked silence, another fellow employee explained that in US vernacular a "rubber" was a condom. The US term is an "eraser".

It was my impression thet the phrase "Gi' us a bell" was Scottish." There's a famous US breach-of-promise case where a young man said "I'll give you a ring soon". The young lady interpreted this as a proposal of marriage rather than an offer to make a phone call.

As they say, two nations separated by a common language.

As a matter of interest, can anyone explain the derivation of the verb "to suss"? It still hasn't become mainstream in the US, and although I understand its meaning, I would be interested in its derivation.

Frank

[noel]

I suspect it's derived from the word suspect Frank. Another odd one meaning a similar thing is "twig" as when you twig something is wrong.
That is derived from Gaelic "tuig" meaning "understand".

[shuffy]

or suspicion

[LDunlop76]

Frank, a school friend of mine had a very similar experience on an exchange visit to California. Having arranged a tennis game with her new friends, she was nonplussed by their reaction when she asked if they wanted to go straight into the match or knock-up first! LOL!

[anacortesdamp]

As they say, two nations separated by their common langauge. Actually it's becoming less common as time goes by. A friend who worked for McDonalds some years back was actively involved in the global expansion of the company. They were very careful to pick, for management positions in overseas opertaiotns, US residents from the particular countries where they planned to expand. Our friend made a comment that "for the UK, we don't need to worry". I was quick to get him to realise that not only was the language subtly different, but the social environment that they were invading would chew them to bits if they didn't adapt to it.

I don't know whether our friend had the amount of clout in the halls of corporate McDonalds that I gave him credit for, but they seem to have infiltrated the UK pretty well. We sure don't have "curry burgers" and the other ethnic foods of the UK over here.

Frank

[David]

Frank; I usually use McDonalds in Preston when I'm over there.
There's one thing about McDonalds, their cheesburgers, fries, and fillets taste the same no matter where you go.
I'll have a cheeseburger, fillet,(fish), small fries, and a coffee please. []