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Foreign words used in strange ways | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room |  | |
| Luso Hexaglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 6067 days ago 819 posts - 1812 votes  Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical) | Message 17 of 32 09 July 2013 at 4:48am | IP Logged | ||
Maybe in Brazil. In Portugal we don't use the same word. We use "portátil". For us, "notebook" is just a specific type of laptop. Maybe you'd like to amend your "99%" estimate? ;) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| renaissancemedi Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Greece Joined 4364 days ago 941 posts - 1309 votes Speaks: Greek*, Ancient Greek*, EnglishC2 Studies: French, Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew | Message 18 of 32 09 July 2013 at 7:33am | IP Logged | ||
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While in Italy I wanted to buy an espresso machine, the one you put on the stove. Or so I thought it was, untill the nice lady said it's for mocha. I was confused and said that I want the espresso thing, not mocha. She said the espresso machine is the one with the two little things that you find at coffee shops and this little pot is for mocha, period! Thank heaven my mind worked in the middle of this very confusing conversation, and I said: does this make coffee? She said yes, mocha. Anyway, in Greece we call it espresso anyway, but the Italians have a more sophisticated idea about coffee than we do!
The word empathy is greek, and in English it is used as compassion. Which always confuses the hell out of me because in greek it means an intensly negative feeling of hostility towards another person. Sympathy on the other hand, is used for condolences and things like that in English. In greek it means that you really like someone, a very positive thing that has nothing to do with funerals! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5062 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian* | Message 19 of 32 09 July 2013 at 1:06pm | IP Logged | ||
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We have recently discussed the word "gulag", which comes from the Russian abbreviation
ГУЛАГ and is used by English speakers in the meaning of "a prison camp". 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4713 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 20 of 32 09 July 2013 at 1:53pm | IP Logged | ||
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In Dutch it is used in that latter sense as well, and it can take a plural.
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| Cabaire Senior Member Germany Joined 5605 days ago 725 posts - 1352 votes | Message 21 of 32 09 July 2013 at 2:17pm | IP Logged | ||
I always thought, a laptop is the same as a notebook (if you do not mean the paper notebook). At least in German (were I say "Klapprechner"), but in English too. Edited by Cabaire on 09 July 2013 at 2:18pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| caam_imt Triglot Senior Member Mexico Joined 4868 days ago 232 posts - 357 votes Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2, Finnish Studies: German, Swedish | Message 22 of 32 09 July 2013 at 2:48pm | IP Logged | ||
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Here are some off the top of my head:
In Spanish we have the word "saga", which is used when talking about Scandinavian mythology and/or very long tales. I think the word saga in Swedish at least means just any kind of tale or story (not necessarily grandiose or epic). In Mexico there's a very popular chocolate drink called "Choco Milk". It's so popular that (at least in my hometown) it has become synonymous with any kind of chocolate drink. Some people even say "quiero un chocomil". Also in Mexico, when young men want to see scantily clad women dancing provocatively, usually this phrase is uttered: "vamos al teibol" (from table dance). "Breadbutter" is also used in Finnish (voileipä) to describe any sandwich. Also in Finnish, "bailata" means to go partying whereas in Spanish "bailar" means to dance (which would be "tanssia" in Finnish). 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| sans-serif Tetraglot Senior Member Finland Joined 4565 days ago 298 posts - 470 votes Speaks: Finnish*, English, German, Swedish Studies: Danish | Message 23 of 32 09 July 2013 at 3:56pm | IP Logged | ||
I'd half-expect there to be butter on a voileipä, but maybe that's just me. I'm not entirely sure what I'd call a sandwich with no butter, though. Just leipä? Kerrosleipä? Täytetty leipä? No wonder some people just use voileipä for everything. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| embici Triglot Senior Member CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4616 days ago 263 posts - 370 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Greek | Message 24 of 32 09 July 2013 at 4:21pm | IP Logged | ||
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In Ecuador the English word "man" is sometimes used instead of "person"--either male or female. I've heard people say "Esa man..." to say "That woman..."
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